Westbrook "9th Anniversary" Peanut Butter & Chocolate Stout

Another beer for my sworn enemies. Okay, maybe not sworn enemies. But the last beer I had from these guys had coffee in it, and they didn't bother putting it on the label. This is an inexcusable offense in my book. I note that this one also doesn't say coffee on it, but I have to approach this with more than a modicum of trepidation. Instead, this claims to be a peanut butter and chocolate beer. I've had quite a few peanut butter and other stuff stouts, and I'm pretty sure I know what to look for in this kind of beer. I really hope they get this right.

The pour is very similar to its sibling, but this one has ever so slightly increased the amount of head. There's not to be any lacing, but I don't really expect that with most of these stouts. These things pour like syrup. The medium-tan head is a beehive of tiny bubbles that boils away to a soft Jackson Pollock painting on top with a ring around the sides. The aroma definitely has chocolate, and it definitely has peanut butter, but it may also have coffee. If this has coffee, I am writing a stern letter.

First sip has damn coffee in it. Is not the primary ingredient, but this has the same problem as the last beer in that coffee tends to overwhelm everything else in it. Even the peanut butter is having a hard time poking through the coffee. What is wrong with you people? Why would you do this to me? Is it something I did? Are you secretly the people responsible for the hibiscus cucumber crap that was labeled for Magic Hat?

Tip-in is coffee with chocolate drizzled on top and carbonation not doing anything at all. The middle sloshes in with roasted peanuts that have been on the fire too long, a bitterness from the chocolate, and a bitterness from the coffee that is a tad more muted now. The finish is where I expect the coffee to jump on me, and it's more of a wave of coffee aroma on top of the chocolate with a sprinkle of vanilla before coffee surges with bitterness into the trail-off.

Bottom Line: Words mean things. Try using them.

1.25/5