Prairie Artisan Ales Coffee Okie

Prairie Artisan Ales Coffee Okie is an Imperial Brown Ale aged in Whiskey Barrels with Coffee Beans, 13% ABV. If I am reading the code on the bottle right this was bottled on the 336th day of 2015.

This beer pours with an extremely dark brown (almost black) color without much head at all. What head was generated from the pour was gone in just a few seconds. The aroma is an inviting mixture of strong coffee, vanilla, whiskey and chocolate. The taste really doesn’t deviate too far from the non-coffee version of Okie. I’m tasting brown sugar, whiskey barrel oak and booze, sweet toffee, a touch of vanilla, a little dark fruit. The coffee starts out muted in the sugary sweet finish, but as the beer warms it starts to permeate the entire taste. It is interesting how much coffee is upfront in the aroma, but that it took a while to come out on the palate. The low carbonation is making this a bit syrupy in the mouth-feel, which isn’t necessarily bad for the flavor of this one.

I feel the same way about this beer as I did with original Okie: As good as this beer is, the huge price tag for a single 12 oz bottle seems a bit too much for what you get. I can’t say I regret trying this at least once though, it is an excellent beer.