Sex, Drugs & Rocky Road
Bacchus Brewing Co.

Sex, Drugs & Rocky Road: Looks like Santa Kenrick got my Christmas wish! Made the only way jolly Saint Kenrick thought possible - with all the actual ingredients of a Daryll Lea Rocky Road, aka: Peanuts, Chocolate, Vanilla, Rose-water & Cherries. Yep! This is going to be one damn tasty brew. Whilst I will be enjoying this I will also be thinking of my dentist, who has by now put his kids through college with the many and frequent dental procedures I have been through over the years… I can only conclude from this that the dental and sugar industries are actually in cahoots. Sugar decay for thought there.

Poured from a 500ml bottle into a Duvel tulip.

A: Deep brown and as opaque as the bottle it came in with its body. Head practically non-existent with a thin tan ring in the glass. It is 8.2% ABV so no head is pretty normal here. Looks fairly ominous, and that’s how I like my dark beers! 8/10.

S: Cherries straight up on the nose, followed by notes of: Peanut, milk chocolate, vanilla and caramel. Hints of rose water linger in the background, moreishly… like a sheep. The aroma doesn’t even come close to how overbearing Ferrari Rocher was, and I suspect this means that its more balanced in the flavour profile, though I stand ready to be proven wrong soon. 8/10.

T: Definitely more subtle in sweetness than the Ferrari. Various flavours vying for my taste attention: Peanut, milk chocolate, vanilla, caramel, cherry and rose water (the Turkish Delight influence). It manages quite hard not to become a discordant mess, and somewhat achieves this. Though in being such a cacophony of flavours it misses the mark on being like a Daryll Lea Rocky Road, because as one would know from eating this that it’s mostly chocolate with a brief interlude of one of the above flavours. In this respect it is truly impossible to replicate a Daryll Lea Rocky Road in a liquid. However as a whole the flavours do work. 9/10.

M: Mid to light bodied with an almost flat carbonation. I reckon Mr. Kenrick is using the same base beers for his dessert beers - they all have lacklustre body. 7/10.

D: The sourness of the cherry comes through as it warms. Overall not a Snickers killer but still tasty, though again: body issues. TBH as noted above in the ‘T’ section this brew was doomed from the start because in a liquid all the flavours mix as one, whereas a Rocky Road is great because of the flavour separation. I did still enjoy this in any case.7/10.

Food match: Daryll Lea Rocky Road, if only to see what I’m talking about.

 

On tap at GABS Festival, Melbourne, May 2014.

Pours a brown colour with loads of red hue to it. A bit pale maybe, but nice foamy beige head that fits more with what I was expecting. Looks nice.

Smells sweet and lovely. Loads of chocolate on there with a touch of coconut, peanuts, lots of toffee and bizarrely enough, although fitting with the pitch, marshmallow. How the hell do you get marshmallow aroma? Caramel, toffee and a touch of oak as well. Sweet; amazing.

Taste is...well, it's Rocky Road. Vanilla tinge upfront before descending into sweet, rich chocolate, lots of peanut character on there, a touch of caramel sweetness, and bags of sweet jammy fruit esters as well. A touch bitter on the back, possibly too much? But otherwise, wow, another dessert absolutely nailed by Bacchus.

Decent body, touch of warming alcohol that is pleasant but maybe a bit too dry on the back.

Bacchus really don't mess around. Very impressive dessert beer.

This was my #3 beer of the whole festival.

Tried on-tap at GABS 2014 in Melbourne. Brewed to be a "dessert beer with the flavours of Darrell Lea's Rocky Road".

Pours a red-tinged dark brown hue with some hazing in the glass. Head is off-white but disappears quickly, possibly because of god-knows what weird things went into the beer. Not much in the way of carbonation either, probably for similar reasons. The body looks surprisingly light for its ABV, but I'm sure it will make up for it.

And from the nose, it seems it will. Huge rocky road characters come out strongly, and weirdly, all of the individual characters get a turn. Chocolate, coconut, marshmallow, Turkish delight are all noticeable, mixed up in a boozy, kirsch-like melange. Some dark malt kicks in as well after the initial onslaught. Impressive.

Light Turkish delight characters on the front of the palate, before the booze creeps up a little giving a suggestion of booze or acetone that turns it more into straight, strong rosewater. This is smoothed out quickly, though, leaving a lovely linger of jelly and marshmallow—long and smooth through the aftertaste.

Feel is very juicy and ripe with lots of things working in its favour.

Overall, this genuinely delivers what it promises. It smells amazing and tastes great. If it's a bit heavy on the booze, that's maybe only because it needs that depth and weight to support all of the individual flavours. In any case, you won't be disappointed on the execution of the idea.