Cellar Series: Gone Camping
Põhjala Brewery & Tap Room

Bottle: Poured a pitch-black color stout with a dark brown foamy head with some retention and some lacing notes. Aroma of black chocolate notes with some strong barrel notes from rum and mezcal. Taste is also a mix of black chocolate notes with some strong rum, mezcal and whiskey notes with some warming alcohol notes. Body is full with medium carbonation and strong warming alcohol notes. Interesting barrel-aged techniques but maybe a bit too hot for my taste.

This is absolutely one of the best Põhjala, and best of any beer out of the more than 3,000, I've ever had. Perfectly described in their succinct bottle description, this is a big, powerful, smooth, and beautiful Stout. Buy and enjoy!

 

Pours a pitch-black coloration with a large, creamy, mocha-colored head. Smells of caramel, slightly roasted malt, brown sugar and chocolate, with hints of dark fruit, spice and oak also coming through. Taste is a poor balance of caramel, very slightly roasted malt, an overwhelming muscovado sugar note, some dark fruit, with hints of raisin and fig, as well as accents of chocolate, licorice, tobacco and oak. Finishes sugary sweet, with some brown sugar, dark fruit and tobacco lingering in the aftertaste. Full mouthfeel with a rich body and light/medium carbonation.

I haven't had anything from Pohjala in a while and was quite looking forward to this triple barrel-aged brew as their BA stuff is usually top-notch, but ended up really disappointed here, as this is just way too sweet, with a really overdone muscovado sugar note that makes it hard for me to believe that no actual muscovado sugar has been added to this, with the different barrels failing to leave a distinct impression as well. While there hints of spice, tobacco and oak to this from the barrels, the overwhelming, sugary sweetness mostly drowns all of this out, with just the chocolate and dark fruit being really noticeable here, which doesn't really help as these just add to the sweetness. Overall, while there is a certain, rich decadence to this, with hints of complexity, the overwhelming, sugary sweetness just completely ruins this for me personally.