Peppermint Condition
Nine-Band Brewing Company

 

Poured from a can into a pint glass
Appearance – The beer pours a dark brown color with a huge head of light brown foam. The head has a fantastic level of retention, slowly fading over time to leave a good sum of foamy lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma is huge of a delicious peppermint candy cane smell. Along with these aromas comes some lighter notes of a milk chocolate and caramel as well as some notes of a toasted malt and a bit of herb.
Taste – While the aroma is huge of peppermint and sweet, the taste is not as big, at least at first. To start the taste is predominantly of a dark roasted malt flavor that has a tiny bit of caramel and milk chocolate sweetness. There is a little bit of peppermint upfront,, but the taste is very weak in comparison to the nose. As the taste advances the peppermint remains sweet and the sweet upfront seems to fade, leaving a very weak taste in the middle of the taste profile. As the taste advances however the sweet comes back and is joined by an increase in the peppermint and some light earthy hop tastes. While the peppermint remains lighter for the most part, well after swallowing the brew the peppermint, mixed with the lighter chocolate flavors seem to swell, getting stronger and stronger over time. In the end a very lingering peppermint flavor is left on the tongue, which last for quite some time.
Mouthfeel – The body of the brew is somewhat more watery for a brew of its dark nature with a carbonation level that is slightly lower. The lower carbonation is nice for accentuating the dark characteristics of the brew, but a little thicker body may have been slightly better. Overall it was an OK feeling brew.
Overall – Not really sure about this one. It is weak in many aspects with respect to roast, sweet, and initial peppermint. It is at least worth a try, but I probably wouldn’t do it again.