Hazelnut & Vanilla Barrel-Aged Cuvee
Fremont Brewing Company

 

Lots of roasty, nutty notes. Smores and hazelnut and German chocolate cake with a bourbon cream frosting. Fairly easy drinking.
Sweet, but not overly. About what I’d like from a desert sipper. Nice and warm, too.

Tried from Can from Tavour on 01 May 2026 at 20:09

Poured from a can at fridge temp. Pours a relatively thin black with good carbonation. A solid amount of light brown head appears and sticks around for a bit. The nose is bursting with hazelnut - that's what dominates out of the gate. Chocolate for days. Vanilla, light maple, and some brown sugar.

The taste is really nice. Getting some roasty bitterness here. Graham crackers, dark toffee, vanilla, hazelnut, dark chocolate, molasses, cinnamon, and tons of malts. Definitely sweet, but it's not too sweet.

The mouthfeel is a bit thin, but there is a nice aftertaste of toffee and hazelnut. Great beer overall.

Canned 9/15/25. Pour is a thick very dark brown with a light head and a stiff whiff of bourbon for the nose. First sip gets you a nice, rich malty taste with a definite unique taste of hazelnuts. The feel is excellent with the smoothness of the oats coming out in a longish finish. The stiff 11.8% ABV is very well hidden, so take note. The cuvee made up of a barrel aged stout playing off against the oatmeal stout with the hazelnuts and vanilla works well to keep things well-organized and playing their roles very well. Recommended.

 

2025 Release

A - Pitch black pour with a dense, burnt toffee colored frothy, creamy steady layer of foam.

S - Toasted cocoa char, hazelnut, oak, light caramel cream / vanilla.

T - Hazelnut, toasted cocoa and chocolate malt base, Bourbon, some cherry, and a little bit of oak while finishing with a pleasing lingering cocoa oak char, hazelnut, and light Bourbon.

M - Silky, viscous, light warming on the way down the pie hole, and leaves a light sticky residue on the lips.

O - Maybe a tad light in the mouthfeel for the style but overall, this is a wonderful sipper!

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing nearly opaque in the glass with a fine, one finger dark khaki head with great retention and nice lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, hazelnut, vanilla and a touch of cocoa; hazelnut dominates. Flavor is dark toasted malt, hazelnut extract, fresh vanilla, light bakers chocolate, a hint of bourbon and a little hop bitterness in the finish. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. In this blend the special hazelnut and vanilla stout is the clear dominant component. Although there is a deep enough malt to support the flavors, the stout malt seems subdued. Both the hazelnut and vanilla are very clear flavors and have genuine character, although the hazelnut tastes like a strong extract rather than mellow nuts and there a slight astringency to the finish, like the fibrous pellicle of a fresh nut. It adds to the realistic flavor of the nut. A bit unbalanced, but an enjoyable, rich stout blend. Looks fantastic.

 

Received in a trade with @snaotheus ! Pours a gorgeous viscous jet black with a very thin tan head. A very subtle vanilla aroma. Sweet almost sticky vanilla and honey flavor. There’s a faint hazelnut note on the back end. Full lush mouthfeel with hardly any carbonation. Overall, outstanding!

Not as sweet as I thought it would be, the hazelnut seems to temper both the vanilla and the alcohol. It’s smooth, with a slight bitterness and alcohol taste upfront. I’m not a fan of the slightly odd hazelnut shell-like taste at the end, but this is nonetheless a very decent beer that improves as it gets warmer.

Poured from a 16 ounce can dated 9-15-25 into a tulip glass.

Look- Deep brown, opaque, medium brown frothy head, above average head retention and lacing.

Smell- Hazelnut, vanilla, cocoa, slight bourbon, medium strength of scent.

Taste- Hazelnut, vanilla, coffee, cocoa, slight bourbon, high strength of flavor.

Feel- Medium body, average carbonation, silky, high bitterness, moderately creamy, moderately mouth warming, mildly mouth coating.

Overall- Deep brown and opaque with above average head retention and lacing. The nose was a mix of strong hazelnut, vanilla, cocoa, and slight bourbon. The flavor followed the nose with the addition of some notes of coffee layered in. Both the bouquet and flavor were too lean on bourbon/barrel character and too heavy on hazelnut. The mouthfeel had nice silkiness, but the body was slightly thinner than expected and the mouth coating properties were too low for higher marks. Overall the beer was enjoyable, but aromatic and flavor imbalances kept it from reaching greater heights.

16-ounce can purchased at Belmont Station. Date stamp reads "PKGD 09/15/25". Enjoyed in a bulbous Fort George Lupulin Ecstasy Festival glass.

This beer is a mixed bag. The hazelnut flavor is very nice, and there's lots of it. Sweetness is significant but not over the top. The vanilla is a little overpowering (your mileage may vary). Right on the heels of the vanilla is an odd and fleeting tartness. It doesn't taste like an infection, but it also doesn't taste like it belongs there. Even though it's got some good barrel character, it has more alcohol heat than bourbon flavor. Good roasted malt flavors in the finish do a decent job of grounding the beer. Body is pretty thin, given the size of the beer.

Hazelnut & Vanilla Barrel-Aged Cuveé is not a bad beer, and like the other entries in this series it's good value for the price. Overall, though, it doesn't fit together well. While I'm not sorry I tried it, I probably won't seek it out again.

 

 

16 ounce can - $5.75 at Woodstock Beer Market in Woodstock, Georgia.

PKGD 09/15/25.

Appearance: Pours a very dark brown, near black body with a nice satisfying surge of dark tan foam. No more than a few pin pricks of lace, like a faulty planetarium projector.

Smell: Slightly boozy, heavy on the vanilla-chocolate batter mix aromatics, enough to make the very ghost of long-dead Duncan Hines beam with proud, with supporting notes of red fruitiness, toasted nuts, charred barrel.

Taste: Soundly almost pressured sweetness and dark roasted maltiness with a gooey, oozing cake batter flavor replete with copious amounts of vanilla extract, chocolate. Some barrel accents and toasty hazelnuts try to emerge beyond the aforementioned sugary elements, but it maintains its sweet-heat quality from the initial sip.

Mouthfeel: Medium-full body. Medium carbonation. Very creamy, silky mouthfeel but amply heated alcohol-wise.

Overall: Whaddya want? It's a big, rich, sugary sweet beer.