Ya Damn Skippy
Blue Stallion Brewing Co.

 

I had a 12 ounce pour from a local restaurant in late February. It's no Sweet Baby Jesus, unfortunately. The beer is not especially rich. I found it to be thin, with prevalent peanut flavor as expected.

 

 

 

 

Served in a pint glass at the brewery. Dark to opaque with a tan brown head that sticks around for the first half of the drink.

Smells like peanut butter! Really up front, moreso than what I've experienced with any other peanut butter flavored beer in the past. Roast plays second fiddle and a touch of darker crystal aromas can be found beneath it. Quite layered.

Taste is upfront peanut butter, but balanced more so, by the roasted character, so that it does not come off too dominating. Very easy drinking.

The feel is where I was a little let down - for me it was a bit too thin bodied. It is a porter and not some imperial stout, but this beer could have stood to have a fuller mouthfeel and really allow those flavors/aromas a better presentation on the tongue.

Overall, this beer is great - if anything the thinness lends to a bit higher drinkability. A second pint of this would go down just as easy.

 

While the world of extracts often times plague the brewhouse, the thoughts wonder about how far to take the flavors of something else and apply them to beer. Do you overwhelm the beer for the sake of selling the other thing well? Do you back off and allow the base beer to shine? Or is there a balance that's best for both sides? Just ask the brewers at Blue Stallion as their peanut porter is exactly as its called- Ya Damn Skippy!

Leading with malt aromas, the toasty, nearly roasty, nutty and chocolaty tone of the beer resonates strongly on the nose while its accompanying scent of peanut, cream and milk chocolate hug the malts close. Early sweetness rolls onto the tongue with a malty caramel, toffee and toasty charm with those peanut buttercup flavors playing just as vivid of a roll as the nose suggests.

Dark brown and with a hearty haze, the masculine beer then leans toward dark chocolate, scorched toast, walnut and away from the sheer sugary sweetness that the malt represents. Toasty, semisweet and siding with cocoa, the peanut character seems of fresh roasted peanuts as the taste seems all grown up in closing. Coffee-like, cocoa and vanilla round the session along with enough of a bitter backbone to remind us of the beer's hop bite with balance.

Medium full on the palate, the beer's modest carbonation allows for the full appreciation of flavor to seep deeply into each and every tastebud; allowing the beer to reach dessert-like proportions. But never cloying, the beer's hop dryness, mild alcohol and toasty edges allow for a welcomed sense of drinkability to boot.

 

Too many peanut butter beers have dry, bitter flavors that basically ruin the beer, but this one is dialed in. Smooth all the way through, with no unpleasant aftertaste.