Morticia - Mint Chocolate Chip
Barrier Brewing Company

 

 

I am currently CANstrained to just one beer a day (generally) due to working 10.5 hours/day x 6 days per week as an "Essential Worker" for USPS. I really do not mind since it is good, solid, arduous work that has enabled me to burn off a LOT of fat, solidify my core, reinstate muscle mass & the biweekly $ is REALLY nice! If I'm drinking just one, then it had better a) be a good one & b) be in the furtherance of The CANQuest (tm). This one was a recent score at The Foodery (Northern Liberties) during my first visit to PHL in a long time (pre-12 March 2020)!

From the CAN: " Morticia Mint Chocolate Chip Imperial Stout"; "Morticia is the end. Once experienced, other beer is bland and insipid. Black as a moonless night, her aroma tempting, her strength deceptively powerful. She is unrestrained at youth, and learns mercy only with time. Morticia overpowers the senses, then warms the soul. Nursing each sip you will be transformed. And as you reach the height of her enchantment, the pinnacle of ecstacy; she will break your neck and eat you. THE END."; "Illustrated By Daniel F. Birch".

This read, to me, as a challenge & nothing I like more than a challenge, especially when & where The CANQuest (tm) is involved, since it was created in response to a challenge!

I took up the gauntlet & Crack!ed her open like a shotgun as she emitted a loud shriek in response. I then proceeded to upend her for an inverted C-Line Glug, the likes of which I have not performed in some time. She responded with a pseudo-cascade that resulted in the formation of two-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, deep-brown head with excellent retention as she stared at me in disbelief & defiance. I peered back, but her inky Opaque Blackness (SRM = 44) was both impenetrable and inscrutable, I leaned in to partake of her scent as she tried to bite my neck! Nothing doing, baby, as I reveled in the minty dark chocolatiness that wafted into my nostrils. Mmm.

I no longer eat ice cream, thanks to a mild lactose intolerance, but my favorite flavor (aside from the really weird stuff, like Bubble Gum) is, was & will be Mint Chocolate Chip. I recently finished a bag of Bones Coffee's "Mint Invaders from Chocolate Space" & if you like flavored coffees, they are the purveyors to CANtact. I found it tasty, but lacking Ooomph! so I blended it with Temecula Coffee Roasters' "Quarantine Cthulhu", which resulted in a cuppa joe that was like sticking your finger in a 220 HVAC socket while eating mint chocolate chip ice cream. Whoa!

Morticia was NOT playing around as I got that first mouthful. Mouthfeel was big, thick & creamy, truly like a dollop of ice cream had been scooped into my mouth & onto my tongue! She wanted to wrestle at this point, so I allowed her to roll around on my palate, warming as she did so. This beer tasted like that coffee blend! It was definitely NOT for the weak of heart, bringing a cool mintiness to a CANbined dark chocolate & deeply-roasted coffee flavor that would bring an ordinary mortal to his/her knees. Unholy! Morticia seized on the element of surprise (Oh) to wrap her long fingers around my neck for a nice, tight squeeze. I was having none of it as I swallowed, allowing her unholy, unearthly essence free entry into my mortal body. She seemed to have found a kindred spirit as she curled up for a nap in my stomach, allowing strong mint to effuse throughout my body. Interestingly, well past the finish, I got a strong anise/treacle flavor that lingered amongst the mint. Exhaling, I felt as though I had snuck one of my late-Pops' famous Carlton Menthols (I never took to cigarettes & now, with adult-onset asthma, my cigar days are far & few between). 8=O Phew. I have no idea as to the price point on this beer, but it was absolutely worth it! Finish was cool, minty & dry. Mmm. YMMV.

I am anxious for a ChANce to 1) visit the brewery & 2) review both the base Morticia & its variants. I'll let yinz know.

Never had the original Morticia, and the only other Mint Choc stout I had was terrible, so this could be interesting. Canned 3/04/20
Pours a large foamy dense 1+ finger brown head with great retention, nice soapy lacing, very dark black color with almost no light coming through, I do have to say no way to improve this head

Nose definitely delivers the mint and chocolate, a nice bright minty peppermint without overpowering, and some dark chocolate notes, def has the aroma like the ice cream, a hint of roast and some cocoa, background touch of coffee and some cookie notes

Taste brings bit more of a soapy mint up front, then into the typical peppermint ice cream notes, with some dark chocolate spread throughout, cocoa, a little fudgey even, a touch of roast and coffee in the background as well as mild cookie notes and baking spices, even a hint of caramel, flash of alcohol late tingles with a spike of peppermint, drier finish surprisingly, a ittle sticky, flash of alcohol and lingering peppermint

Mouth is fuller bod, rich smooth creamy velvety, med small bubble creamy carb, a touch of warming tingly alcohol

Overall this was surprisingly pretty good, the mint was dominant without destroying the beer or coming off as fake, chocolate was where it should be, base beer was a bit hard to get but there, wish the beer itself was a bit more prominent, but then again who knows if it would have clashed at that point, still a solid beer for sure.