Máni
HammerHeart Brewing Company

750ml bottle. Waxed and capped. Bottling date is 'Feb 2018'.
Black colored body, with a red mahogany back lit edge. Dark tan head, which is substantial with each pour but quickly recedes. Lacing spots, for the most part, slide back down into body.
Aroma is quite strong and out flowing. Covered with smoke, the chocolate rises up, along with a little cherry. Slight bourbon barrel.
Taste has more tart cherry than in the smell. The chocolate is smoked and not at all sweet. The bourbon barrel adds in but is not strong, and also adds a little vanilla. Long after taste of bittersweet chocolate with smoke.
More than medium mouth feel. Okay carbonation but produces quite a bit of foam.
Beautiful appearance with the rise and fall of the foam. The general flavor is of a non-sweet smoked chocolate stout with cherries, and some depth added by the bourbon barrel aging. All flavors are well balanced and work well together. Just don't expect a typical sweet dessert chocolate stout with cherries.

 

 

I received this from @vidblain in a BIF box. February 2018 batch. Poured from 750 ML bottle into a tulip glass. It pours an inky black with dark walnut hues. The creamy, mocha-colored cap dissipated slowly leaving a thin film of lacing inside the glass. On the nose there's abundant chocolate and caramel with notes of char, cherry, and bourbon. The taste is different than I expected: the cherry is tart - almost sour and there's a lot more earthy char in the taste than in the smell. As with the aroma, the barrel is subdued which I like - it doesn't overwhelm the other flavors. The chocolate isn't nearly as sweet as I anticipated; it's more of a bitter bakers chocolate. There's also tobacco smoke and a hint of leather. It finishes fairly bitter and smoky. All of the flavors blend very nicely. This stout has a pleasingly creamy mouth feel with a low level of carbonation, and a surprisingly tame 8.1% ABV. It's delicate and doesn't bulldoze like many higher ABV, BA stouts. Overall, Mani is very well conceived and executed. And it's not necessarily a dessert sipper; it would pair well with beef or game.

Thank you Vidblian for this
750 ml bottle, dated Feb 2018, poured into a teku

A- Black with a three mocha head.

S- Roasted coffee, charred oak, some bourbon, smoky, dark chocolate, some cherries, touch of vanilla. Very complex.

T- Espresso, dark chocolate, some cherries, touch of vanilla, charred oak, smoky, some bourbon. Again very complex.

M- Smooth, a little creamy, medium to full body.

O- Big, robust and complex stout. Bitter and easy to drink, complexity of this keeps me wanting more.

Pours a very dark brown, almost black colour. Smells very much of rich vanilla and bourbon, a little smoey, and a little sweet. Tastes heavy-bodied, low carbonation, a little syrupy, yet dry. Bitter cocoa nibs, espresso flavours, smokey oak barrel, dark chocolate cherry, light undertones of bourbon thoughout, with a finish of baking cocoa and black cherry.

Lots going, yet never overwhelming. Very complex.

 

an absolutely gorgeous barrel aged stout with chocolate and cherries in it, another winner and total gem from hammerheart, who has become hands down my favorite brewery in minnesota and near the top of my list nationally. this is dense and black, with a nitro looking frothy light brown head from the bottle. strong earthy cocoa, campfire smoke, and old barrel come out in the nose, less cherry than anticipated but a medicinal fruitiness on the back end along with the rich roast, espresso and baking chocolate character. i dont get a ton of whiskey but i do get the wood. the same is true in the flavor, this isnt as boozy as it sounds like it should be, lots of oak but mild whiskey is all, nice with the cherries and the chocolate though, it adds a vanilla and maple complexion to that, quite rich but not too sweet, balanced well by the barrel char and the dark roasted grains that comprise its body. cherry comes on late, and more and more as it warms, a cool way for this one to finish, even tart for a flash. awesome beer, special stuff, they all are from these guys! a perfect wintery stout, a soul warmer all the way!

The first sip is quite lovely. Dark bitter chocolate dominates, but the other flavors are pretty deftly woven in there. Somehow it manages to be both creamy and dry, which is fairly impressive. I'm definitely getting some gentle smoke, but also a solid oakiness, while the vanilla plays a supporting role way down in the mix. If anything, it's just lending a slight lightness to the flavor to keep things from going over the darkness edge.

The cherries do add an interesting component. I'd be lying if I said that it didn't immediately bring to mind that 'infected' quality a certain BBA stout has had problems with. But thankfully there is no tartness to go along with it, and those feelings of apprehension go quickly away as the cherries take their place in the mix, which would be a complementary fruitiness that really comes out on the finish.

Wow- it's just super plush black velvet in a glass. The more I drink this the more I love that creamy feel combined with the dryness and a , well, 'fine grained woodiness' is the best way I can put it. There's nothing heavy or coarse here at all, which seems to defy initial expectations.

Oh, man, this is such a far cry from the last chocolate vanilla stout that I had, it's not funny, Where that one was sweet and dessert-like and got cloying really fast, this one feels like it's just getting started after the first half-pint. The bitter edge of the dark chocolate is smoothing out now, and the base malt toffee qualities are coming out to play. I truly am looking forward to every last drop here.

Appearance: Black, good sized brown head.

Smell: Bourbon, wood, cough syrup-style cherry.

Taste: Starts bourbon-y with barrel and vanilla, the middle gives a hint of cherry before finishing with lasting smoke and dryness.

Overall: Picked up a bottle in WBL of this Hammerheart specialty. Nice blend of flavors, though I don't get too much of the cherries. The smoke hits a little harder and drier than usual in this one.