Tobacco Road
Church-Key Brewing Company

On cask at Volo Cask Days 2008. Aged with tobacco leaves.

Pours a hazy dark reddish brown, thin tan head forms, quickly settles to a very thing collar, big bubbles, no lacing, disappears pretty quickly. Smell is amazing, chocolate, smoke, heavy heavy vanilla, toffee, cigar and tobacco, ash, charred wood, very complex and very good. Taste is great too, toffee, lots of vanilla, chocolate, roast, butterscotch, wood, tobacco, lots of smoke, nice clean bitter roasty finish, vanilla is excellent. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with low carbonation, a little slick. Very nice beer, great experiment.

on cask at volo cask days 2008

served dark brown with some soapy looking bubbles and soft carbonation. i was lucky enough to get one of the first pours from this cask.

the aroma of this brew was amazing. smokey tobacco, chocolate and leather. very big and complex nose.

the flavours were nice but a bit thinner then the aroma. the smoke wasnt in the flavour as much as the nose but the chocolate really shone though as the prodominate flavour.

the mouthfeel was a touch thin and is really the only thing that held this one back from being the standout of the whole event.

very nice stuff that i hope i see again.

In a word, tobacco. Cask Ale Fest, Bar Volo 2008. Amazing aromas of tobacco and aroma, smoke. But the taste is one dimensional tobacco juice. Brown smokey colour. Medium mouthfeel. Smooth, but you need be a smoker. Smoke in the secondary.Not the smoke, a one-off.

sampled oct 19/08 on cask at volo as part of cask days 2008.

this is supposedly a variation of their holy smoke smoked porter, but with tobacco leaves. didn't seem to have the characteristic dominating smokey character of the HS that i'm not really a fan of and really stands on its own. in fact, i hope to see this one as more than just a one-off. i've left it in the same style category as the base beer since that seems like the best match.

pours deep brown, not quite black but still mostly opaque. a small layer of large tan bubbles covers the top, falling slowly and leaving no lace.

aroma is excellent. reminds me of a nice vanilla pipe tobacco or even vanilla cigars. light caramel and toffee sweetness. vanilla. light fruity component. tobacco leaves, fresh and green. bit of nutth character too, pecan mostly. milk chocolate. hint of alcohol. the more i smell it, the more the chocolate and vanilla seem to come out. light bready malt. bit of cracker.

taste is great. a little different than the aroma, but still very good. the chocolate and vanilla come out more and the tobacco takes more of a back seat, but otherwise most of the components from the aroma are there. low bitterness level. touch of toasted wheat bread.

mouthfeel is good. medium body with a fairly dry finish. very low carbonation works well.

drinkability is good. this one surprised me a little. i find the holy smoke is generally over-the-top and not really enjoyable but really enjoyed this one. great balance. nice depth. overall a really neat idea that i definitely enjoyed. after the first glass i went back for two more. good stuff!