Parfait (Blend #2)
Side Project Brewing

 

 

Look - what a fantastic looking beer!!! black and thick, incredible lacing, nice tan head
Smell - a ton of cinnamon then chocolate and barrel
Taste - chocolate cinnamon milk, vanilla barrel as a side note
Feel - thick and creamy with a medium light carb
Overall - wish the cinnamon blended better, a little to much but still incredible

 

Best before 10/5/21 (released on 7/7/21); consumed on 1/13/22

Pours a viscous, inky midnight-black body topped with a finger of thick, mocha foam; sub-par head retention leaves an oily void, a thin, frothy collar, and a limited dotting of spotty lacing around the walls of the glass.

Aroma offers resoundingly distinct cinnamon enmeshed into a roasty malt base, the oncoming and lush vanilla breeding a semi-spiced decadence amplified by a subtle bourbon underscore; at its peak, bourbon-tinged, cinnamon-crusted chocolate ice cream.

Taste is heavy cinnamon upfront, dominant over the profile yet making way for shreds of vanilla ice cream and brûléed toffee over the mid-palate; milk chocolate softens and a moderate char offers balance into the back end, while bourbon-laced caramel peeks through the spice on the finish.

Mouthfeel brings a full body with bare-minimum carbonation and a slick, weighty texture; oily into the mid-palate and semi-sticky characteristics peak into the back end while a cinnamon dryness counterbalances, the finish is slightly syrupy and accented with a cleaner roast.

Vaguely saccharine, a brilliantly attenuated decadence warms to an overbearing one-dimensionality that, were it not as consistently well-textured, would've lost its nuance in pastry territory; bold without becoming entirely oppressive, though admittedly more of a struggle to drink over time.

Pours pitch black with a finger of slow-forming mocha-colored foam. Pouring an ounce or two into the glass and swirling reveals a sticky, thick consistency, with the beer sliding down the side of the glass like honey. Aroma is thick cinnamon sticks and vanilla bean. The initial note is powdery, and dry, soaking up some of the following sweetness. Underneath is hearty roasty, toasty, and caramely malts and char. It has a dense, hearty smell to it, only lightened up by the flavor additions - cinnamon and vanilla. Flavor profile is dense, with roasty, toasty, and caramely malts coming on immediately. Cinnamon and vanilla bean are their own chapters in the flavor profile, allowing the malts to open up, before transitioning from cinnamon to vanilla bean, then back to cinnamon. Cinnamon is the dominate characteristic, carrying some dryness that counters the rest of the beers taste well. Underlying toffee, caramel, and dark chocolate add some further sweetness, which do little to budge the hefty malt currents. Mouth feel is dense, with a hearty, lightly chewy, thick heft in every sip. That same reluctance to swirl around the glass is felt as this beer slips down the tongue - it moves slow. Overall, heavy, decadent, and punchy. Every corner and crevasse is packed in this beer, from first look to last sip, and yet the scale never tips to the dessert spectrum.

Served in a Side Project 14oz tulip from a 16oz can.

Thanks to Luscious_Malfoy for this 16 oz. can…with a best by 9/7/21 date on the bottom. I am now in violation of beer nerd Section 15.6, Appendix 5-3. I can live with that.

The pour is dark black with a smattering of thin bubbles. The nose brings vanilla, complementary sweetness from the malts & a whiff of cinnamon. No barrel detected.

Parfait (Blend #2) needs a new category, Gulping Stout. Four sips before the glass detached itself from my right hand. The cinnamon is too aggressive, the other tastes subtle & well integrated. Cinnamon is the lead singer backed by gentle vanilla, a solid base of malty sweetness, Mexican chocolate, lactose. Barrels? Ain’t no stinkin’ barrels, except a boozy feeling in the base of the throat. Full, brutal. Smaller portions are recommended in the future, this is a lot to handle at once (though my wife to my right would be happy to help; she always is).

The lack of barrel is disappointing & deserves docking, but there’s a stellar base stout here. Very good beer.

Loved this; they nailed the horchata flavor profile. Restrained barrel, but just enough booze to sharpen that nicely buttering cinnamon and sweet vanilla. Great viscosity & a warm, smooth finish. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

The viscous tar black pour builds a tall dark mocha foam that recedes gently to a film of cocoa dusting surrounded by a thick clinging ridge.

Smell comes across quite dusty of cinnamon, but the amazing first taste really does emulate horchata, and even rice pudding, due in part to the hefty addition of creamy vanilla working in concert with the lusciously thick velvety body.

The body really is thick at first, but a fine, fizzy lifting carbonation thins it out a bit, while also bringing it to a warmth that gently flows down the hatch. However, after a full pour, it begins to glop and goober up. I didn't get any full on globs plopping out of the can, but that lactose is heavily apparent, and not entirely incorporated, feeling quite weirdly gel-like on the tongue. My initial rating for feel was higher at first than it is now--thus the downside of rating beers based off tasters and not full pours or packagings.

Anyway, on the palate, the cinnamon is still quite dusty and potent in flavor, but at least it's not unpalatably spicy or overwhelming like it can sometimes be in Abraxas. The adjuncts in Parfait b2 play so well together it's easy to forget about the dark chocolatey base. At the same time, the barrel attributes are minimal, mostly coming out in the exhale after the surprisingly dry finish.

Can. Tan head. Oily black color. Thick.

Cinnamon dominates this one. The vanilla is a huge undertone. Chocolate, cocoa, and fudge. Barrels are present. Warming bourbon, but the cinnamon overpowers a lot here.

 

 

 

poured from a 16oz can into a snifter. pours a dense, oily black with a half finger of cardboard colored head. aromas of spicy cinnamon, vanilla, chocolate cake. really do not pick up any barrel presence on the nose. it’s quite reminiscent of Ambiente. taste is cinnamon up front followed by creamy vanilla and chocolate with the slightest bit of barrel heat on the finish. i honestly can’t tell if it’s cinnamon spice or barrel but it’s delicious either way. thick and creamy mouthfeel completes a very satisfying stout experience. overall, i like this a little more than Ambiente (it’s hard not to make the comparison), with a
little more creamy vanilla and a little less spice. while i don’t think the barrel-aged component shines much here it’s hard for me to say whether or not it adds anything to the overall experience. either way, i dig it.