Time for some reviews I know you’ve been dying for—Harpoon Brewery and Dunkin’ coffee-themed beers! These four Dunkin’ coffee inspired brews returned this year in Harpoon’s Dunkin’ Box O’ Beer, and the brewery sent me cans of each beer to review.

It’s the fifth year the two companies have collaborated, and this year’s offerings not only include Dunkin’ Pumpkin but three new beers to round it all out. Let’s just get straight to those reviews!

Dunkin’ Coffee Roll Cream Ale

I started with the Coffee Roll, a 4.6% ABV cream ale brewed with actual Dunkin’ products:

Sugar, spice and everything nice – everything you could want with this classic Dunkin’ donut-inspired beer. Brewed with actual Dunkin’ Coffee Rolls and Dunkin’ coffee, this beer balances notes of cinnamon goodness and coffee roast in an easy-drinking Cream Ale.

So I guess you’d say it’s a pastry cream ale, if there’s ever been such a thing.

Appearance: Orange color, translucent, with an off-white head.

Smell: Coffee liqueur, light cinnamon spice (perhaps a bit of allspice as well), with a sweet roll aroma a bit like a Danish.

Taste: Grainy, lighter cream ale base with light spices and a bready/doughy character—reminds me of raw cinnamon roll dough. Perhaps a touch yeasty as well. Coffee notes are subtle and provide a bit of fruitiness, esters.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light body with light spice into the finish.

Overall: Interesting, fruitier/more estery than I’d expect, but it matches the description and is fairly drinkable.

Dunkin’ Pumpkin – Spiced Latte Ale

I’ve reviewed the Pumpkin before, it’s inspired by Dunkin’s take on the ubiquitous Pumpkin Spice Latte, and this year Harpoon changed up the recipe a bit (it’s been brewed with lactose previously):

This year’s ‘spiced latte ale’ has an updated recipe. It’s brewed with pumpkin puree, cinnamon, Dunkin’ cold brew, and now includes oat milk which helps to replicate the creamy mouthfeel found in a latte. Get your favorite flannel ready, because this coffee beer has those perfect autumn spice notes with just the right amount of pumpkin flavor.

It’s 5.2% ABV.

Appearance: Kind of a pale brown color, cloudy. Creamy and dense light tan head.

Smell: The mild notes of pumpkin spice with some creaminess that does come off as latte-like. A bit of brown sugar, a hint of sweetened coffee. Mellow.

Taste: It’s not really sweet in flavor, but there are notes of roasted pumpkin and toasted oats with a background of spices that hint at cinnamon but are a bit muddled. Coffee? Maybe; it’s a touch nutty.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, some spice on the tongue, with a dry finish.

Overall: It’s fine, but kind of generic and doesn’t much resemble a pumpkin spiced latte.

Dunkin’ Cold Brew Coffee Porter

A straight-up coffee porter bucks the trend among these other beers with extra ingredients, other than the coffee and a bit of lactose. The description reads:

New Englanders know that ordering a Dunkin’ ‘Regular’ means coffee with cream and sugar. In honor of a regional classic, this porter takes Dunkin’ Cold Brew and adds some lactose to capture a little of the creamy sweetness you would find in your standard Dunkin order.

Cold Brew is 6% ABV, and is the darkest of the bunch.

Appearance: Dark brown and opaque. Creamy and dense tan head.

Smell: Nice chocolate and roasty coffee aromas, with a bit of creamy character. A bit of cold brew coffee with some dark roast coffee bean.

Taste: Pretty good robust porter with dark malt flavors giving some chocolate, a touch of caramel, hard-toasted bread. Coffee character is rich and smooth, it stays dark but mellow (no acrid or acidic notes), and the lactose is subtle with a light sweetness.

Mouthfeel: Medium to medium-full body, with a lingering chocolate-coffee flavor.

Overall: This one is tasty with a good expression of all three elements (beer, coffee, lactose).

Dunkin’ Hazelnut Blonde Stout

I have to say, I’m always skeptical of “blonde” (or white) stouts, just because the hoops brewers have to jump through to try to create the roasty and dark “stout” flavors without using roasty or dark malts always seem contrived. There’s a few exceptions I’ve had, but still.

This one goes for a hazelnut-flavored coffee, but why Harpoon decided to go the “blonde” route is a bit beyond me. The description says:

Just because it’s a coffee beer doesn’t mean it has to be dark! Pale, wheat, and oat malts are used to create a golden appearance with a slight haze, while still delivering the full mouthfeel you expect from a stout. Giving that classic boost of flavor, this beer delivers the rich nuttiness with a touch of sweetness that you would expect from your morning Dunkin’ hazelnut coffee.

At 6.2% ABV it’s the strongest beer of the four, though none of these is over the top in strength (that’s a good thing).

Appearance: Murky light brown color, opaque, not terribly attractive. Off-white head that’s thick and creamy.

Smell: Subtle hazelnut extract (or even Torani syrup) aroma; it’s kind of sugary though it has an artificial note to it. Some coffee bean, vanilla. Mild aroma overall.

Taste: Muddled flavors that don’t evoke “stout” but are slightly nutty, with some toasted puffed barley (Cap’n Crunch cereal?), and at the end there’s an artificial nut flavor which is really… weird. Like a nut extract you’d bake with. Otherwise it’s kind of unremarkable, with (oddly) some notes of navy beans.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with some nuttiness lingering into the aftertaste.

Overall: To my palate it’s artificial-tasting and ultimately not successful.