10W-40 - Banana Split
Hi-Wire Brewing

Another great offering, from a specialty beer perspective, from this brewer. Great looking beer with a balanced nose. The beer was slightly sweet, definitely booze-forward, but was easy drinking enough, as long as you didn’t slam it. Something to look forward to during the cooler months.

 

 

color deep chocolate brown

scent and taste, Very nice banana and chocolate mixed with the malt

overall a nice beer that was different than more because of the banana

 

 

16oz can poured into a snifter

A- pours black in color with a one finger foamy light khaki head that reduces to a ring

S- sweet roasted notes with aromas of caramel, chocolate, milk sugars, sweet cream and a hint of banana pudding

T- bitter chocolate with some earthy coffee notes up front, followed by a sweet banana note that kicks in mid-palate, mixing with the lactose to give a banana pudding note. The finish gives more banana, mocha coffee and vanilla. Sweet linger

M- medium body with moderate carbonation leads to a foamy mouthfeel that continues into the finish

O- nice sweet banana notes throughout with a creamy vanilla note to compliment

 

 

 

Let the fusion of pastry and beer continue. This time: High-Wire's Imperial stout meets banana split for that quintessential malty desert-like beverage. We've got some serious malt-on-malt action happing here.

Very dark brown, tawny around the edges, the nearly black Banana Split version of 10W-40 releases a frothy light mocha cap while greeting the nose with sweet roast, toffee, chocolate, cream and only a hint of banana. Sweeter to taste, the tastebuds are alerted to a honey, caramel, toffee and vanilla upstart before the roast and fruit arise.

Bittersweet chocolate meets coffee for a mocha impression as the sweetness stews away on the middle palate. But eventually the taste of banana comes through in a moderate and never overstated way. Not to be outdone, the taste of cherry and red berry ebb and flow throughout the session with a nutty and cola-like flavor showing late. A mild bitterness seems woodsy and coffee-like in the beer's final impressions.

Full bodied but with an unusually somber sense of drinkability, the beer's "pastry" character is not overwhelming but adds nuances of flavor to an otherwise legendary base stout flavor. Finishing sweet, fruity and roasty, the roast wins out in a medium long aftertaste of Imperial Stout.