I went through the effort of making a label for dessert beers. It seems like kind of a murky definition for a beer, and it's very subjective. That said, I never made one for peanut butter, and I think I've seen peanut butter in quite a few beers. I may have to go back and include a label for all of the beers that have had peanut butter in them at this point. Stouts are generally fairly low in alcohol content, and I suppose a good way to give a stout a little bit of pep and heft is to age it in bourbon barrels for a while to bring that ABV up to 8.2%. Now, it's a real adult beverage.
The dark brown beer has a red hue to it, but this sucker is black through the center. The off-white head of small bubbles disappears very quickly, and I'm not sure if I even got any of the head in the picture. There are some bubbles that manage to stay around a quarter of the edge of the glass, but they are just decoration. The aroma is quite peanut butter, but it has earth somewhere behind it. Peanuts are one of those things that overwhelm most other flavors that they are paired with, and that appears to be the case here with the aroma.First sip is very peanut butter forward, but the finish seems particularly watery. I'm not really sure what's going on here, but I'm not really tasting any of the alcohol, I'm tasting very little of the malt, and if there are any hops in here, they died at birth. What should have been a tour de force in Stout solidity and peanut butter creaminess is, in a sip, underwhelming. Once again I find myself in the position where the beer is not outright bad, but it is too meek by a long shot. Maybe a sip doesn't give it enough time. Let's try a gulp.
Tip-in is light carbonation tingle with gentle peanuts and lightly roasted coffee (frequent visitors to the site may note my dislike of coffee, but this does not overwhelm to the point that I'm willing to just throw out the beer). The middle reflects some of the thinness of the sip, but it's not nearly as pronounced behind the smooth peanut butter, rising coffee, oak, and swelling bourbon. The finish is way too much coffee that comes on strong and makes the peanut butter run away.
Bottom Line: I like the idea of this more than I like it.
2.0/5