Year 9 - Chocolate Rye Barrels With Cinnamon, Coconut & Toasted Marshmallow
Cycle Brewing

 

Honestly, i don’t even think of the chocolate and cinnamon and marshmallow when I see hunks of coconut floating on this one. I swear, I would have thought Cycle cut coconuts over the bottles and let slices fall in. Just a dirty looking bastard of a beer. Smell is coconut and cocoa sweet first, but then the cinnamon and rye say “hey, how are ya?” Taste is similar-there’s a lot of flavors fighting it out, and they all pretty much figure a way to live together, even though coconut and chocolate are the strongest. It’s thick, it’s big bodied, it’s syrupy it’s oily, and if anything, that may just be the one weakness. Cycle really threw a lot at this beer. I don’t think aging would do much more than mellow the flavors, and I don’t know if it needs that. If you want something big and flavorful, this is it,

This is beer #2023, which happens to be my first beer of 2023.

 

Pitch black shimmering black body, brown cap. Nose is fudge, coconut, and marshmallow heavy, with rye barrel cinnamon and faint molasses backing. Taste is more barrel forward, rye and fudge is great starring couple, vanilla, cinnamon, and coconut lift to the finish. Heavy and thick before slight elevation in finish, chewy and warm.

Deep, dark brown color, opaque; no head; flecks of protein and other unknown things floating on the surface and below the beer; low-grade oily rings encircle the glass. Rich, complex aroma; chocolate and cocoa; cinnamon; heavy earthy spiciness; toasted coconut. Truly awesome taste: rich, sweet dark malts; tobacco and leather with a spicy element throughout; suggestion of chili pepper; whiskey; oak. Heavy body; dull, earthy bite with a pointed alcohol warmth; deep residual sugar notes; grain husk and boozy dryness mildly offsets the sweet feel.

From a dull, nearly lifeless looking appearance to an incredibly complex nose and flavor, this beer jumps across rating lines and ultimately finds itself pegged at the upper levels of satisfaction.

Pouring temperature: 57 °F: bottling info: n/a