Point of Confusion: White Pastry Stout
Hitchhiker Brewing Company

 

 

very well made

Hitchhiker Brewing Co. "Point of Confusion"
16 fl. oz. can; coding is illegible. Sampled on 08/21/23
$4.25 @ Wegmans, King of Prussia, PA

Notes via stream of consciousness: This is a white stout with coffee, maple syrup, cacao nibs, vanilla, and hazelnut. It's a hazy golden in color beneath a standard sized head of white foam that unfortunately fades away to nothing almost immediately. Some particulate is clearly visible in suspension. It smells great! I get the coffee, the maple syrup, and the vanilla clearly. The taste follows. It's sweet and reminds me of some fall or winter weather Starbuck's concoction. Again, the coffee, maple syrup, and vanilla are clear but there's also some toastiness and a little bit of nuttiness. The vanilla gives it an almost 'creamy' character. I'm now getting that nuttiness in the aroma as well, and I'm guessing they used ground up toasted hazelnuts which would explain why the head dropped so readily as they contain a lot of oils just like the coffee. I'm quite surprised at its complexity although it does remain a little bit of a one-trick pony. I really think that this is a "dessert beer" although it works out OK for those with a sweet tooth on a fairly regular basis. I'm about halfway through it and for me I'm satiated and done. You could drink it on it's own as dessert, or use it as an ingredient in something else. I think this as a "float" with some vanilla bean ice cream would be quite nice. In the mouth it's full-medium in body and gently crisp with a standard carbonation. A final note on this beer, it's supposedly 9.2% alcohol by volume but I don't find that at all in either the aroma or taste and I wonder if that's correct or that's a mistaken calculation. I don't get a lot of bitterness out of it but maybe that's just because of all the sweetness - it does dry somewhat in the finish so maybe that is the alcohol at work.
Review #8,720

 

 

Sparsely hazy burnt orange with a short white head dying to a thin chain.

This drinkable pastry brew is a coffee-forward "white stout" with a little nuttiness to go with its cocoa qualities.

Poured translucent, murky but not hazy.

The initial aroma recalled hazelnut speculoo cookie sandwiches from Belgium, or even supermarket speculoo spread.

I found the taste offputting. If you can imagine taking syrup-coated Wendy's french toast sticks, letting them macerate in hazelnut coffee for a bit, then squeezing the liquid from them into a white stout, you'll get a close approximation.

The carbonation is appropriate for the style, and it has a stout-like mouthfeel, so it's well-made, which is standard for Hitchhiker beers I've enjoyed, but the assault of the various adjunct flavorings overshadows any positives about this beer, IMHO.

 

 

16 oz can

Pours mostly clear golden, white film for a head.

Aroma is of fresh coffee, cocoa, vanilla and biscotti.

Flavor is coffee, vanilla, maple, toffee, cinnamon and sweet cookie-like malts.

Medium body, tingly carbonation on the tongue.

Sweet and rich, it drinks like a stout but looks like a pale ale. Goes down pretty smooth. It's a slow drinker because of the richness. Worth a try as a dessert beer.

I'm trying this at the brewery. It poured a clear golden with thin white head. The scent had a coffee and Danish appeal. The taste was nicely balanced and easy to drink with coffee and vanilla presence. The mouthfeel was medium in body with good carbonation. Overall its a solid beer.