Belledonna - Vanilla Beans and Espresso
Abandoned Building Brewery
- From:
- Abandoned Building Brewery
- Massachusetts, United States
- Style:
- Imperial Pastry Stout
- ABV:
- 11%
- Score:
- +9 ratings needed
- Avg:
- 4.51 | pDev: 0%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 1
- Status:
- Retired
- Rated:
- Dec 27, 2020
- Added:
- Dec 27, 2020
- Wants:
- 0
- Gots:
- 0
NO SCORE
-
-
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews.
Reviewed by cbutova from Massachusetts
4.51/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
4.51/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
A- The 22oz bottle pours into a stange glass with a midnight black body and a cocoa tan-brown head. The crown has a nice thick creamy and puffy consistency and really good retention. The head slowly dies down to the tiniest of rings but the initial lacing are some large webs with small spots below that.
S- For my nose the aroma is really, really well balanced without one thing completely taking over but you still get to appreciate the coffee, barrel, malts and vanilla beans a lot. On the whole it reminds me of a brownie or fresh chocolate cake. Fresh brewed espresso opens up with dark roast coffee bean notes joined by dark chocolate, roast barley, chocolate malts, vanilla beans, caramel and some Bourbon. The whiskey is a bit subdued. The vanilla beans work very well to marry everything together.
T- The main thing I notice immediately is the barrel coming on stronger and this beer is downright expressive in many ways between the base stout, adjuncts and barrels. A lot of strong flavors that play well with each other rather than clashing or being too over the top. The barrel opens things up in the taste with charred oak, spicy whiskey and slight woodiness before transitioning into the intense espresso beans which are both roasty and bring that coffee flavor to the beer. Roast barley, a touch of booze, strong vanilla bean notes, caramel, slight sour whiskey feel, cocoa powder, bitter dark chocolate, nuttiness, a hint of dark dried fruits and a touch of straight char.
MF- Moderately heavy body overall with a medium level of carbonation. The texture is soft, creamy and silky and just feels like a pillow on the taste buds. Ends fairly warm and pretty bitter but not acrid.
I really enjoyed the 2019 version and I am super happy that I found this on the shelf earlier tonight with it's pretty bottle. This brew just brings a ton of strong flavors but it never feels sloppy. The barrel comes on strong when it warms up but you never lose the great espresso, cohesion-bringing vanilla beans and the intense roast malts. Also thankfully the sweetness to alcohol balance is kept pretty neutral without either being too much.
Dec 27, 2020S- For my nose the aroma is really, really well balanced without one thing completely taking over but you still get to appreciate the coffee, barrel, malts and vanilla beans a lot. On the whole it reminds me of a brownie or fresh chocolate cake. Fresh brewed espresso opens up with dark roast coffee bean notes joined by dark chocolate, roast barley, chocolate malts, vanilla beans, caramel and some Bourbon. The whiskey is a bit subdued. The vanilla beans work very well to marry everything together.
T- The main thing I notice immediately is the barrel coming on stronger and this beer is downright expressive in many ways between the base stout, adjuncts and barrels. A lot of strong flavors that play well with each other rather than clashing or being too over the top. The barrel opens things up in the taste with charred oak, spicy whiskey and slight woodiness before transitioning into the intense espresso beans which are both roasty and bring that coffee flavor to the beer. Roast barley, a touch of booze, strong vanilla bean notes, caramel, slight sour whiskey feel, cocoa powder, bitter dark chocolate, nuttiness, a hint of dark dried fruits and a touch of straight char.
MF- Moderately heavy body overall with a medium level of carbonation. The texture is soft, creamy and silky and just feels like a pillow on the taste buds. Ends fairly warm and pretty bitter but not acrid.
I really enjoyed the 2019 version and I am super happy that I found this on the shelf earlier tonight with it's pretty bottle. This brew just brings a ton of strong flavors but it never feels sloppy. The barrel comes on strong when it warms up but you never lose the great espresso, cohesion-bringing vanilla beans and the intense roast malts. Also thankfully the sweetness to alcohol balance is kept pretty neutral without either being too much.
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