Capitol City Fuel

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Heavenly. I love coffee. I love beer. This is 'Buzz Beer' from the Drew Cary show personified...err..beerified. Wonderfully and mysteriously dark, no head to speak of but still bubbling in the glass, flavor is loaded with coffee and dark chocolate. This one puts the 'Imperial' in Imperial stouts. I need to go get my growler filled up before they run out.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

Four of us stopped by the brewery for dinner the night of the tasting party, and the reactions were varied. I am a huge coffee fan, and in my opinion, this beer really is amazing--worthy of the gold. Billed as an English Imperial Stout, it comes packed with 10 lbs of Sumatra. The aroma wafting up from the goblet is awesome: java, chocolate, and stout, in that order. Inky black with no head or lacing. Full-bodied. As bitter as black coffee and dark chocolate. I've had Java Porter and other coffee beers, but this is truly coffee, with beer.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

Cap City's Arlington (Virginia, baby!) crew debuted Fuel and brought home the gold medal in the Coffee Flavored Beer category at the 2006 Great American Beer Festival. They beat out 27 other entries, including the silver and bronze medal winners, Barley Island's Black Majic Java Stout and Midnight Sun's Arctic Rhino Coffee Porter. This brew fills the goblet with a syrupy smoothness, looking for all the world like Kahlua. Virtually no head or residual lacing; in fact, very little carbonation at all. If you like both beer and coffee, this concoction can be a real treat, although I'm not sure if it's coffee-flavored beer or beer-flavored coffee. Either way, it's delightful!