James Page Casper White Stout

Brewed By: Stevens Point Brewery in Stevens Point, Wisconsin

Purchased: 12oz CAN from a six-pack bought at Binny's in IL; 2014 

Style/ABV: White Stout/American Stout, 6.0%
Reported IBUs: ?

White Stout? How could I pass this up in stores. About JP Casper:

James Page Casper Brewing Company is a brewery founded by James Page in 1986. The brewery was one of America's original craft breweries, and one of the first breweries to put craft beer in a can. Four of the brewery's beers were purchased by Stevens Point Brewing in 2005.

The James Page Casper White Stout is a Stout brewed with Pilsen malts and hops. And that's about all they have to say about this beer. The can says, "beer with natural flavor added." Let's glass it up and see what we got.

James Page Casper White Stout

This is a simple beer, pouring into a pretty solid yellow/gold body that actually has some haze and yeast floating around. The beer produces a few fingers of fluffy white head that drop off into a centimeter of foam. There's nice lacing too. There's some large carbonation bubbles in here too.

The aroma is...weird. Right up front you get HUGE artificial cream soda, with chemical sugars and chemical vanilla/cream. There's some Pilsner malts on the aroma as well, with some biscuit and cracker. There's some white chocolate, cereal, honey, and graham cracker on the aroma as well. 

The taste follows through with the aroma...it's very sweet with huge artificial cream soda, fake sugars, tons of malt, vanilla/cream, graham crackers, cereal and Pilsner malts, and some honey and hints of white chocolate. It tastes kind of syrupy, and it is hard to approximate the exact flavor. It doesn't really make me think "white stout." The beer has a noticeable malt flavor you often find in cheap malt shakes. 

The mouthfeel here is full-bodied and malty, with good carbonation. It's actually pretty spot-on for 6%, providing enough density to convey the Stout vibes. This beer is all about the malts, but you do get some of the base Pilsen malts and some mild hop bitterness in the mix. Palate depth is okay, complexity is average. It would be more drinkable if not for the artificial cream soda thing. Up front: white chocolate, artificial cream soda, honey, cereal, graham crackers; mid palate rolls into big Golden Grahams and white chocolate; the back dials up the Pilsen malts and you get some hop bitterness. 

Rating: Strong Average (3.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Average on this. This isn't bad and I would buy it again, but it's not perfect either. It's a touch cloying, and the cream soda and malt character comes across as a touch artificial. It does convey a Stout-like mouthfeel and body, and you pick up some nice white chocolate notes. It's not my favorite, but it is certainly an original beer. It's also priced very well at $10 for a 6-pack and it comes in cans. Cans are fucking awesome. I could see myself pairing this beer with coconut cake, chocolate cake, ice cream, or a burger or chicken sandwich with some tropical fruit salsa. Decent beer, totally conflicting style.

Random Thought: It's really like a malty Pilsner, no? I'm curious what the full list of ingredients for this beer is, malt extract and all.