Genealogy of Morals: Vista Hermosa Sarchimor
Hill Farmstead Brewery

 

 

 

Unique beer #88 from this brewery!

500ml bottle poured into HF branded White Etched Durobar Charente glass.

"bottle conditioning since May 2022".

Appearance: Black bodied stout with medium brown colored head that pours 2 fingers thick / tall. Spotty lace on the side of the glass. Head eventually drops down to a thick ring around the outside of the glass.

Smell: The coffee is really punchy in the nose here for this stout.

Taste: Rich bourbon upfront with a balanced bitterness of dirt / earthy coffee is found in the finish. Cocoa powder & milk chocolate medley, caramel, and vanilla in the middle. Even getting some light barrel char, leather, light meaty smoke, and black licorice. Complex and layered flavors as expected from this series.

Mouthfeel: Silky & creamy texture per usual for this Hill Farmstead GOM series stouts. This is usually my favorite part of this stout series is the texture of these Hill Farmstead barrel aged wheat stouts. The finish here actually dries out your tongue a little bit with each sip. medium bodied stout with no carbonation levels. no booze at all.

Overall: I always enjoy another installment of this Genealogy of Morals series. A base wheat stout with delicious coffee in a bourbon barrel? Yes please I will always be interested in that kind of stout from Hill Farmstead.

One side note / minor complaint with this stout is: I wish the black licorice note was not in this stout as it is not my favorite flavor to find in a stout & I feel like it was really holding back a better potential score for the beer. I also feel like this could have been a flavor that the stout would not have had if the bottles were released to sales at a sooner date / fresher bottle. I know that black licorice is usually an oxidation flavor because the stout is starting to get older. I am not really sure why Hill Farmstead likes to bottle condition barrel aged stouts instead of releasing the beer immediately upon bottling/packaging it, but it's their barrel program...So they can do whatever they want! I will get off my soapbox now.

 

Bottled on 5/11/2022; consumed on 7/6/2023

Pours a silky, motor-oil black body capped with multiple fingers of fluffy, soapy, chestnut-brown foam; good head retention yields a half-finger of cap, large, creamy collar, and chunky webs of sudsy lacing spread moderately over the walls of the glass.

Aromas of freshly brewed coffee pop as earthy bean meets gritty cacao; a tinge of dried orange is residual alongside a distinct vanilla undertone and burgeoning wafts of bourbon over time.

Taste offers fresh coffee husk sporting an orange peel undertone, while bourbon oak espouses vanilla and roasted malt undertones as cacao pod turns to luxury milk chocolate over the mid-palate, finishing with notes of toasted caramel.

Mouthfeel shows a medium-light body with a moderate, fluffy spritz of carbonation, a creamy silk dispersing into pillowy subtext accented with underlying roast as a subtle, building warmth proceeds through the back end.

Fresh coffee leans into a refined, silken body, leveling quaint barrel warmth and attenuated bittersweetness to highlight exceptional layers of roast; another effortless sipper from the Hill barrel program.

 

This one pours a very dark black color, with a small foamy head, and lots of sticky lacing.

This smells like boozy caramel, roasted malt, licorice, raisin, cherry, smoke, chocolate-covered marshmallows, and espresso.

This is an intriguing little coffee stout, with a really pleasant herbal, almost smoky bitterness, and a sweet fruity and decadent coffee flavor up front. I get caramel, marshmallow, licorice, and darkly roasted espresso. The barrel is mild, with a touch of caramel and some slight oak.

This is medium bodied, with no booziness. It’s quite drinkable for the style.

This is one of the better entries in this long running series in a while.