Sundae Service
Prairie Artisan Ales

4.74/5  rDev +11.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
by ProfessorB

If you ever have the chance to try this beer -- drink it at 55 degrees -- and drink it over a couple hours. What a beer and experience as this warms up. Your glass will have a sticky sludge equal to none. Tiny bits of the adjuncts are present. From beer in the beginning to milkshake at the end -- this beer is phenomenal -- fudge, peanut, great stout base, and hides the alcohol % beautifully -- this beer will not disappoint. It's a whale you should try to catch at some point.

Apr 07, 2022

4.39/5  rDev +3.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
by larryi86 from Delaware

12 oz bottle poured into a tulip

A- Black with a small mocha head.

S- Bourbon, chocolate, vanilla, fudge, hints of nuts and cherries.

T- Bourbon, fudge, chocolate, vanilla, slightly nutty, touch of cherries.

M- Smooth, full body.

O- Bourbon is on the heavy side, overall it’s tasty and sweet but not over the top sweet some pastry stouts.

Feb 20, 2022

4.25/5  rDev -0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
by heysuz from Indiana

Brew: Prairie Artisan Ales – Sundae Service

Intro: 12 oz. bottle poured into a tulip glass. Shared with a friend.

Appearance: Pitch black, Minimal head maybe .5 inches. Minimal lacing as I drank

Smell: Chocolate, vanilla, with the barrel bringing up the back end.

Taste: Follows the smell. Chocolate and vanilla, maybe a mild peanut way in the background.

Mouthfeel: Medium mouthfeel, medium carbonation.

Drink: Easy drinker. well balanced and went down smooth.

Conclusion: Was good but nothing spectacular.

Feb 13, 2022

4.62/5  rDev +8.5%
look: 3 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
by Roguer from Connecticut

Not an impressive looking beer, with a fizzy dark brown head that almost immediately disappears - completely.

If the appearance is unimpressive, the nose is anything but. Very strong and inviting notes of bourbon, chocolate, vanilla, nuts (including peanuts), molasses, and brown sugar.

On the palate, it's equally strong, but also more complex, with more of the additives (including cherries) coming to play. It's almost too much to pick through and identify - almost. Immediately, it's sweet, rich, and decadent, with notes of bourbon, chocolate, molasses, and vanilla. The bourbon grows in prominence through the first third, with the cherries complementing the slightly tart sweetness. By the middle, the peanuts have come to play, but once again, it's in complementary fashion, going perfectly with the massive malt base, bourbon, and chocolate. By the back third, the bourbon has mostly faded, while the cherries return for a fond farewell.

Relatively brief finish; thick and chewy; low to low-moderate bitterness; big and bold, assertive but not aggressive.

This is quite simply a phenomenal beer. Very few do these massive flavored stouts as well as Prairie, and when they hit a home run like this, they're very nearly peerless. This is, in a word, wonderful.

Dec 31, 2021

4.34/5  rDev +1.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
by mschrei from Illinois

Poured into an 8 oz mini bottle from the Open Bottle. Definitely a sundae style barrel aged stout. Seems like a couple scoops of vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate ice cream with chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and yes, even nuts and a bit of a waffle cone. Very well balanced. No cherry, however. Sweet, thick, slightly boozy.

Nov 25, 2021

4.23/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
by MacMalt from New Jersey

I received a bottle from @fbarber in the NBS BIF #14. Bottled on 7/16/2021. Poured into a Prairie stemless glass. It pours a deep, dark walnut with a finger of frothy, medium-mocha colored head and modest lacing inside the glass. Its nose is aromatic and offers roasted malt, dark chocolate, freshly-brewed coffee, black cherry, and mellow bourbon notes. The taste that really pops is the cherry, which adds to the considerable sweetness of the chocolate and vanilla. As it warms, I'm noticing roasted nuts and a hint of char in the background. The bourbon barrel influence is really subdued; I can taste it but it doesn't overpower the other flavors The mouth feel is on the lite side for such a big stout and it's moderate in carbonation. It's hard to believe the ABV is 14.9%; it drinks more like 9%. Overall, Sundae Service is a little sweet for my taste but it's still a lovely dessert sipper.

