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Beer Reviews

Buffalo Jump Stout

Copper Canyon Brewery
Southfield, MI
USA
http://www.coppercanyonbrewery.com

Style: Stout
ABV: 6.8%

Rings’s Rating:
   (Drinkable, but flawed)


Comments:
To review from my initial coverage of the brewery, Copper Canyon is located in Southfield, Michigan, near the intersection of M-10 and I-696, although one has to drive over the river and through the woods upon finding an exit from the highway to find the front door.

Southfield is more or less a business district, full of office buildings, strip malls, shopping centers, and tons of traffic. And this little brewpub fits right in, with a bright urban and slightly upscale atmosphere to accompany a hearty menu featuring all the “American” fare you’d expect from an Applebee’s or a Chili’s, but with a little local twist and a couple extra bucks tacked on the prices.

Their only “dark” offering on my visit was the Buffalo Jump Stout—I have no idea what the name is supposed to mean—made with real coffee beans. No kidding? No shit. No chance I’m going to like this.

To be fair, I hate coffee. I’ve tried it several times over the years. I’ve tried the cheap ones, the fancy ones, tried it with creamer, sugar and black. I tried it several times while young, in college, and again while living in Europe, where coffee was virtually a must-have for breakfast or if one wanted caffeine aside from Red Bull or Coke—neither of which I also care for.

Bias admitted, this one is still a little overwhelming. It smells like coffee, looks like coffee and tastes like coffee. Dark brown, it has a bit of glass cling, albeit with a thinner body.

This would be a one mugger in my personal notebook, but that’s not fair as it is what it claims to be. That said, it is unbalanced and extreme … and tastes like coffee, except it’s colder.


Reviewed by Rings on November 3, 2010.

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