Peanut Butter Snake Cake
West Sixth Brewing Company

 

Who says you can't have your cake and eat it too? Taking their Snake Cake Imperial Stout to the "cake" side, and now to the "candy" side, West Sixth's stout now introduces peanut butter to the lactose, vanilla, chocolate and bourbon barrel-aged arsenal. They say that you can have your cake, and drink it too.

Very dark brown and laying in the glass like a mocha-heavy hot chocolate, a light and lathery froth settle on top for a creme-like impression. With an absolutely decadent scent, the overcast of peanut butter and chocolate easily overshadows the sweeter, roastier and maltier side of stout. Only the bourbon barrel nuances of vanilla, caramel and whisky also stand tall as the first sip beckons. An early taste of sweet condensed milk comes with other malty suggestions of molasses, honey, chocolate and brown sugar with those peanut buttercup flavors front and center.

Deliciously smooth, creamy and lavish in its malt sweetness, the middle palate shows a growing sense of peanuts and cofee as the stout turns slight from candy bar and toward espresso, latte and cappuccino. Nuttiness trends walnut as the beer's slow development trends slightly earthy with cocoa, charred woods and whisky spice that stem from the barrels and roasted malt remnants. Low in bitterness, this stout prefers a pastry stout take on the Imperial style.

Full, cloying and rich from sip to finish, PBSC finishes sweet, syrupy and with a spice from booze for balance. The generous additions of cocoa powder and peanut butter leaves a slightly chalky and very spicy feel on the mouth with an extension of whisky vapor and peanut buttercups lasting long into the next sip.