REVIEW #92: Kopikat (Summer Wine Brewery)

Pours completely black with rust coloured head. The aroma is of burnt wood and dark malt, similar to Summer Wine's Teleporter (review #64). Green grassy hops up front presage an increasingly strong caramel and coffee flavour. Its deep and complex with hints of vanilla, cinnamon and sandalwood in the fragrant, boozy finish. The joint hop & coffee bitterness really shines here too. Very full bodied and smooth drinking. A sumptuous imperial stout that becomes more satisfying the further down the glass you get.

Described on the bottle as an 'Imperial Vanilla Coffee Stout'. Kopikat is no normal stout being brewed with the famous Kopi Luak coffee which is eaten by Indonesian civets. Digestive enzymes work on the coffee beans as they pass through the civet's gut undigested, creating a creamy and smooth flavoured coffee. In addition to Kopi Luak the beer also contains the equally expensive Jamaican Blue Mountain, Old Brown Java and Jamaican Peaberry coffees all added at the end of the boil. Plus Madagascan vanilla pods... How extravagant is that! I'm surprised the bottle makes no mention of this as its some selling point. Summer Wine continue to impress as a craft brewer of distinction.

• MALTS: 8 malts
• HOPS: UK & AMERICAN
• IBU: HIGH
• ABV: 7.4%
• UNFILTERED & UNPASTEURISED. BREWED WITH 4 COFFEE VARIETIES + MUSCOVADO SUGAR

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