Beer - #262 - Southern Tier - Creme Brulee Stout

This has been ages coming, and has worked it's way to the front of the fridge,and as a Boxing Day beer I'm hoping for a taste bud revival.

Southern Tier Creme Brûlée Stout - Brewed by Southern Tier Brewing Company as an Imperial Stout   in , of all places, Lakewood, New York USA

650ml, or 22oz, or 1 Pint 6 oz, of a 9.5% ABV beer, making it 4.9 standard drink units (give or take)  in NZ.  It's also about 290 calories,  or about 2 christmas mince pies worth. Keeping it seasonal.

Columbus and Horizon Hops, for Bitterness and then Aroma.

“a stout of great contention” We are not the harbingers of truth as some may suggest but it may indeed be argued that our brewing philosophy is tantamount to a dessert with a bellicose past. How, you may ask, would a brewery determine a likeness to hard-coated custard? Our response is simple; it’s all in the power of history, and of course, the extra finesse needed to top off a contentious treat with definition. 

By comprehending the labyrinthine movement of time, one would not think it strange to trace the errant path of an ordinary object such as a cream dessert only to discover that it has been the cause of cultural disputes since the middle ages. The British founders of burnt cream and from Spain, crema catalana, both stand by their creative originality and we respect that, but it was the French Crème Brûlée, amid the strife of contention, that survived to represent our deliciously creamy brew. 9.6% abv • 25º plato • 195º L • 22 oz / 1/6 keg 2-row pale malt / dark caramel malt / vanilla bean / lactose sugar / kettle hops: columbus / aroma hops: horizon

That should intrigue you enough to want to try it.

There is a really rich deep vanilla aroma on opening, just like the real thing (the dessert that is).

Pours really dark black, with a nothing type of head that dissipates, but the aroma! oh the aroma is is to behold.

Is a really "thick" drink of burn sugars, caramel, sugar, goodness!

There is an on the tongue bitterness at the front, but there is a crashing overall sweetness and flavour Tsunami over the top, and you're left with sweet sticky lips.

As it warms slightly it just gets "thicker" if that's a way to describe it, "Fuller" might be another way. The tang of bitterness is always there but this is a really good a complete delivery of what it says it is.

The pdubyah-o-meter is going to, somewhat harshly, grant this 9.5 on the arbitrary scale of things. Although well carbonated this lacks both a head and lacing in the glass, which I would have enjoyed seeing.

9.5 thought is lofty company indeed, this is a very intense drink that is far far from the madding crowd and stands alone in this field, even if the field was vanilla porter there is this and daylight. In spades.

For the very lazy diner this would easily replace the tedious spoon lifting action and be dessert in a glass.  I shall say again, the burnt caramel, the toffee, the vanilla, and the tang of bitter, it's almost but not quite love. Then there is hazelnut which I didn't mention, and coffee. It  is a beer that just keeps giving.

It is however a beer you should consider as a finisher, and not a session beer, it is a beer that you should share with friends because it's just that good, and you should have this or the pudding, not both. Both would be an indulgence, and you only need one a day.

Bit of  a mistake to have this pre-dinner but at least I go to the barbecue with a big big smile on my face, with the sounds of Neil Young on the music machine.

All is a bit good in my hood.

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