Brunch Exorcism
Clown Shoes

Very solid beer. Black color with a nice, beige head. Coffee, chocolate, roasted malt, maple syrup, vanilla, wood, and some alcohol in the aroma. Moderately seet with pleasant roasted bitterness and lingering bourbon notes

Very good head production, and decent retention given the style and ABV.

Impressively strong and inviting aroma, carrying wonderful notes of bourbon and maple from feet away. Up close, the mash is even sweeter, the coffee comes through, and there is a nice lightly roasty and chocolatey aspect to the malt base. Additional notes of oak and prune.

On the palate, it's much more bitter, owing in part to the smoked malts, oak, coffee, and roasted malt, along with the impact of the less-sweet Irish whiskey. There is some sweetness to be found, both in the bourbon, and in the maple, which finally finds its stride after the halfway mark, but still riding atop a very woody bitterness. Absent are any significant notes of dark fruit, dark bread, or chocolate, all of which would round this out into a more enjoyable beer for my tastes.

Similarly, it's a touch thinner on the palate than I'd prefer, but it drinks well enough.

This is a very good beer that delivers on what it advertises more than on what I expected. I went into the experience anticipating more of a dessert beer, but this is indeed more of a potent BA coffee stout. The maple is noticeable, but it doesn't define the character of the beer more than the coffee. It is, indeed, a brunch stout, and a very good one, at that.

 

 

Pours pitch black, impervious to light. A fairly aggressive pour yields a few fingers of mocha head that last a while. Aroma starts as cold brew coffee; as it warms, I get more roasted malts and chocolate. Faint whiskey barrel.
Flavor is milk chocolate, touch of maple, lightly roasted coffee. Barrel aging really melds the flavors nicely. Carbonation adds to a creamy texture. Overall a very nice BA imperial stout, of the caliber I have come to expect from Clown Shoes.

2/26/21
16 oz can dated 2/14/20
4.25 rating

 

 

Attractive black appearance with an inch of mocha head. Malt aroma is fine. Nice roasted smokey malt taste, with cold pressed coffee, chocolate, bourbon barrel, and spicy hops. Light bodied for a stout with a dry finish. Overall it is very good example of roadster malts playing off smooth bourbon.

 

 

19.2oz can stamped 02/24/20 (about 7 months old) poured into a Duvel glass at just above fridge temp 10.25% ABV. The beer pours dense black with no light penetration and copper tinted brown head. The head recedes to a thin ring and single layer of tiny bubbles. Minimal lacing. The aroma is mild with maple first, then coffee and hints of smoke. The taste is semisweet maple laced with slight coffee and smoke along with mild barrel and dark roasted malt. Mildly to moderate bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. No alcohol presence in the aroma or taste. Overall, very good. I wish this would have hit town fairly fresh. Still a complex and delicious American Imperial Stout.

 

 

 

 

 

Pour is black with a deep cinnamon head. Good retention.
Nose is chocolate, a touch of smoked malt, soy sauce, subtle maple.
Taste is dark chocolate, smoked malt, a touch of bourbon/whiskey, subtle coffee and maple. Nothing dominates. bit of warming alcohol on the finish.

Black colored beer with a small brown colored head.

Smells strongly of chocolate and coffee. Smells sweet and strongly of patent malt. Scent of toasted hazelnuts.

Starts out mildly sweet with a mild roasted grain flavor. Tastes like it smells, coffee and chocolate. Fairly sweet for a stout tastes much like a milk stout. Pretty basic stout taste but it hits all the notes. Distinctly not bitter.

Mouthfeel is good.

Overall a solid easy to drink Stout.

L: Poured from a tallboy can to a pint glass. Had a deep, dark color and a thick, opaque consistency. There was a quarter inch of foamy, tan-colored, somewhat long-lasting head. Not a whole lot of lacing, though.

S: A very good aroma of coffee, chocolate, booze, maple, malt, and a nutty quality.

T: Tasted of a decent amount of malt (present throughout, but subtle) a slightly nutty tinge, a decent amount of maple syrup (mostly in the finish, but definitely present), some bourbon (and its accompanying barrel), a little chocolate (subtle, yet sweet), and a fair bit of coffee. This is a balanced, easy to like flavor. Pretty tasty.

F: A below average amount of carbonation with a super smooth finish. Medium-bodied.

O: In general, this is a rock solid, focused stout. Worth a try.

From the tall clown can in a snifter. This goodness from the
good Clown folk pours a pitch coal black with a nice head of
tan foam that settles to a thick ring, thin dusty layer, and sports
subtle lacing. Nose of boozy whiskey, smoked peat via the Irish
influence of the barrel, subtle dark maple, dark cocoa, dark
coffee, and vanilla. Flavors are deep and intense---smoked peat,
boozy whiskey, spicy rye, subtle dank barrel, dark bakers cocoa,
dark berry notes of black and blueberries, vanilla, balanced maple,
subtle cream, and boozy goodness. Excellent mouth feel; full slick
body, smooth as silk, coating, warming, light carbonation, and a
warming lightly bitter malt finish.

Overall, another WOW brew from the good Clown Folk who have
a fine taste in footwear!

Cheers