I usually am the type of person that gets way too excited to hold onto a beer for very long. Every time I saw the Café de Olla Stout, I wanted to open it! A coffee, bourbon stout is music to my tastebuds, but then you throw in cassia bark, orange peel, and panela sugar, and it is a whole new ballgame!

Goose Island Beer Company has been making Bourbon Count Stout since 1992. They have generated such an immense following that lines are waiting outside of stores across the United States on Black Friday. The base BCS is awesome, but it is also very rewarding to get your hands on any of the variants!

I was utterly blown away by the deep, dark chocolate notes in this beer! The secondary notes are the coffee, bourbon, and tartness in the middle, which I am guessing is from the orange and spicy cinnamon-like characteristics of the cassia bark. The finish is more chocolate, but it is sweet chocolate this time, which frankly is mind-blowing!

It is a given that this one is quite the warming beer since it comes in at 13.5% ABV. Being a lover of great coffee, I need to get some of the Intelligentsia coffee used in this stout!

Café de Olla Stout has been a wonderful way to enjoy this winter evening. I would say I now have a bigger smile than Rudolph, and my nose might be just as red.

Cheers!