Black Strap
Voodoo Brewing Co.

At TJ's. From the cask, into a pint, and then into my mouth.

Pours a black/dark brown color with thick head that shortly dissipates.

Aroma of roasted malt, burnt wood, and chocolate. However, intense ester scents dominate these.

Tastes sharply of burnt wood, roasted/toasted malt, with hints of nuttiness followed by chocolatey sweetness.

Mouth feels full bodied with lasting sweetness which developed into coffee notes as the beer warmed.

Overall a solid hybrid brown ale/stout with a strong alcohol nose.

Served from the hand pump at TJs into a nonic pint glass. This is a bourbon -bal aged blend of their brown ale and their stout (I am guessing Cowbell, based on the consistency).

Richly colored, dark, and fully opaque in the middle of the body, there are some ruby-enriched garnet bands around the top and bottom of the beer in the glass. A coarse 1 cm of head lingers for a little while before fading into a thin 2mm film of creamy bubbles that sits on top of the dark body.

The aroma gives immediate impressions of vanilla and oak, with boucbon notably absent. There is a light roast that is accompanied by toffee, caramel, and some brown sugar sweetness. The flavor is similar, though it expands on the aroma, bringing in bourbon and molasses as accompaniments to the already balanced body.

Smooth on the palate as one would expect, the disappoinment of this beer was the mouthfeel. Bordering on watery, the style/blend information set some lofty expectations that this consistency failed to deliver on. Overall, though, this is a damn solid beer, and it made me consider continuing with it the rest of the night rather than trying something else new.