Triple Digit Series: Chickow! Spumoni
Listermann Brewing Company

Double brown ale brewed with hazelnuts, pistachios, cherries, and chocolate added. Poured from a bottle into a Listermann's Fermatorium glass. Pours like regular Chickow. On the nose I get toasted malt, hazelnut, pistachio, almonds, some vanilla, and lots of marzipan.

Full body with a sweet, rich, complex flavor. Lots of hazelnuts, cherries, cocoa, an marzipan. Towards the back of the palate the sweetness dies off drastically, bringing on more cherry flavor and some sarsaparilla and unsweetened cola.

I tried this beer several months ago at a preview event held by the brewery and I thought it was a revelation. Out of the bottle, it doesn't seem quite as good for some reason. Still, it's an outstanding effort that doesn't really taste like any other beer out there. My mom, who is from Germany, used to by these little candies every Christmas called dominosteine (sp?). They're dark chocolate cookies with marzipan and fruit jam covered in chocolate. This beer reminds me of those cookies so much it's amazing.