I'm betting most of you don't bother using the label links that I put on the individual reviews on this blog, but I try to keep them updated to make it easier for me to catalog the beers and to find any of them for reference points. I normally pull this information directly off of the label on the beer. In this case, I had to go to their website to find out the 6.0% ABV. It would have been nice of them to have included that on the label, but I guess their tagline of "It's not normal" excuses them from doing this common courtesy.
The deep brown beverage turns black at its thickest points, and the off white head clings to the side of the glass as if it's going to be leaving some lacing. The aroma is deliciously roasted malts that bring out some coffee and cocoa, but pine and possible spices are bringing a complexity to the beer that will hopefully drown out the coffee more than anything.First sip has quite a bit of coffee in it. The roasted malt tries to sway the coffee into being something more, but I don't think it has enough in it. A little bit of vanilla joins in with some of the pine hops, and I really wish I was tasting more of that chocolate and maybe some seared brown sugar or even some oats, but I'm not getting anything of it. It's not like drinking a cup of coffee, but it's not like drinking a beer I like.
Tip-in is light chocolate, seared malt, a ghost of coffee, and pine. The middle is completely drinkable, as it becomes a thin syrup with carbonation frizzling about the mouth while a bitter chocolate and coffee mix into that charred malt without becoming overpowering. The finish is a dry snap followed by bitterness and coffee with vanilla highlighting it before running away.
Bottom Line: This is not the Merry Christmas I asked for.
1.5/5