The Worst Coffee-Flavored Beer Is Made By A Popular Brand

A fragrant cappuccino or latte is enough to get your tastebuds happy in the morning, and nothing quite refreshes like a cold beer on a warm afternoon. But did you know you could blend the two? Coffee-flavored beers have been around for decades, but the hype is just starting to grow as craft breweries are releasing increasingly exciting variations. Sounds great, right? Except, while investigating the most popular coffee beers ranked, we found one worth skipping: Dogfish Head. 

Tasting Table's reviewer sampled the Dogfish Head's Wake Up World Wide Stout and found the heaviness overbearing, with an oaky taste they struggled to get past. A slight caveat: It was brewed two years before tasting. But, technically, this shouldn't have been an issue. The brewing company actually stipulates that the bottle ages well, and it was nowhere near its expiry date. The reviewer found it inescapably old-tasting — an unfortunate discovery considering Dogfish Head is widely credited as the creator of coffee beer.

Other feedback was more lenient. Customers partial to barrel-aged products raved about the bottle's taste online, while some loved the thick, sweet maple consistency. Perhaps it's just a question of knowing what to expect. Dogfish Head was undoubtedly amongst some tough competition in Tasting Table's review, too. Nothing touched the pumpkin coffee ale, Elysian's Punkuccino — easy-drinking, creatively blended, and good for the soul. In summary, it's a tough market, but Wake Up World Wide Stout isn't the first bottle to grab.

To know what to expect, you've got to look a gift horse in the mouth. So, what exactly is on the ingredient list of a bottle of Wake Up World Wide Stout? According to Dogfish Head, it partners with Rise Up Coffee Roasters to blend Finca Terrerito with self-brewed imperial stout, a notoriously potent dark beer. It mixes the resulting concoction with plant-based milk (a positive for vegan drinkers) and that all-too-familiar maple syrup — the thick and sugary ingredient that so controversially parts customer opinion.

If you're interested in how coffee beers get their distinct taste without beans, Dogfish Head specifically uses a cold press strategy, extracting at low temperatures from a grind to avoid acidity. It's worth noting that this product is an occasional release; it's a special bottle rather than a routine recipe. While it's touted as a "breakfast beer," it's also important to clock the 16 to 18% ABV. This is caffeinated, alcoholic rocket fuel; the standard U.S. beer bottle is just 5% ABV.

Considering the super-strength imperial stout and serious sweetness of the maple, it's no wonder this bottle receives mixed reviews. Wake Up World Wide Stout is intensity served capped.