Imperial Stout Trooper - Peanut Butter & Chocolate
New England Brewing Co.

 

 

2yrs since they last canned this and it was worth the wait. pours a nice jet black with a half inch head and immediate hit of what smells like dark chocolate with maybe a little coffee giving way to a peanut butter finish. none of those flavors overwhelm but rather give you the perfect mix as you slowly sip your way through. I sipped slowly as the beer warms a bit the flavor lingers and improves. At 9.5% its very smooth just like their base IST without the PB & Choc but the addition of PB & Choc makes it a nearly perfect stout, one of my favorites

 

 

Canned on 12/15/20; consumed on 1/20/21

Pours a dense, inky black body capped with over two fingers of thick, fluffy, dark khaki-colored foam; great head retention yields ¾ of a finger of creamy collar, a dense, velvety collar, and layered walls of webby lacing clinging to the sides of the glass.

Aroma opens with a toasted malt presence meeting toffee before easing to a touch of roasty smoke; a building, nutty peanut butter profile accentuates through the middle into bittersweet milk chocolate toward the back end; suggestions of raspberry backed with hints of dusty cocoa bleed into a creamy peanut butter resurgence for a wispy yet decadent close.

Taste brings heavily-roasted malts with hints of smoked toffee upfront, embracing milk chocolate while creamy peanut butter seamlessly integrates into the mid-palate; mild, coffee-tinged roast and darkening cocoa tones soften through the back end as dark chocolate and husky, toasted malts finish.

Mouthfeel shows a medium-light body and an airy, moderate carbonation fluffing into a plush, creamy texture into the mid-palate, a mild grit grazing the tongue; a spontaneous slickness glides almost unnoticed into the back end, where roast reestablishes on the finish, with a tinge of grassy hops coming through quietly.

Peanut butter melds purely into chocolate atop a base as rich and roasty as it was fine and clean; a beer not lacking in contrasts and balanced to an almost paradoxical degree, this is at its core simply a well-tempered sweet stout that would both benefit from being amplified, but remains exceptionally harmonious in its present form.

 

Draft sample at The Extreme Beer Fest Boston February first twenty twenty.

SAmpling this cellar temp 12 oz can poured into my snifter. The beer pours a dark cola brown color with no light passing through my glass. A densely packed creamy tan head of 1 cm foams up and fades pretty quickly to only a thin edge layer.
There is also some scattered lacing on my glass after each sip.
Aroma is rich with dark chocolate and also some peanut husk and roasted nut notes. Not sweet peanut butter notes but more of the roasted notes and shell or husk character. Pretty nice nose that doesnt have any sort of artificial character that can happen with peanut butter beers.
First sip reveals a medium bodied beer with smooth texture and very fine tingly carbonation. The beer coats my palate on each sip. Pretty solid physical traits on this brew.
Flavor is dark chocolate and a bit of sweet milk chocolate too. This gives way to some roasted peanut notes and a bit of sweeter peanut butter too. Some husky nut shell lingers after each sip with some of the sweeter chocolate too. No hops anywhere and the 9.5% is well hidden on this beer. I am enjoying this one and find it to be one of the better peanut butter beers Ive had recently. Glad to have tried this one and even happier I have another in the cellar!