REVIEW: Stone/ Aleman/ Two Brothers Dayman

I enjoy It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. It's never really been appointment viewing for me, but I enjoy it whenever I watch it. That's a long way of saying that I quite enjoy the name of this beer. I remember hearing about this beer quite a while ago when I watched this video from the Iron Brew Homebrew competition back in December. Well, I didn't have that video in my mind when I bought this bottle, but once I read the back of the label which talked about the origins of the beer I remembered back. So anyway, the guys at Aleman won the Iron Brew competition with their coffee IPA. Which combines two of my all time favorite beverages and sounds just bizarre enough to work. I'm very excited to try this one out. Let's not waste any more time. To the beer!

The first surprise, and there are many here, occurs immediately upon the beer exiting the bottle. I was expecting much, MUCH darker. I figured, OK a coffee IPA, it'll be a black IPA. The coffee would compliment the roasty dark malts but there would still be a whole lot of hop presence. Sounds about right, doesn't it? Well I was mistaken. Dayman pours like, well, an IPA. A slightly hazed, ruddy gold IPA. Topped by a persistent finger of bright white head.

On the nose, not so suprisingly, I get a ton of coffee. Very suprising though, for a beer that looks like this. Heaps of bitter, roasty brewed coffee aromas. It smells like a really strong cup of coffee that has just started to go lukewarm. I know that's a bit of an odd note to pick up on but it kind of jumped out at me. I didn't get so much an aroma of coffee grounds, or coffee beans, but really notes of brewed coffee. Strange, but really interesting. Underneath all of that coffee is a grassy citrusy brightness and a light bready toffee malt.

OK, so it looks unlike anything I was expecting, it smells more like what I was expecting, but in a very interesting way. Now we get to the really important part. How does it taste? To make a long story short: really good. Dayman opens with some bright, punchy hop bitterness that morphs immediately into flavors of bitter, roasty, hearty coffee. The coffee is, obviously, very prominent, but it never overpowers. A deft hand crafted this beer. The coffee gives way to delicate citrusy fruity hops and then back again. One instant the coffee takes the lead, then it's the hops, then back again. The intermingling is wonderful. A light toffee and caramel malt serves as the backbone for what is a very drinkable and balanced beer, I never got any indication of that 8.7% ABV. For a beer that is throwing around such bold flavors and such a wild recipe everything feels very subtle, very measured. A combination of coffee and hop bitterness lingers on long after the sip is over.

Dayman is a wild beer. I appreciate the boldness inherent in putting coffee into a beer like this. A practice that is more widely seen in beers that are much more hearty and malt forward than this one. I was't sure how this was going to work, but work it does. I really liked Dayman. If you see a bottle on the shelf at your local bottle shop or liquor store grab it. grab two. You've got to try this beer. I loved it. Master of karate and friendship indeed.

HD