Bust Le Nut
Mad Squirrel

an imperial milk stout with hazelnut here, and a really smooth and flavorful beer overall, my very first from mad squirrel. its a cool drink, a bit decadent, but natural on the hazelnut, robust as it is, and smooth as can be in feel, not quite diabetic, but desserty and sweet still. a deep brown color to it and some obvious body. the aroma is gorgeous from the hazelnut, not a spread, not a candy, not a chocolate dipped, but the real thing, true to form, so rare to get that much honest nut in a beer, very well done here, and rich as it is, its real attractive because its pure to me. there is some real deep malt behind it, a coffee sort of roast, and then a lighter almost brown ale cocoa complexion, some bitterness to balance the sweet, and a soft vanilla hit as well. the flavor is awesome, and the hazelnut is incorporated pretty well, like it doesnt stand out as a forced addition, but rather an integral part of the greater while. its nice the base beer is as big and bold as it is, a lesser stout might not hold up so well, but there is evenness and smoothness to this that makes it a real nice sipper. a little more residual sugar than it needs, but its not absurd, and i always am sensitive to that personally, its done really well, and i feel like the sweetness is almost needed with all the hazelnut to make it carry. creamy texture on this, lots of weight, but gentle in overall feel. i like the identifiable english yeast in it as well, gives it a certain old timey character that would be missing if it were absent. im not sure why all these have to be gimmicky and cloying in the states, this is better than almost any i have had in this category on this side of the pond. awesome use of a real challenging ingredient here, and there is tons of it. bravo! this would be insane in a whiskey barrel...