Tioga-Sequoia 'Rush Hour' Breakfast Stout. Coffee beer. 7.2% abv. 35 IBU. Dark brown, nearly black in color. Thin tan head. Moderate retention and lace. Nose of fresh ground coffee. Front taste of roasted coffee, dark chocolate. Aftertaste of coffee grounds, cocoa powder, bitter hops. 

This is an extraordinary coffee beer, the best I've had to date. The aroma is like sticking your nose into a bag of fresh ground coffee beans, and the taste is of fresh roasted coffee. Outstanding. Highly recommended.

I remember the first time I had this beer. I was at Spokeasy Pub. The beer was new at the time. I ordered it, not expecting much, as nearly every coffee beer I'd had to that point was identical. How wrong I was. The aroma of Rush Hour struck me with how fresh it was, and the taste was just as vibrant. The bartender explained to me that the coffee was roasted in town at a little place called Cafe Corazon, a place my wife and I had gone to many times. The coffee was incorporated into the beer wort within 20 minutes of the roasting. Man, it showed in the final product. It's rare for me that a beer instantly becomes a favorite. This is one of those beers.


NOTE: Special Thanks to Anthony Valenzuela of Central Valley Craft Beer Drinkers for the lead photo. Cheers!

From the brewery:

"Rush Hour is our full bodied breakfast stout that uses sixty pounds of fresh Colombiano Caldono coffee per batch. The beans are roasted and ground locally by Cafe Corazon. The coffee is then cold pressed and infused into our chocolate milk stout creating a creamy, bold, robust, yet silky smooth breakfast stout. Enjoy the Rush!"

Enjoying a Rush Hour at Peeves Public House

I've had Rush Hour many times, from tap and bottle. It's worth seeking out.

Corazon Toro by Davidoff. 6x50. Solid build, with consistently smooth surface. Subtle veins, perfect marbled shades in the medium brown wrap. Perfect cut and light. Medium-easy draw, both pre-light and throughout. Flavors of rich tobacco, round and smooth, with a creamy wrap during the first half. Spicy notes in the exhale. In the second half, the smoke was more full-bodied, with faint notes of spice and coffee. Burn was outstanding, flawless, down to the band. Ash was clean with thin stripes of light gray. Ash hung nearly two inches before the drop and held an perfect shape. This cigar is nearly perfect, especially at its value price point. The construction was world-class, and the mild flavors had a slightly building arc that satisfied me in the end. Highly recommend.

From the company:

"Each Davidoff cigar has a unique flavor. And yet, they all share something that instinctively tells you - this is a Davidoff. The reason? All of our cigars are created the same way. By hand. By smell. By experts."

The ash was flawless in its marbling, shape, and cling.