Maple Peanut Butter Mushhushshu
Rhinegeist Brewery

2022 vintage: 11.4% ABV

Poured from a 500ml bottle into a snifter at 57 degrees.

Look- Deep brown, medium brown sudsy head, opaque, below average head retention and lacing.

Smell- Whiskey, brandy, maple, cocoa, oak, slight peanut butter, between medium and high strength of scent.

Taste- Brandy, whiskey, cocoa, cherry, maple, slight peanut butter, oak, high strength of flavor.

Feel- Between medium and full body, slightly below average carbonation, moderately mouth warming, highly mouth coating, moderately bitter, mildly creamy, highly boozy, moderately sweet.

Overall- Deep brown with well below average head retention and lacing. The nose was a boozy mix of whiskey and brandy with notes of maple, cocoa and oak. The peanut butter component of the bouquet was very subtle. The flavor followed the nose, but I picked up slightly more peanut butter and a welcome cherry component. The feel was toward the fuller end of the spectrum with some nice mouth warming and coating properties. Overall this was a complex and interesting beer that provided a great drinking experience.

 

 

500 ml bottle, 2022 vintage. Served in a Rhinegeist snifter, the beer pours a very dark brown color with not quite an inch tan head. Head retention is OK, and there's a good amount of lacing. The brew smells like peanut butter, maple, vanilla, chocolate and some whiskey. I think the taste is similar to the aroma, but there's also some brandy, oak, earthy, dark bread, rye and dark fruity flavors noticeable too. Seems to have more of a barrel presence compared to the Blackberry version I just drank. Mouthfeel/body is medium/full, it's slick and a bit creamy with a moderate amount of carbonation. Thought this one was a pretty good overall brew, definitely need to buy more of this one!

 

500ml bottle from Tavour. Dark brown pour with a minimal beige head. Aroma is boozy, roasty notes, light peanut butter. Taste is sweet, roasty, boozy and the maple makes it's presence known. A bit on the sweet side, maple and peanut butter seem to be more in conflict than union.

Where mythical meets maple, that's where Mushhushshu lives- a strong dark ale that has spent a long slumber in a blend of used spirits barrels, right beside of peanut butter for a sweet and savory spin on Rhinegeist's fabled ale.

Equially as dark, luscious and delicately inky as the standard Mushhushshu, this maple and peanut butter version aligns the glass with a similarly firm cappuccino froth. Its robust fragrance is dominant of maple, but also with coffee, cocoa, dark fruit along with the whimsy of roasted peanut. But its flavors begin sweetly with the caramel, maple, vanilla, toffee, candied nuttiness and sorghum of both the barrel and the sweet barley kernels.

A patient transition to the the earthen char of dark-roast coffee, baker's chocolate and gentle smoldering embers slowly emerge with the maple's fade. With hints of grilled cherry, grape and blackcurrant, a plumy tone is set while the peanuts stew away as the ale treads on the middle palate. Its final frame is light of oaken complexities, bourbon, brandy and rye barrel spices, along with the firm additions of both vanilla and cocoa.

Full bodied, sweet and politely laborious on the palate, the big and luscious ale lingers with clinging sweetness and a spicy barrel-aged warmth that breaks up its residual sweetness to offer a semblance of drinkability and warming dryness on the late palate. Defying styles, the ale strikes a chord that's somewhere between Belgian quad, sweet stout and porter and British stock ale.