Call Me A Fool
Haymarket Beer Co. Pub & Brewery

 

a belgian rye stout, and a cool recipe, but oddly for these guys who always seem to hit, not all that well executed when i had it. its almost flat from the tap and looks sort of slick and greasy in the glass. it smells complex, with the rye malt obvious, a good medium roasted layer, and plenty of estery belgian yeast with notes of cooked banana, bubblegum, and even canned pineapple to me. the flavor is fine too, a bit of the spice coming up from the grain before the bitterness of the roast takes it over, a good layered approach to the malt flavor thats well done, notes of dark chocolate and cola here too. the belgian yeast approaches being over the top though for me, pushing phenolic, it has sharp fruitiness and even vanilla to it, which makes the beer seem at first sweet and then almost chemical, breaking down what the rye and roasted grain had established before it. raisin and clove at the end, but almost no life to it in terms of feel, even if the flavors work well enough, its near still in texture and that never seems right to me in a belgian style. ambitious, and close, but this one didnt quite all the way come together for me...