Breakfast Stout (French Oak)
The Kernel Brewery

 

 

33cl bottle into a Duvel tulip. Enjoyed alongside the regular Breakfast Stout and a couple Cuban Montecristos on my last night in London. Good times.

A: Pours a black body under a magnificent two-inch head of creamy tan foam. Terrific, rocky retention and sheets of lace. The head makes me think there might be some funky critters in this one, but it's gorgeous regardless.

S: Yup, lactic sourness if the first thing to hit my nostrils, followed by vanilla oak, vinous tannins, and finally some coffee and malt. It's a really nice aroma for a sour stout, but given the sheer awesomeness of the unoaked version I was hoping the barrel treatment would be less extreme.

T: At first it's almost all sour, vinous oak. Lacto, tannins, grapes, tart cherries are all prominent. As it warms, though, the richness of the base beer begins to shine through with hearty chocolate, coffee, and caramel alongside the tart funkiness. It's really delicious, even if not at all what I was expecting and hoping for.

M: A little thinned out and overcarbonated compared to the luscious original, but not excessively so.

O: I see from the prior review that the barrel in question was one first used by De Molen, and that some funk was present a month ago. The infection has certainly progressed in the meantime, as (especially when cold) this was far more sour than stout. It was never, though, anything but completely delicious.

Cheers!

Pours black with a rich tan head that lowered to a 1/2 finger and left decent lacing. The aroma is sweet. Chocolate, fresh baked cinamin cookies, cedar, oak, molassis, and booze. The taste is full of cocoa, fresh cut wood and charred wood, quite dry. There was a tinge of sour citrus in the front of the taste and some booze and bret in the back end. I was told they aged it in a used De Molens Barrel which may explain some of the funk in the flavor. The palate is soft light and a bit frothy for the style. Med to full bodied with soft carbonation. Overall this is a very nice beer the funky flavors make it interesting but do detract from the traditional flavor profile.