Sunny Side Up (Vietnamese Coffee)
Al's of Hampden / Pizza Boy Brewing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The "base" version of SSU (the Little Amps version) is a pretty good beer, but this puts it to shame. The coffee, if anything, is dialed back, but it plays together with the chocolate perfectly, without getting too sweet. I had the Firkined version of it, which seemed to improve the off-the-chain mellowness. For the love of god, Al, put this in a bourbon barrel! It's ridiculously good as is. Bourbon barreled, it would be hella-ridiculously good.

 

Firkin served via cask hand pull.

A - Pours pitch black with a bubbly one finger tall tan head, quickly dissipating down to nothing at all, leaving no lace at all on the glass.

S - Smells of rich dark roasted coffee, chocolate, vanilla, subtle fruitiness, smokey earth and plenty of dark roasted malt.

T - Starts off with tons of coffee and chocolate quickly being joined by the light fruitiness, vanilla, smoke, earth and lots of dark roasted malt. Finish is a touch sweet with lots of roast, lingering long after the finish.

M - Heavy body with moderate carbonation. Smooth, roasty feel with a TON of coffee.

O - I am a firm believer that the base beer is the best beer they regularly make so this is a joy to have. The coffee is even stronger than normal but the slight change in beans really changes things up. I hope to see this more often in the future.