Training Wheels Coffee Vanilla Belgian
Indie Ale House Brewing Company

Bottle: Poured a deep brown color ale with a large brown foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of sweet Belgian malt with coffee notes is quite interesting. Taste is dominated by sweet Belgian malt with some coffee notes, some cocoa and light residual sugar notes. Body is about full with great carbonation. I can’t say the vanilla was very much present the overall mix was quite enjoyable.

Training Wheels pours with a mushroom cloud for a head, one that slowly mounts the glass until triumphantly it crests over top of it like the peak of a mountain. This beer has a life force of its own (yeast) that frankly makes getting to the actual liquid a bit awkward - liquid, by the way, that is dark but subtly illuminated with redwood highlights.

Belgian yeast never really needs any help in the flavour department, but, for the record, vanilla and coffee are surprisingly good accompaniments to its raisiny dried fruits and baking spices. Whereas these stubborn yeast strains typically refuse to play along, this bouquet has those savory-spice notes locking arms with black coffee and vanilla bean. They're buddies!

The resulting flavour is something like pumpkin spice latte, albeit with far less sweetness and far more roasty astringency, not to mention strong tastes of prune and bruised purple plum. It's kind of like holiday fruitcake meets cooked, black Pu-erh tea meets your morning cup of Joe. It's an unusual combination of flavours that turns out to be unexpectedly delicious together.

Did I accidentally pull something off the spice rack? Some sips seem comprised almost solely of anise, nutmeg, clove, and pepper (ground black, but some chili too). I don't generally recommend aging beers but, owing to its strength and aggressive spiciness, Training Wheels does make a strong candidate; this particular bottle is five months old and shows no signs of slowing down.

Training Wheels is an impressive beer for reasons beyond its dark, warm, spicy-sweet flavours - trying to carefully balance coffee and vanilla comes with its own set of problems, but throw in a stubborn and unpredictable strain of Belgian yeast and you've set yourself up for a challenge. Fortunately, Indie Ale House has a fantastic brewer. And this recipe is a fantastic success.