Menelik
Omnipollo

 

 

 

 

 

 

Served in a snifter glass from the can.

Appearance: Super thick dark brown tinted black body with a dark tan head which initally rose half of one finger's length off the body.

Smell: milky chocolate and red wine aroma which hover the nose.

Taste: Dark Chocolate with a hazelnut spread and chunks of dark raisin and offset of lactose sugar. I feel toffee on top of toffee as well making this a heavy pastry stout. Literally devils food cake in a glass.

Mouth: Soft carbonation with a very sticky body.

Overall: Ridiculously impressed, reminds me a bit of pecan mud cake but more subtle. Definitely grab if you were ver so lucky.

 

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing opaque black in the glass with a half finger khaki head with good retention and light lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, cocoa, nutmeg and nuts; the nutmeg gives it an odd vegetal character that I could not place until I read the can; knowing it's there made the nutmeg pop out. Flavor is dark toasted malt, milk chocolate, raisins, light nuts, vanilla and nutmeg and a hint of coffee. Pleasant mild nutmeg lingers in the finish. Medium bodied with moderate creaminess. Whoops, if I realized this had coffee in it, I would not have let it sit this long. Fortunately it was in the fridge. To tell the truth, this is busy enough to not really need mega coffee flavor as well. After the somewhat odd, if pleasant aroma, I was very pleasantly surprised to fine the flavor well integrated and the nutmeg fitting in quit nicely. Raisins, chocolate and nutmeg are the dominate components, but suggestions of vanilla, generic nuts and a touch of coffee are also there. And the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and the flavor is very inviting. I'm a big fan of Ominpollo stouts and this one is a winner. Although the coffee has faded, I'll pick up another of these if I every see it.

 

 

04/01/21 16 Oz can @ home

Very dark appearance with slight tan head that dissipates quickly. Aroma is a prominent sweet hazelnut and raisin. Taste is a very pleasant sweet hazelnut and raisin.

From the bottom of the can: "12/09/20 14:01 LISTEN"

Appearance: Black body that is completely opaque. The head is short and a color that is slightly darker than khaki. The head slowly fades out to a fat ring around the edge of the glass and a thin island on the surface. No lacing.

Aroma: It has a big roasted grain aroma. There is that slightly metallic, acrid smelling smokiness of charcoal. A very light licorice scent emerges. Some alcohol comes through as the glass sits but it is light.

Taste: Up front there is a burnt character mixed with pistachio. The pistachio character is nice but the strong burnt flavor clashes with it. It doesn't quite taste like roasted malt but like some ingredient was burnt. Towards the middle a cinnamon flavor comes through with some burnt coffee character. Each sip seems to compound the spice of the beer giving it far more depth each time the beer is consumed. It tastes like a strange baklava tiramisu mixture. As odd as it sounds, the beer seems to grow on me the more it is consumed, as if acclimatizing to the flavors or just balancing them on the palate. The cinnamon flavor seems to be the strongest although there is also this odd burnt character that displaces it from time to time. The two don't seem to allow any room for the other flavors to develop. As a whole the beer still tastes outstanding. As the beer warms in the glass it has a mild presence of alcohol flavor.

Mouthfeel: It is a full bodied beer that creeps at the lower half of full, with a strong roastiness. It has a dominating spice presence. Roasted bitterness is high. There is a sugary sweet finish that lingers around the palate with the unfinished bitterness of the beer. It has a slow but unhampered drinkability, like enjoying a beer on a porch with the sunset.

Overall: This is definitely a beer with a personality and it isn't likely to be one that a person will soon forget. The spiraled white text on the peach colored background of the can states that this contains "YELLOW RAISIN, COFFEE, VANILLA, COCOA NIB, ALMOND, HAZELNUT, NUT MIX, NUTMEG, MILK CHOCOLATE" then later in the spiral "SPICE" and "LACTOSE SUGAR." There is no mention of pistachio but perhaps it is in the nut mix or perhaps it is just another nut which is tasting similar. The coffee character comes through but many of the other advertised ingredients do not. This beer feels better as a whole; not dissected into individual parts. This beer is a lot like tasting an interesting and new cake or dessert. It has a nice character that most people who enjoy a complex dessert would enjoy. I could drink it again but it wouldn't be a regular thing. It's worth trying at least once, especially if you have ever wanted to combine baklava and tiramisu.

Poured moderately hard from a tall can into a snifter, forming a ton of dark brown head that slowly faded to a heavy ring of lacing. Deep black body, totally opaque. Smell is a bit hard to pin down, definitely some chocolate and nuts/hazelnut. Taste is excellent, a bit hard to pin down at first, but chocolate eventually comes through prominently at the beginning, followed by sweet hazelnut. Not too boozy despite the 11% ABV. Sweet and dessert-y, but not too much. Just on the thick side of medium bodied, a bit oily with just a bit of carbonation. Hazelnut comes through even more as it warms, overall an excellent dessert stout.

 

So I bought this beer having NO IDEA what it was - couldn't even begin to read the can. (It eventually occurred to me to take a picture of it and then blow it up, but by that time I was home and the proud owner of an 11% Omnipollo Stout. OK, then....
Pours an inky dark brown (SRM pushing 40, I'd venture) with almost no head. Initial impression is cocoa, vanilla, coffee, mixed nuts, and milk chocolate. Mouthfeel is thick and silky smooth. Alcohol is incredibly well hidden, but definitely there. Finish is smooth and sweet, with a lingering note of dark chocolate. Overall, this is an excellent Imperial Stout - tons of flavor, lotta booze, but well balanced overall. Kudos to Omnipollo for this one!

Chocolate?, you got it! Hazelnut?, that too! Almond?, why not? Cream, more nuttiness, vanilla?, bring it! Hell, lets just throw in some nutmeg for extra measure. Omnipollo has a beer that has something for everyone. And for that, this beer is king!

Jet black and pouring like chocolate syrup, Menelik releases a dense tan froth while drawing in the senses with an immense chocolate, nutella and toffee scent. Much more dessert-like than anything associated with beer, the first sip of this sugar-laden Imperial Stout delivers decadent effects of cake batter, brownie mix, cappuccino and boutique hot cocoa.

As the pillowy stout stretches out across the tastebuds, the full flavor array comes with a tsunami of chocolate and nuttiness in the most candy bar way possible. Cloying, rich and highly satisfying, the lavish creamy density brings a heavy cream and warming spice of coffee liqueur, White Russian cocktails and straight Kahlua.

Full, chewy and unapologetically dense, the sixteen-ounce can is an easy two-way split, preferably with an administered insulin shot midway through. As a sipper of a beer, this true king-of-beers easily replaces dessert.