Parfait (Blend #4)
Side Project Brewing

 

 

 

Pours absolutely jet black. Dark brown head reluctantly bubbles up after a hard pour, but quickly disappears and doesn’t come back. Fatty hazelnuts and coconut see to that.. Sits like roof tar in the glass. Let’s go.

Coconut absolutely explodes from the glass. At cellar temp, it’s all you can smell. Let it warm and open up, and you’re met with hazelnuts, floral vanilla and dark chocolate. It’s incredibly fragrant without seeming sugary sweet. If I can knock it, and it’s nitpicky, I’m not getting a huge barrel presence. It’s a lot of adjuncts, and not a lot of base or barrel, but the aroma is so good, I almost don’t care.

What a flavor. What. A. Flavor. Bad news out of the way. As in the aroma, I’m not getting a huge amount of barrel in the flavor. It’s all adjuncts, but it’s so balanced and such a good flavor, I’m not missing it. It’s ultra rich dark chocolate, wrapped in raw coconut and crumbled hazelnuts. Vanilla might sneak in there, but I probably wouldn’t pick it out if I didn’t know it was in there. It’s rich, without being too sweet.. somehow. While the barrel influence is buried deep, perhaps it’s working in the background to keep things balanced. It’s damn near perfect, but I would love a bigger bourbon pop on this.

Real nice and thick, surprised they canned this, this is excellent. Big hazelnut and fantastic body

poured from a 16oz can into a SP BBT21 light bulb snifter. pours onyx black with a tiny swirl or two of mocha brown foam. when a little colder, it’s big chocolate and cocoa powder on the nose. as it warms up to almost room temp, i get more hazelnut with the chocolate as well as a tiny bit of barrel and coffee. similar to the nose, chocolate forward when colder and as it opens up the hazelnut and barrel present themselves a little more. not a lot of oak necessarily and even the barrel really only hits on the finish. all that said, while this is quite sweet i also find it balanced. the hazelnut is perfectly done. the coconut, which doesn’t really come off as coconut, but rather chocolate sweetness (it is chocolate-dusted coconut after all). and hazelnut coffee in beer always just comes off as hazelnuts to me. it has a thick mouthfeel from start to finish. right from the initial pour i knew this was going to be full bodied with a lower level of carbonation. decadent and sweet. couldn’t drink it all the time and half a can would be more than plenty, but very enjoyable. hits the dessert (let’s not say pastry) stout category and checks all the boxes.