My morning starts with NPR on my radio and a Fitbit vibrating on my wrist. I have no problem waking up to talking but on those days when I do, the tremor on my left arm is enough to jolt me awake. The Wife, on the other hand, requires either a beckoning child or the shrill “Mah mah mah” of an angry alarm clock to bring shake her into the day.

I get dressed, get The Kid going, head downstairs and get her breakfast ready. From there, it’s school drop off and a stop at Starbucks before heading into the office. In terms of time, that means I’m about 75 minutes from wakeup to the first sip of coffee (trenta iced coffee with light ice and a little skim milk). Some mornings that’s enough. Other days, if someone is going to Dunkin Donuts, I’ll go for a large iced dark roast with skim.

For a while, I was caffeine dependant. My shrink (Oh please. As if you didn’t see that coming. Most of you could stand to see one too) actually diagnosed me as such because I was consuming upwards of 8 to 12 shots of espresso per day via lattes. Apparently, you develop said dependence by habitually consuming 100mg of caffeine per day over a period of time. The other telltales for physical dependence were the sweats and jitters I would experience when large amounts of coffee were not funneled into my enormous head.

Beer and coffee typically experience a head-on collision in the stout category, though there are very nice exceptions. While chocolate, imperial and oatmeal stouts made with coffee are nice, I prefer mine from the milk stout family. For those unaware, brewers add lactose (or milk sugars) to the brewing process and this creates a sweeter, creamier stout. Left Hand probably makes the best milk stout in a bottle or on draught.

Emerging this year in wide distribution from Abita (one of Al Dente’s favorite breweries) was its Macchiato Espresso Milk Stout. The usual malt suspects are rounded up to create the stout’s base — caramel, chocolate, pale and roasted malts — while Williamette hops bring balance. Now, the roasted malts typically bring coffee flavors, but Abita takes it a step further by brewing the beer with espresso dolce beans from P.J.’s Coffee, a New Orleans-based chain that has spread throughout the Bayou and Gulf Coast. This sweeter espresso blend lends itself nicely to the lactose-sweetened stout.

This is a stout that pours as dark and black as my 10th grade homeroom teacher’s heart and boasts a coffee aroma so strong that you thought you were in the teacher’s room with her (Seriously, an air freshener could go a long way to make those dens of second-hand furniture and burnt, low quality coffee a lot nicer). The Macchiato has a strong coffee flavor, as you might expect from a Louisiana coffee house, with a sweet finish from the sugars. As it sits in your glass, the coffee scent fills the air around you as if there was a pot brewing.

My bias to Abita beers is unabashed, though there have been some misses on their part over time (Jockamo IPA, and their Satsuma Harvest have been among their weakest offerings). As milk stouts go, this is good. In terms of coffee stouts, it’s pretty fantastic. In the class of coffee milk stouts, well, it’s a first-rate effort.

Brewer: Abita Brewing Company

Beer: Macchiato Espresso Milk Stout

Style: Sweet stout/milk stout

ABV: 6.0% IBU: 21

Container: 22 oz. bottle

Price: $5.49 Point of Purchase: Oliver’s, Albany, N.Y.

To The Eye: Black with a thick, khaki head.

To The Nose: Like standing near an espresso maker.

To The Palate: Medium to medium-high carbonation. Creamy mouthfeel with a sweet flavor. The coffee is present from start to finish.

Aftertaste: Coffee bitter with a light sweetness.

Boozy Factor: You don’t notice it.

On a Scale of 1 to 10, with 10 as highest: 8.5