Tis the season of bold flavored dark brews, of winter ales and stout beers. I recently bought a new batch of tallboys at the store. I found a decent amount of new beers to try. Its always nice when you come across something new. On the other hand it can be difficult to choose which new beer to try first. For this week's #Beersaturday I only drank one beer and I decided to go for a Nitro Stout that I happened to buy two of. Let see how I made out.
Winter Beard: Nitro Latte Stout
Brewery: Muskoka Brewery
Origin: Bracebridge ON Canada
Style: Flavored Nitro Stout
Abv: 4.5%
IBU: Unknown
SRM: Unknown
Marketing: The can was a matte black color with metalic bronze, white and creamy tan accents. The image was a burly man with a thick winter beard, which is very on point with the tilte of the beer - this is the breweries "Winter Beard Stout series," afterall. The brewery usually has a cranberry stout that comes out at this time of year also, though I didn't see it on the shelf this time around. This Nitro beer used the shake method (non-widget), which I've had mixed results with in the past. This time it worked out pretty well for me. I still ended up with a good amount of beer on my hand but it didn't explode and I got a good amount of cacading foam out of it.
The beer contains coffee from a local roaster, flaked oats and lactose sugar, per the label, which suggests that its a milk stout. Overall I liked the marketing quite a bit. The design image was fun and it definitely looked like a can that would hold a stout beer. Kudos to the Winter Beard design and marketing team!
Color: The beer poured a rich black color with a mocha head of tightly packed micro bubbles. The pour produced the expected cascade reverse waterfall, common among Nitro stouts. The head lasted for the duration of the drinking experience and the beer looked very appetizing in its color and appearance.
The blurb on the back suggests that the head, paired with the use of coffee, gives it that latte look and taste, just as it's name suggests.
Nose: I got strong roasted notes in the nose, with coffee and dark chocolate coming through as well.
Taste: the beer tasted sweet upfront with a good amount of bitterness in the finish to balance it out. Definitely got some coffee flavors coming through also and maybe a hint of vanilla. It was a very flavorful beer with no fake extract flavors.
Texture: Some very subtle but sharp tiny bubbles on the tongue with a smooth and velvety mouthfeel underneath. It was a little watery on the palate like most nitro beers, but the little bit of carbonation added a nice subtle mouthfeel.
Impression: Overall I thought that this was a really good beer. It had a lot of flavor without any fake extract tastes to it and not too much sweetness like many beers that add lactose to their ingredients. I bought two of them at the store and I'm glad that I did. I would definitely drink this again and will soon.
A good combo the vanilla and coffee. I like a good stout like that. It's always good when you get two and the first is a winner!
Yes definitely. Its backfired on me a few times - like I bought two and the first one was practically not drinkable. I have one of those sitting in the fridge from summer. I guess its waiting to be pawned off on someone else lol. I should probably just toss it because it likely won't ever be drank