Madness & Civilization #14
Hill Farmstead Brewery

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crisp - not the strongest aroma but solid.

Cocoa, charred malt and bourbon drive this above average beer.

Bottled 2020/01/17
Pours thick inky black with 1/2 finger foamy dark brown head, fair retention, a bit of lacing, long legs that stain the glass

Nose brings roast and cocoa up front, very dark rich chocolate, dark bit smooth coffee, general big roast but not burnt, a bit of baking spices and vanilla spice, nice vanilla barrel, little nougat and cookie, not much bourbon but I do get a decent sweet fruity port wine even jammy almost

Taste rich heavy cocoa, thick chewy dark malt, roasted malt and dark coffee but smooth again, no burnt at all, coffee and cream, dark chocolate oatmeal, almost as heavy as chocolate ganache, a bit of molten lava cake but not too sweet, rich vanilla ice cream and barrel, little woody oak, light bourbon juice and more sweet fruity port,a little tawny port oxidation even, baking spices, smooth perfumey alcohol, nutty coffee, med sticky sweet finish

Mouth is very rich chewy like, thick creamy lush, light warming alcohol, lighter carb

Overall this is a winner like I expected, great smooth base stout with nice barrel notes, not too roasty, smooth alcohol, soooooo thick, a bit more barrel coming through would have pushed this over the top

poured from a 500mL bottle (bottled January, 2020) into a snifter. pours a lighter, see through black but gathers in the glass pitch black with the tiniest caramel colored collar. a prominent bourbon and oak presence with some port in the background on the nose. also get some chocolate and toffee. the chocolate and toffee follow from the nose along with caramel, oak, bourbon and a touch of raisins. full mouthfeel that’s sticky to the lips. been a while since my last HF dark beer. this one delivered.

 

80th unique beer that I have rated from Hill Farmstead! (I definately picked a good one to be number 80!)

500ml bottle with silver pressure cap. poured into Durobar Charente glass with white HF logo.

Because proper glassware always matters and I am such a nerd... Proper glassware usually makes the beer taste better! Just saying...

Bottle says "bottle conditioning since January 17, 2020."

Appearance: black bodied beer with 1 finger tall cap of medium brown colored head. Head drops down to thin ring around the glass. Shows some booze legs. No lacing at all.

Smell: You smell everything that is advertised. Milk chocolate and bakers cocoa, faint coffee, oak, big spicy bourbon, and mellow port note.

Taste: Bourbon is spicy / slightly boozy and it's the first thing you taste, but then you get undertones of rich port that build up to be the dominate barrel notes. Dry oak, leather, tobacco, light barrel char. I really like it... the contrast and complexity of the two barrels is just recklessly good. Tons of chocolate from this one. Mix of the milk chocolate and the hard core dark chocolate (we are talking the 70% or 80% dark chocolate bar). Hint of earthy coffee and chocolate in the finish with a nice light kiss of barrel. I really like how the dark chocolate and port barrel complement each other so well. As this nears room temperature, the coffee gets bigger and the chocolate flavors open up more too. As usual with blended stout from Hill Farmstead Madness and Civilization series... the balance of flavors is really, really impressive.

Mouthfeel: medium bodied stout with low and adequate carbonation levels. Not your typical HF stout body. Not as creamy of texture as usual. It's actually a little heftier than I expected as opposed to that perfectly creamy body that is the usual / expected mouthfeel. It's still has a great texture (we are talking the difference of a 4.25 score vs. the usual par mouthfeel score of a 4.50) for a Hill Farmstead blended & barrel aged stout with adjuncts.

Overall: This is my fifth installment of the Hill Farmstead Madness and Civilization series that I have had the opportunity of tasting. I got to say I am definitely a big fan of this one. It's definitely in my top 3 from the 5 of the M&C series that I have sampled. This blend has so much dark chocolate and it plays so well with the port barrel notes. Another really unique blended stout from this series for sure. Madness and Civilization #14 insures that the reputation of the Hill Farmstead M&C series "calling card" is remains intact! The excellent balance and complex flavors from a blended and barrel aged stout with adjuncts is sure to please here. This is Jedi level shit for sure!

 

Look - black and thick with a great tan head
Smell - chocolate coffee slight red wine
Taste - chocolate and coffee and roasted malt
Feel - medium full body light carb
Overall - pretty nice beer

 

 

500 mL bottle. Black body. Smells of green peppers, coffee, and red wine. Tastes of coffee, green peppers, red wine, roasted malt, more coffee, and finishes with lingering green peppers. Medium heavy. It's a shame about the green peppers. They take over.

Had this on 2021-12-25 near Pittsburgh, PA as a Christmas treat. Bottled on 202-01-17.

An enjoyable take on an Imperial Stout and although the Tawny Port flavor moderated the roasted coffee bitterness, it wasn't too complimentary to the rest of the flavors. Smell was milder than I expected. The bourbon and coffee were subdued.

 

This one pours a very dark black color, with a small head, and not much lacing.

This smells like tobacco, leather, port, dark roasted coffee, vanilla, and and dark fruit.

The port barrel throws off a spicy and leathery note that doesn't exactly jive with the coffee here. The chocolate and fruity notes are spot on and delicious, though. This doesn't seem like something that would necessarily age well.

This one is creamy, rich, and not at all boozy, with a slightly bitter and peppery note on the end.

This is somewhere near the bottom for this series, but it's still tasty and worth a try.