Southern Tier Jah-Va - Tasting and Cellaring Notes
By jason on Apr 15, 2008 in Porters and Stouts, Reviews
Name: Jah Va
Brewer: Southern Tier
Style: Imperial Stout
Vintage: 2007
Cellared On: March 3rd, 2008
Original Tasting: April 4th, 2008
The very first stout I tasted for this website was Dogfish Head’s Chicory Stout. Despite being a very tasty coffee-flavor brew, it just hasn’t been holding up well in the cellar. I have a bit more confidence in Southern Tier’s coffee stout offering, mainly due it’s ringing in at a very hefty 12% abv!
Jah Va looked like liquid milk chocolate as it poured, gradually transforming color-wise into your typical midnight black stout. A dark tan head formed as I poured, but dissipated very quickly. Not surprisingly, a huge coffee smell came off of this brew, mixing with smells of alcohol and roasted sweet malts.
This was one powerful brew, both in flavor and in alcohol content. It’s heavily bodied, with a thick and kind of sticky creamy feel (does that even make sense?). There’s a deep roasted malt flavor with rich coffee/espresso throughout, much as you would expect. Heavy alcohol (most likely some fusels here) and a substantial hop presence lend quite a bit of bitterness (and a bit of astringency) to this beer. A background sweet toffee flavor permeates throughout the beer, providing a nice counterpoint to this beer’s strength.
A very flavorful brew, but the strong flavors make this a sipper for sure. Find a friend to share this one with.
Cellar Outlook: With the tremendous roasted flavors and heavy alcohol strength this brew should do well in the cellar. We’ll see if the additional abv% can help the coffee flavor last longer then the Chicory Stout.
Next Tasting: October 2008
Jason
Jah*va is one of my favorite coffee stouts, and does hold up nicely over time. I don’t have a scientific cellaring process - I just store my beer in the basement at its normal ambient temperature (which seems to be about 65 degrees year round, thanks to a heating vent in the finished area of the basement. A bit warm, but the beer so far has weathered well.
I’m really wishing I had kept a bottle of my friend’s homebrewed coffee stout from 2 years ago. It was absolutely amazing, and would have kept well with its 9+% ABV.
techcommdood | Apr 17, 2008 | Reply