Madagascar - Withered Oak Amburana
4 Hands Brewing Co.

 

Poured from 16oz can into my Bell’s tulip. Canned 1/22/24, but I think this is the kind of beer that age can only help.

Appearance: entirely black hue with a thin finger of creamy tan foam atop.

Smell: vanilla, caramel, crème brûlée, and a dash of chocolate. It’s a sweet pastry beverage, for sure, but an enticing one. I don’t feel like I’m getting a lot of the wood, though.

Taste: like the aroma, this beer is sweet, with plenty of vanilla, but also hints of something cinnamon-ey and some light chocolate mousse type flavor. You have to know you’re in for a dessert beer, but in that rubric, this is a darn good beverage.

Mouthfeel: medium-rich body with a somewhat low carbonation and a nice smoothness.

Overall: this beer is pretty good, but even with the knowledge that it’s a dessert stout, it exists on the outer limit of my sweetness tolerance threshold.

 

16oz. Can into a Founders snifter.

Pours dark and smooth. Wispy 0.5 finger milk chocolate head. Beer is pitch black. Thin but visible legs. Spotty lace. Nose is earthy cocoa, chocolate, oak, and cardamom. Mellow. Beer opens anise, a touch of spice, cinnamon sticks, and chocolate. Layers of vanilla, oak, and sweet cream. Chocolate, a touch of molasses, and a lightly tart roastiness. Coca cola and cocoa powder to finish. Body is medium to full with moderate to low carbonation. Smooth with some bubbles on the palate. Soft going down with a long, lingering aftertaste.

The flavor is great here. The feel is a bit coarse for the style.

poured from a 16oz can into a SP BBT23 spiegelau snifter. pours dark brown but gathers in the glass with a shiny black body with a thin mocha brown foam cap that recedes into a very thin ring around the edge of the glass. floral vanilla, chocolate, whiskey and light cinnamon. taste follows but is heavier on the vanilla and chocolate up front with a big whiskey sting in the finish. it’s incredibly smooth and complex. it’s been a bit since i’ve had a madagascar but this seems much more whiskey-forward and the amburana gives it a nice twist making it more layerws than i can remember. enjoyed this very much.