Profiled by Maria Devan
This pours a dark brown. It has sumptuous brown hues. Thick and pours out slow like oil. A creamy head of chocolate colored foam reminds me of a milkshake. This beer will show you lace and legs.
Nose is sweet chocolate caramel and cream. Earthy coffee and the bright presence of the pepper. No vanilla. The pepper seemed to fade into the beer as the malts took over. Caramel a bit nutty and a light airy chocolate.
The taste is silken and long. That caramel is luscious alright and lasts on the palate. There’s barley and a grainy roast that does not touch burnt so it’s creamy. There is a cocoa powder so light so provocative that it actually feels like a dusting of cocoa powder on the back of the throat. it is delicate and that is a pleasant paradox. The pepper is earthy and shows you everything gently but no real heat. There is a touch of cream to this flavor that lets you see the depth of that roast but only askance as it finishes full, slightly chewy . The pepper finally flares up just a little in the aftertaste and the beer ends smooth, dry and beyond chocolatey.
4
Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”
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Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is a great beer writer. That’s Maria in the middle. The other two are not, but they are lucky to have her as a friend.