Double Shot - Double Vanilla Bean
Tree House Brewing Company

Very thin compared to the other stouts they do. Coffee forward fo sho.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From a 16oz can, dated 06/18/21. Served in a tulip.

Pours chestnut-black, utterly opaque in the glass with maybe a quarter-finger of fizzy head. Retention is to all practical intents zippo, just leaving a scant fizzy margin and a rousable but super-slippery sheet of lacing.

Aroma is softly sweet and pudding-like. Eggy custard, mocha java and, faintly, a slight metallic tang which goes away as it warms in the glass.

Taste is, in fact, strongly reminiscent of pudding. Heavily creamed iced coffee beverage, Godiva liqueur, hazelnut, and vanilla custard. There’s a faint Coca Cola-like quality, owing in part to flavour but mostly, I suspect, to the carbonation, which wanders in and out of focus. Alcohol is noticeable but in an entirely good way.

Feel is creamy smooth, dense and (again with the pudding) pudding-like. Carbonation was initially pretty zippy but fell off rapidly - still adequate to keep things light and drinkable however, on toward the end, it was a bit of a slog. Mouthcoating (like pudding). A comfortable boozy glow in the gullet, entirely right and proper relative to the style and abv.

Overall, a tasty, moderately-high abv pastry stout. Very much like high-quality liquified pudding - which includes the heavy feeling of consuming 2 cups at a sitting. Another time, I’ll know to split the can with a friend.