About two years ago I brewed a straight St. Patrick's Stout without any modifications. It was good but not great. I felt like it was lacking in mouth feel and depth. I got another St. P's when I purchased the International Pack so I thought I'd experiment with it. I found this recipe on the Mr. Beer site and it looked interesting so I ordered the extra LME pack and brewed it up. I used robust instead of smooth though. At bottling I made a couple more changes - along with the coffee I also added 4tsp of lactose sugar 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract and 6 oz of Irish Whiskey. Did I end up with the exact Irish-Car-Bomb-In-A-Bottle flavor I was hoping for? No I did not. Did I end up with one of the best stouts I've ever tasted? Absolutely. It's super dark with a lovely brown head. The added coffee and LME adds the depth of flavor that the St. P's LME can is missing on its own. I will most certainly do this one again and I won't mess with the vanilla and whiskey.

OK a 3 may be overly critical as the description is pretty spot on. This is a morning cup of coffee. I have to repeat that this is a cup of coffee. I don't taste anything other than what I'd expect to come from my percolator. I have Bustelo espressos in the morning. (That's what I used for this.) I was hoping for a beer with a light coffee kick. Nope. It's a coffee kick in the pants. It should be renamed to Sunday Morning Wake-up. Better choice than an Iced Coffee from D&D. But it's pretty much that. A cold coffee without sugar or creamer.I'll make this again but will probably dabble with modifications. Maybe add some brown sugar during brewing and 1/2 the espresso at bottling. Or try add another LME Smooth pack or two to increase the ....toffee richness of flavor with residual sweetness.On a side note: I don't see myself ever going back to commercial beers. Mr. Beer has spoiled me. Happy Brewing