Hey, I feel the need to pop another beer and review it. Are you with me?
I know I get more than a few Goose Island beers sent to me for comment, but this one I purchased myself. Because hey, coffee beer.
Fulton Street Blend is a Golden Ale base, infused with Intelligentsia Coffee’s House Blend. The synergy would seem obviously, since Intelligentsia is headquartered at the west end of the building housing Goose’s Fulton brewery.
The coffee smell is definitely lurking right under the cap. But it’s rather mild. I do not get any of the usual sweetness of a golden ale. The beer in my glass is a little more brassy than golden, with a very short-lived head.
The taste has some coffee bitterness up front. But again, it’s pretty well balanced. It has a simple hop load of Millennium only, so most of the flavor does indeed come from the coffee. I’d think it should be a little more “roasty,” but them I’m kind of used to coffee with roasted malt in an imperial stout. At 5.5% ABV, it’s still a bit filling. I don’t think this will keep me up all night, but then again, I often sleep soundly after a large instant iced coffee at 11 pm. So don’t go by me. But I’d call it a decent desert beer, but one that won’t displace and room for Jell-O.
