Absence of Light - Peanut Butter & Jelly
4 Hands Brewing Co.

Taste: Toasty peanut butter followed by big Raspberry jelly notes, sweet, chocolate malts, some bite. Same with the nose. Black hue, opaque, with refined head and subtle ring lace. medium/full body. Different, with raspberry jelly.

Black in color with with minimal light penetration. There’s a fingernail of beige around nearly all of the rim. The aroma is of concord grape jelly and peanut butter. I’m tasting grape jelly, peanut butter, and and white bread. The mouth is lightly oily and dry.

22 oz bomber into Odell snifter.

Has a brown pour yielding a black body with a tall creamy khaki head of 2 fingers in my 10 oz snifter. It recedes very gradually and ends up at 1 finger.

The aroma really displays the notes of a peanut butter sandwich beautifully. Bready crusts, tart strawberry jam, and luscious thick peanut butter. In the glass it really opens up to tart raspberries. World class.

Flavor brings tart raspberry and bread crust first, with moderately bitter earthy hop (maybe Fuggles) very soon after, followed by hints of peanut butter toast and very small hints of dry cocoa. The bitterness does not play nice with the tartness and they clash quite a bit. There's a tug of war going on, and no one is winning. The flavor in the nucleus of the beer is solid, even though the peanut butter is eclipsed by the tartness of the raspberry and the bitterness of the hops.

Feel is decidedly medium-bodied, there's not enough thickness here to call it a full bodied beer. There's a snap of tart acidity from the raspberries, lots of prickly carbonation, and slight roast on the finish. Some lingering hop oils also coat the tongue.

Overall, not a bad beer, and certainly better than the original in my opinion. The addition of raspberries really make it pop, but the bitterness is still overwhelming and it makes for a bit of a chore sipper. I'm determined to get it done though, and as it warms it seems to mellow out a bit.

Price paid : $7.99 / bomber
Would buy again : no, unless it came in cans for the same price as original Absence.

 

22 ounce bottle into tulip glass, bottled on 12/4/2019. Pours fairly hazy/cloudy nearly opaque dark brown color with a 2 finger dense and rocky khaki head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Thick foamy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of big peanut butter, lightly tart/tangy raspberries, fruit skin/seed, milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, cream, toasted biscuit, and brown bread/crust; with lighter notes of coffee, dark fruit, smoke, char, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malt, PB, raspberry, lactose, and light-moderate earthy hop/fruity yeast notes; with big strength. Taste of huge peanut butter, lightly tart/tangy raspberries, fruit skin/seed, milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, cream, toasted biscuit, and brown bread/crust; with lighter notes of coffee, dark fruit, smoke, char, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Light herbal, grass, pepper, roast, charred bitterness; and fruit tang/tartness on the finish. Lingering notes of peanut butter, tart/tangy raspberries, fruit skin/seed, milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, cream, toasted biscuit, brown bread/crust, coffee, dark fruit, smoke, char, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Fantastic complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, PB, raspberry, lactose, and light-moderate earthy hop/fruity yeast flavors; with an awesome roast/hop bitter/sweet and fruit tang/tartness balance; with no cloying/acrid/astringent flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from lingering bitter/tang/tartness. Medium carbonation and medium-full body; with a very smooth, creamy/silky/bready, fairly sticky/chalky, and lightly slick/tannic mouthfeel that is great. Minimal warming alcohol for 7.5%. Overall this is a fantastic flavored imperial milk stout. All around fantastic complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, PB, raspberry, lactose, and light-moderate earthy hop/fruity yeast flavors; very smooth and easy to sip on with the mellowly bitter/tart/tangy/drying finish; great soft/silky feel with the adjuncts. Fantastic balance of jammy raspberries, PB, rich malts, and lactose; with balancing earthy hops and restrained fruity yeast. Light residual sweetness with lingering dryness. A highly enjoyable offering, and outstanding experimental style example. Definitely hits the PB&J flavors spot on, while still feeling like a milk stout.

Absence of Light PB&J is better than the original offering. The peanut butter is still faint but there is a wave of raspberry that takes over. The flavor is similar to Dark Horse's raspberry ale and I quite enjoy that dark, candy fruitiness.

The beer is very thin and has a small amount of chocolate coming through.

@firesidewithphil

L: Standard stout look: dark body and a tan head
S: Very raspberry smell, i liked it, but maybe not for everybody
T: a very different kind of stout then I have tasted, very nice and flavorful
F: pretty smooth, better then some other stouts that I have tasted
O: It's a different kind of stout, very different than the others I have tasted, very good overall; would buy another bottle

 

 

Pours an effervescent mahogany with 2 fingers if billowy tan head, tight bubbles. Great lacing & head retention

S: Advertised ingredients on parade

T: Follows the nose, some dryness, grape jelly, a little cherry as well up front. Jelly flavors take front stage, peanut flavors fade, but still on the edges, more dryness as this warms. Finishes dry with all the advertised flavors

MF: Medium body, fairly aggressive carbonation

This was decent, but over carbonated and lack the depth of flavor I was hoping for

 

 

 

Opaque black body with a brown head. Smells strongly of raspberry jam, peanut butter is there but faintly, get earthy malts too. Taste has jelly from a jelly donut starring, peanut butter emerges slowly from hibernation, stays faint with chocolate. Very sweet from the jelly overall. Feel is sweet, decently full, yet not too heavy. Too sweet for me and want more peanut butter.

22oz bottle. Poured out an opaque, jet-black color with a small, light brown head of foam. It smelled of fruitiness -like rapsberry or grape. Subtle peanut butter and chocolate notes. Strong fruity taste with very little PB or chocolate.