Barrel Aged Cuppa - Neapolitan
Maplewood Brewery & Distillery

 

 

This one pours a very dark black color, with a small head, and not much lacing.

This smells like jammy strawberry, tobacco, charred barrel, vanilla, and milk chocolate.

This area of pastry stout-dom can often be really fruity and too sweet, but Maplewood has avoided that, by imbuing this one with a really strong and tasty barrel character. The strawberry is the kicker here - it's often not done well in Neapolitan stouts, but this is - it's jammy, but not overly so, and certainly does not dominate here at all. There's a wonderful rich chocolate character, with a touch of vanilla. The barrel presents as tobacco, char, and some roastiness.

This is medium bodied, creamy, and not too boozy, with a nice drinkability.

I was slightly worried this would be a little messy, but it turned out quite nicely in the end.

 

Very dark with caramel/brown colored medium amount of foam upon aggressive pour out of the can. Definitely get the strawberry, and vanilla. Chocolate in there too. Medium to thicker feel, but as is the case with all of the BA Cuppa series beers during this year's release: where's the barrel? You could have told me this was a non-BA beer and I wouldn't have doubted it for a second.

Had on tap. Pitch black pour with a brown ring. Irony: the variant I was least excited about end up being the best this year. For one the body actually has decent barrel without being hot, and the feel is thicker and smoother than the others while have that coffee roast underneath. Taste balances the adjuncts well with all threw well represented, though strawberry would be the leader if I had to pick one in the nose, chocolate in the taste.

 

 

Next up was the Neapolitan variant. It is insane how much this beer captured the famous ice cream flavor; not only in taste but also in body. The Neo variant is the “creamiest” of the bunch and each sip tastes like a melted bowl of ice cream. The strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla all work together and are not overshadowed by one element. I was skeptical about this one but it turned out very good in the barrel.