Nov 12, 2021

4.24/5  rDev -0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
by StraightNoChaser from Georgia

Look: body is to type. Slight mocha head on the pour that recedes to just a bubble ring around the glass. Some lacing that doesn’t stick around, an oily sheen briefly coats the side of the glass.
Smell: salt peanuts and fudge.
Taste: cherries are there in the taste. Finish is sweet cut by roastiness.

Oct 09, 2021

4.22/5  rDev -0.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
by REVZEB from Illinois

Shimmering black body with a light brown head. Bourbon backed chocolate, cherry and nuts in the nose, more basic than expected but everything is so pure. Up front the bourbon backed fudge and nuts are really well done, balancing the roast and sweetness, light cherry melds into the wood with big vanilla rounding out the sip. Never assimilates together completely, but flavorings work well enough together. Feel is medium bodied, slightly boozy and sweet, sneaky dry, but nothing is too out of proportion, carbonation is actually present for a style that has forsaken it. Nice dessert stout without seeming like a pastry bomb.

Oct 07, 2021

4.16/5  rDev -2.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
by puck1225 from Texas

This is a nice stout but just good by Prairie Artisan Ale standards.

Poured from a bottle into a tulip glass. Oily dark brown color with good initial brown head but little lacing. Wonderful dark fudge smell and taste fruity sweet and tasty. Feel is smooth but not luxurious. Enjoyed this but would buy some of their other stouts before this one again.

Oct 07, 2021

4.75/5  rDev +11.5%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
by pathman from Ohio

09/27/21 bottle @ home

Sep 27, 2021

4.36/5  rDev +2.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
by hoptheology from South Dakota

11 oz bottle, jipped by an ounce (found that out after I got it home), 07.16.2021, into BOMB snifter.

Dark inky black as expected but with no head to speak of. No lacing. No spots. Hm.

Aroma of dirty dry manure, chocolate, vanilla, candy sprinkles, chili or cinnamon, and slight caramel and ash. Quiet aroma.

Flavor is much better thankfully, and the pastry element is here in full swing. I get double chocolate birthday cake with buttercreme filling, every element of it. Crispy brownie batter finishes off the cake vibe. I get notes of fudged up chili pepper, caramel sauce, and marzipan on the close. This is does a dessert beer without overdoing it on the sweetness, amazingly.

Feel is thick, slick, burning, with quiet yet appropriate carbonation (I don't think I could handle a bunch here) which attributes to its smoothness. Heat is in full swing, naturally, at 15%, and finishes with equal amounts of boozy dryness and stickiness.

Overall, a fantastic beer. I figured I'd either hate it and not be upset about the 1 oz I got jipped, but then be upset about the 11 oz I paid for....or love it and be upset about the 1 oz I got jipped. I'm bitter but this beer ain't. I'll probably go back and buy another bottle or two but probably when I'm in Nebraska again (cheaper). Very well done.

$12.99 / Taylor's Pantry

Sep 25, 2021

4.25/5  rDev -0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
by Treyliff from West Virginia

12oz bottle poured into a snifter

A- pours jet black and thick with a foamy dark khaki head that quickly reduces to a ring around the edge

S- quite nutty on the nose initially, followed by aromas of chocolate, fudge, brownie batter, vanilla bean, cordial cherries and chocolate icing

T- roasted peanut up front is quickly followed by sweet chocolate fudge, along with caramel, vanilla cream and brownie batter. Mid-palate brings out a cordial cherry note, followed by oaky bourbon on the finish, providing some barrel juice and enhancing the caramel and vanilla notes. Lingers of cherry, chocolate and vanilla

M- medium-heavy body with moderate carbonation leads to a foamy mouthfeel that turns into a creamy finish

O- all of the adjuncts are there, a nice dessert stout

Sep 17, 2021

4.44/5  rDev +4.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
by EnderFett11 from Virginia

Poured moderately hard from a bottle into a snifter glass, forming maybe a half finger of head before quickly fading to nothing. Deep, intense black color, totally opaque. Smell is bourbon and chocolate, not too intense. Taste is a background of bourbon, chocolate up front, overall sweet, with a little bit of peanut and cherries hints at the tail end. Just shy of thick bodied, very light carbonation. Another delicious dessert stout from Prairie, as expected.

Sep 07, 2021