Stranded
Mother Road Brewery

 

 

 

 

I stopped by the marvelous little Mother Road Brewery on a whirlwind brewery tour of Flagstaff. This brewery was my favorite and I loved this beer and ended up buying two bottles for home. Today, two months later, I finally get around to cracking it, despite the fact that it's a Winter Ale and Albuquerque was in the 70s today.

Anyhow, the beer is a looker. A dark black liquid with zero transparency, but tiny bubbles of carbonation visible making their way upwards. The head is khaki brown in color, started three fingers thick (in the snifter I used) and persisted long after the pour. Sticky lace reaches the to the top of the original head level. Very nice.

I like that the nose is all porter and not overrun by spices. There's lots of roasted dark malt and hints of dark chocolate. Nothing more I can detect, but I'm not mad. Especially given what hits my tongue. Fuegoooo. Delicious beer. The beer is still dark and roasty flavored, but the chocolate flavors are more explosive. There are some vanilla and toffee notes there as well. When I had it on draft, I remember more spice presence (although modest and subtle they were) but the short aging period seems to have allowed them to diminish a bit. Still, the beer remains tasty.

The beer is creamy and smooth and has a robust quality about it. Winter warmer could apply here. After the vanilla-y smooth start, the beer finishes chocolatey and semi-dry. I'd say you can hardly do any better in terms of how a beer drinks.

This beer is solid, man. More than solid. I'm a fan.