The dark brown beer has a good amount of head that fizzles down to a quarter inch or so of foam that makes the whole festive countenance of the beer seem more like a party. The aroma is roasted grains, bitter dark chocolate, and alcohol just nestled into the warm rug of malt.First sip is the roasted grains joining coffee grounds and vanilla. The sip isn't particularly bad, even for someone like me who doesn't like coffee. It seems like it has a lot of carbonation, and that's making me burp a bit just from the sip. Odd.
Tip-in is mild carbonation tingle with the roasted grains and a caramel malt mixed with some earth under it. The middle widens to include more grains, some dark fruit, and that's about it; the middle is pretty weak. The finish is a haze of bitterness with coffee, pine, and remnants of the dark chocolate.
Bottom Line: It would seem like something that I don't like, but it has enough going for it.
2.5/5
