Toasty Slopes
Pipeworks Brewing Co.

 

Tasted in a Spiegelau stout glass from a one pint can on March 9, 2021.

On draft. Poured an opaque, jet-black color with a good-sized, light brown head of foam. It left sudsy sheets of lace on the glass. It smelled of chocolate, toasted marshmallow, coffee and vanilla. Sweet chocolate taste with toasty, smokey flavors and a toffee backbone.

I just resigned from my job earlier today in order to prepare for starting a new one soon, and my feelings about it are kinda bittersweet in a sense. The situation I was in there was unhealthy, and the environment toxic, but I guess I'm nervous about starting something new. I'm also excited. Lots of emotions and thoughts swirling around my mind this evening, so I'm going to try and enjoy a new, incredibly-sweet-sounding beer from Pipeworks that is in the category of "bullshit stout," as I so lovingly call them. Pipeworks has a lot of these and, in all honesty, they're usually great. Pothole City, Coconut Jones Dog, and Fluffo Sando stand out from the crowd for me, but I know there are a few more that have ruled. Rudolph Vs. Unicorn, there's another one I just remembered. See? They have a bunch of great, weird, sweet imperial stouts that have pretty damn good adjunct treatments. Let's find out what they can do with... *squints at ingredients list* um... cherries, smoked malt, marshmallow, lactose, vanilla, and cacao nibs? Alright, I'm intrigued. Guess it's supposed to be like a Baked Alaska, which is something I've never had.

The pour here is a bit less active than some of their other big stouts. It tumbles out of the can as an incredibly dark brown liquid that builds up with a solid-seeming head of dark brown foam which pretty quickly recedes and leaves behind just about nothing. Like, nothing at all... no lace, legs, or retention. Kinda disappointing, but with all of those ingredients, I have to assume some foam stability was sacrificed to get everything playing well together. Oh well.

The nose here immediately reminds me of Fluffo Sando, with the huge marshmallow element right upfront, but the sweet dark (Morello-like) cherry fruit aspect comes out after this warms a bit as well. The smokiness does play a little part, too, I guess, and there's a bit of nutty and roasty malt mingling with a solid helping of chocolate and light espresso undertones. Smells really good, actually.

Super slick and very, very sweet. I can feel my blood sugar rising as I sip this one. The body is a bit thin for what I expected, which is a little humorous considering the three different sugary additions that, under normal circumstances, seem like they should add to the body. Up front I get a hit of sweet hot cocoa (minus the "hot" part, duh) with marshmallows floating on top, followed by light fruit sweetness that definitely speaks to the cherry inclusion. A bit of acrid roastiness and more nutty flavors and cocoa in the finish, which closes out pretty succinctly. Dusty and a little yeasty, maybe, with a rather sizable lactose punch that does contrast the lighter mid-palate. Pretty nice flavors and the feel is growing on me a bit as I enjoy my glass. Definitely never something I want another can of, but as a one-and-done, it works well. I think it could stand to be a bit less strong, though it doesn't taste as strong as it is, if that makes any sense. I just don't feel like it's worthy of being over 10% considering the rather unassuming flavors and lack of general "boldness." Maybe I'm just being picky, though. Grab one and enjoy if you like dessert stouts!