Cheat Codes
Breakside Brewery - SE Taproom

a truly wonderful example of the style, i wish these would make a full on come back, but even here in the northwest they always seem very here and there, like no momentum ever happens, this should be a full timer for these guys, its done right. medium brown with some red edges in the light, not as blackout as some, but it doesnt need to be, and it has plenty of roast to it, yet stays away from that bitterness double jeopardy with the hops and the roast together that a lot of these run into, yet its nice and bitter anyway. the hops are northwestern to me, pine and gin notes on top of sturdy chocolate malt, coffee notes, and raisin fruitiness that kind of bridges the gap, faint smoke, even a burnt wood thing to it, charcoal, not an enormous body on it which keeps it drinkable, but its also decidedly high alpha, a long linger and some citrus there at the end too, nice evolution through this one, roast and coffee up front, the hops mostly on the back end, seems quite fresh to my senses, good balance, bold overall, but not too much, i love the way it hangs on, chocolate as it warms, tobacco notes too. i could drink a ton of this, maybe not a ton, but at least three or four pints, which i think is high for the style. so cool to drink a bunch of breakside recently, one of those breweries i feel the need to stay up with, they do so many things well, and this is a beauty!

edit: glad this has made a comeback, late 2025, wonderful beer, every bit as hearty and interesting and satisfying the second time around, breakside has a winner here, would love to see them can this as a permanent addition to their lineup!