Fumapapa
Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project

 

2015 bottle, drank out of a Dogfish Head oversized brandy bulbous glass.

Held up to the test of time; as they always say, wish I’d stashed a few more away...

Looked beautiful. Poured thick and left a nice rim plus more brown foam in the center. Pretty impressive given 7 years of aging.

Smell - nice stout smell, a bit of roast and char but not too heavy, a tiny bit of sweetness. No smoke.

Taste - not as strong as the smell, more mellow from a roast and char sense. If I tried really hard, I could get a whiff of smoke but that was largely gone, or was never there to begin with. Either way - when it warmed a bit, it was great, everything clicked right. Hard to pinpoint, just a close to perfect RIS in the traditional sense.

Feel - medium to thick, just about right.

Overall - think I’ve got two more Pretty Things left after this, so this was a warm up to the finals...and a damn nice one. Hadn’t had it fresh, so glad I had it nicely aged. Cheers!

22 oz bottled in: Dec 2015

Pours black with a tan foam head. Some smoke is still apparent in the aroma with dark graham cracker and slight red apple skin notes. Roasty, toasty, nutty, smoky, and full of rich dark chocolate fudge notes. The taste is full still with rich fudgy dark chocolate and coffee roasted malt flavors with an overlying sweet smokiness with notes of vanilla, dark caramel, dark fruit and toasty dark nutty graham cracker. Mouthfeel is creamy smooth and thick, medium bodied with low carbonation. Overall a really great smoked imperial stout.

Bottled December 2015. My last remaining Pretty Things bottle. Opened to celebrate the opening of their new brewery in England. Didn’t ever drink the beer when it was fresh so I’m not sure how smoky it was originally but three years on it had no noticeable smoke aroma or flavor. Instead the flavor and aroma are dominated by chocolate. Thick and rich and strong but no hot alcohol flavors. Very tasty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bought a bottle at the Beer Shop in East Longmeadow. The beer poured with a black appearance and a thin, brown head that lasted throughout the evening. Aromas were full of malt, dark roasted coffee, mocha, and chocolate wrapped around a woody, earthy tone. Incredible taste of boozy, sweet chocolate and caramel. Great texture and mouthfeel; creamy and dense. Overall, a fantastic drink from a brewery I will miss.

 

 

 

Ahhhhh shit I'm gonna miss these guys. A stout right up there with the best of them. Deep space black. Aroma of oats, fresh dug earth, coffee, chocolate, charcoal and smoke. Great cascade of sweet malt, bitter coffee, sugary chocolate and an incredibly complimentary smokiness. It works so well. Finished with a creamy mouthfeel and a heavy dose of sadness.

Very dark with a middling cappucino colored head. Full of great smoky aroma lightly backed by chocolate. Full of wonderful smoke, the chocolate is more present than in tharoma and coffe finishes with flavor and bittering leaving you to come back for more. Thick, syrupy and chewy mouthfeel exactly what I want from a RIS. Sad to see Pretty Things coming to a close, especially since I just found this great beer. I will be heading back out to pick up more of these while they are still left on the shelf.

Appearance: The bubble show produces a thick, frothy, two inch mocha head that leaves a skein of lacing; the liquid is pitch black

Smell: Chocolate and smoked meat with hints of coffee and caramel

Taste: Smoke forward with sweetened dark chocolate building; the hints of caramel and coffee arrive after the swallow but the smoke and chocolate continue to dominate through the finish

Mouthfeel: Full bodied and rather creamy; low to moderate carbonation

Overall: I am not the biggest fan of most smoked beers and while that would limit my desire to revisit this one (despite being sad about the demise of this brewery) this is a good beer for the style