French Toast
Angry Chair Brewing

This sweet ride was sent to me by Frankenmiller back in NBS BIF #12.

Deepest brown before turning black is capped by a thin mocha colored head that dissipates quickly. Slight lacing with low retention.
Nose is as advertised. Maple syrup forward with hints of cinnamon, a round coffee roast, and chocolate. But basically, it smells so much like French toast with a side of coffee that I am already tasting it.
So now that I am officially tasting it, yep, still French toast. But now there is some caramel, chocolate, and a slightly charred, almost woody background. This actually gives it a little more depth than the nose. She is still sweet and definitely nails what they were going for.
Mouthfeel is between medium and full, departing from the porter world and leaning into stout range. Low carb and no real heat to hint at the ABV.
Overall, if one is ok with the sweetness, this one is truth in advertising. And one helluva ride.

 

Good, it’s what you’d expect.

Reviewed from (long-standing) notes. Bottle from the brewery's 8/5/17 batch. 750 mL bottle poured into an El Catador Barrel-Aged glass. Consumed on 1/14/18.

A: Dark brown, but definitely brown rather than black. Nearly opaque with a thin tan head. Low visible carbonation.

S: Maple sweetness, heavily toasted malts. Some cinnamon and a modest coffee roasted malt. Some vanilla and mild cocoa powder. This…smells like French Toast. To the point where I’m questioning if there could be egg wash in here! Absolutely full marks as far as “what it promised”, but maybe a touch less for appeal.

T: Maple and cinnamon, chocolate and vanilla. Roasted malts with a moderate amount of coffee flavor. Some sweet vanilla and lactose stickiness and a small amount of cocoa powder. More sweet maple and sweet maltiness in the hang.

A: A thick sticky body for a “porter” – this "Imperial Stout" blurs the stout-porter line for sure. The hefty ABV is very well hidden. Low carbonation sensation, but it fits the beer.

O: This is a big, sticky, sweet beer. The vanilla and maple come hard and don’t quit. I don’t know if it’s quite obnoxiously cloying, but it’s close. There’s some bitterness from the cinnamon, and a milder amount of roast bitterness. But certainly big sweetness from maple and the malt body. This definitely isn’t something I'm taking down a 750 by myself. Sticky, sweet and with minimal let-up or relief from the sweet flavors. In small doses, this is incredible. But I can’t see drinking even an entire 12 oz of this. Not my favorite from these guys, but far from a bad beer.

 

 

 

 

 

I had the barrel aged version the previous night, and actually found this non-ba version to be far more enjoyable. There's still a touch of booze that even almost brings an illusion of barrel character to it anyway, but without the weirdness I got from the BA version. The cinnamon is definitely more present, but of a softer variety, and closer to the syrupy breakfast treat, adding a toasty brown ale taste to it. The medium body has a soft fizz and finishes semi-dry. Really dug this version.

 

 

L: pours thin but dark brown with no head
S: huge maple, also vanilla and cinnamon are in great balance
T: man oh man, the vanilla pops out as the lead dog in the flavor fight, yum! Followed by a great combo of maple and cinnamon. But it is very very sweet.
F: thick, coating my teeth, smooth, easy drinking.

Bottle. Tan head. Black color.

Maple syrup dominates the nose and the taste. Some cinnamon and a decent amount of vanilla. Super sweet. Chocolate cake batter. Some roasted malts. Medium to full bodied. Really solid, but really sweet.