Fionn
Angry Chair Brewing

 

 

Brownish black opaque pour, tan head. Coffee and hazelnut dance upon the dark chocolate, biscotti, and roasted malt. Taste again has coffee and hazelnut big time, met here with supporting bakers chocolate and vanilla, with a backbone of roasted malt and a kiss of caramel. Feel is dry and large on the palate but not as thick as expected, smooth roast and percolation melded all together defines. Perfect beer in the glass for a cool autumn evening

 

Poured a dark brown body with minimal head and no lace. The aroma is mostly coffee with some chocolate and hazelnuts. Slightly sticky coffee beer with some chocolate in it and a nutty finish. Beer has good balance and is worth relaxing with.

 

 

 

 

Coffee black with clear brown edges under a tall, dense but creamy tan head that uniformly settles to a ridged collar.

Creamy and soft but not overly thick or viscous, Fionn delivers a beautifully earthy mocha roast accented by a good push of nicely floral, nutty hazelnut. The nut, coffee and roasted malt combine to have an almost caramelized char to it, kind of like brown sugar, but a welcome rye-like spice helps with a contrasting bitterness. A note of creamy vanilla whip brings it all together as it warms.

The body is actually quite moderate for AC, with a fine but soft carbonation, coming to a just semi-dry finish. Not sticky or over the top at all.

 

 

 

 

 

Reviewed from notes. Poured from a 750 mL bottle into an El Catador Barrel-Aged glass.

A: The darkest of browns, with a one-finger tan head. Nearly opaque except around the edges, and a relatively low amount of visible carbonation.

S: You can smell the hazelnut when pouring this into the glass. Once you start digging in, there’s coffee, vanilla, and dark roasted malts. Notes of caramel and toffee and chocolate. Biscotti cookie, then some more vanilla and coffee-flavored sweet filling. But very big hazelnut over the whole thing.

T: Hazelnut, coffee, dark roasted malts. Chocolate, vanilla, and more dark roasted malts. Mild roast bitterness as well – both from malt roast and roasted coffee I think. Maybe some minimal hop bitterness in there also. A touch of drying tobacco, but then buried under more hazelnut. Finishes with continued hazelnut, and a coffee + vanilla mix.

M: On the heavy side for a porter, but this doesn’t drink like a stout or anything. Alcohol only passingly noticeable – very low level overall. Carbonation sensation average for style.

O: This is a hazelnut bomb, but the coffee and chocolate are enough to prevent it from being one-note-ridiculous. Really pretty tasty, but you gotta enjoy hazelnut.