German Chocolate Snake Cake
West Sixth Brewing Company

 

Bottle pour from the first 2019 bottle release (2 batches released in '19). Great pour with a medium-dark head. Light hints of coconut and booze on the nose. It's really like a light-flavored but full bodied BA stout until the finish, where the flavors all show up and really deliver on the flavor. There's virtually no sweetness here. Enjoyable.

Had on tap. Light black viscous body with a mocha cap. Smell captures the coconut, dark chocolate, nuts, bourbon, vanilla, and fudge. Taste captures it even better, super decadent, super rich, and super textured. Bourbon keeps the pure sweetness from running away with it. More chewy than thick, get great textures from the vanilla, nuts, and barrel especially. A diabetic nightmare that is well worth your time

 

Snakes may not have had it so good since they picked that forbidden fruit off of that tree. But now West Sixth snake gets a new sweet reputation in stout form. Unabashedly slathered with pecan and coconut, Snake Cake imperial stout is all dressed up as German chocolate cake.

Inky black and adorning a skirt of khaki froth, the espresso looking German Chocolate Snake Cake quickly engulfs the room in a robust, decadent and dessert-heavy scent of chocolate, nuttiness, dark roast coffee, walnut and a tingle of whisky. Making no apologies, the heavy sweetness of the imperial stout leads with praline, molasses, honey and chocolate.

And those rich malts and added chocolates further seduce each and every tastbud as the caramelized taste of whisky intensifies the sweetness with its own oaken nuances. Coconut and pecan additions only add to the lavish sweetness with notions of buttered pecan, toffee and butterscotch. Bold coffee notes bleed into a light bitter taste late on the palate while the bourbon spice influence continues to play out strongly.

Full bodied and becoming the battlefield for cloying malt sweetness and prickly whisky spice to vie for final attention, fatigue happens quick as the chocolate and alcohol easily outlive all other flavors for a beer that wins not on complexity but on the sake of its own bigness of taste.

Poured into a snifter. Opaque dark brown with a small tan head. Aroma was chocolate, vanilla, and bourbon. The taste was as billed: sweet German Chocolate Cake, but not overly sweet. The bourbon was well integrated, providing a nice balance. Not as thick as Angry Chair, for example. ABV well hidden. Very smooth and easy to drink. Outstanding beer.