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Our final featured Fig Mtn beer is their Golden Coffee ale, Zero to Sexy.
Pours a bright and beautiful garnet color. Big fluffy head. Lovely lacing on the side of the glass. Coffee and cream aroma hits the nose first. Almost has an ice cream quality to it. The coffee is the leading flavor component. Milk chocolate note is there in the back which supplies not a mocha but that milky tone. Lovely dessert beer. Good use of both their chocolate and coffee suppliers…
The winning combination found by Noble Ale Works with their Naughty Sauce was bound to be imitated. Stone had a hand in on that action and now from the north, Figueroa Mountain is proffering up a Golden Mocha Stout.
And though I don’t know how the name matches the beer style the color is pitch perfect. Certainly golden enough to fool someone who is new to lighter hued coffee ales. The smell starts off with a cigar aroma first that slides into a darker type of coffee roast smell. Another sleight of hand. The taste continues that cigar push. Almost ashy I would say. There is quite a bit of sweetness that is in fighting mode against that cigar but in the end it is a push until the next sip and the burnt paper takes back over.
I really like aspects of this beer but it really doubles down too hard on that cigar which I presume is the after effects of the roast of the coffee. Maybe Fig Mtn. will try this again next year with a different roast or roaster. I would love to compare how the coffee is adding or subtracting from the rest of the recipe.