Strawberry Fields
Brouwerij Kees

 

Balancing the supreme roasted character of the Netherland mindset of stout making with the delicate and rather finesse orientation of strawberry and we have a beer from the Kees Brewery that's strong, but has a softer side.

Simply black to the eye, Strawberry Fields is topped with a billowing light tan froth with honeycomb structures. Nearly eruptive in its carbonation, the nose is easily filled with high roast, campfire, Turkish coffee, cocoa and roasted walnut. Medium sweetness revolves around deeply carbonized sugars with sorghum and molasses represented in a drier than usual fashion.

Any sweetness is short lived as the excessive carbonation ushers away the sweetness and leaving behind the charred remnants of grain. Espresso, baker's chocolate, walnut and burnt toast linger in baited anticipation for the moderate hints of strawberry that brings a bright and tart taste that's in stark juxtaposition to the roasted taste of stout. Both bitter and tangy, there's a sense of complexity but also conflict that comes with the later portions in taste.

Full bodied but lightened considerably by the strong carbonic bite of the beer's bubbles, the carbonation, alcohol and sharper edges of roast have a stinging sensation on the palate while its bitter sourness comes across very tannic-heavy from roast-derived astringencies. A long linger of burnt grains plague the finish and hinders the beer's enjoyment. A lighter carbonation rate and a measure of sweetness would bring the flavors better much more nicely.

Explodes out of bottle, five+ finger khaki head that fades slowly leaving some lace, ton of yeast left in bottle. Deep brown color, no highlights. Good carbonation and medium bodied. Strawberry nose and flavor is tart strawberry and sweet chocolate. Pricey at $5.95 for a 330ml bottle from Colonial Spirits Acton, Ma.

 

 

 

11.2 ounce bottle, cap states best before 08/19, Batch 17.53. Served in a Spiegelau stout glass, the beer pours dark brown/black with a huge tan head that took a while to settle down before I could pour the whole beer into the glass. Small amount of lacing. Aroma is nice, the brew smells like strawberry syrup/candy, cocoa, roasted malt, and earthiness. Taste is similar to the aroma, with strawberry syrup/candy, burnt/charred malt, earthy, bittersweet and milk chocolate, oats, floralness and dark bready flavors. Aroma and taste is sweet and fruity with a hint of roasty bitterness. Mouthfeel/body is medium, it's a bit coating with a high amount of carbonation. I liked this brew, but wish the carbonation was lower. $5.99 a bottle.

Floral berry aroma, strawberry jam and dark chocolatey oats

Very gentle pour yields a 2-3 inch light tan head over a brown body with some thick lacing. Nose of strawberries, dark roasted malt, chocolate fudge, and molasses. Taste mirrors nose in a sour kind of way at first, real tasty middle, and then finishing with bitter chocolate. Nice oatmeal feel and overall, this took a few sips to get used to and decided I really like it. Cheers!

 

I am really running through some bottles this week! I had been laser-focused on The CANQuest (tm) for most of the summer, but when someone accused me of not doing bottle reviews, I realized that it was time to shift my attention for a period of time. I am buying far fewer bottles anyway, so it becomes a very finite exercise.

From the bottle: "Chocolate [O]atmeal [S]tout with a peace of mind!"; "[Hops:] Motueka, Kohatu [; Malts:] Pale malt, Caramel malt, Chocolate malt"; "IBU 40".

I applaud whoever added this beer in the first place! Yes, it is a Stout at its base, but with strawberries as an adjunct, it could possibly suffer if reviewing to the Stout style. As a Fruit Beer, it simply needs to have an emphasis on the fruit.

I Pop!ped the cap & began a C-line pour since that seems to work really well. I watched in horrified fascination as the head rushed up to form three-plus fingers of fizzy, foamy, rocky, deep-brown head with limited retention, quickly falling back to wisps without any lacing left behind. 8=( Color was Dark Brown to Very Dark Brown (SRM = > 27, < 34) with NE-quality clarity & ruby highlights. Nose was redolent with strawberries! Yum. My favorite fruit. Mmm. Mouthfeel was medium. The taste was primarily strawberry, but the roasted malt also lent it a chocolatiness. I was reminded of Saugatuck's Neapolitan, simply sans vanilla & frankly, I didn't get that much vanilla in that one, either. This is an amazing piece of brewing engineering because the roasted malt tends to overwhelm the strawberry flavor in this type of thing. How do I know? I spent years "assisting" Lancaster B.C. at fests & the Chocolate-covered Strawberry was always a crowd favorite, even though it was a blend! It took a lot of tinkering until we found the right ratio, but suffice it to say that it was light on Milk Stout. I also do not want to oversell this as being really sweet either, with my talk of ice cream & confections. The strawberries gave it a light tartness, as fruit in alcohol is wont to do & the Stout base was a Dry Stout, so it was marginally semi-sweet. I would not argue against semi-dry, either. This was a really pleasant surprise, bought on a whim a couple of weeks ago. Now, the big Q: Do you like strawberries? Well, punk, do you? If not, give this a wide pass, but if you do, then it is worth seeking out.

 

 

 

 

L: Poured from a bottle to a pint glass. Had a brownish-red color and a cloudy texture. There was a massive, creamy, off white, annoyingly long-lasting head. Average lacing.

S: A decent, if somewhat overly tart, aroma of strawberries, malt, and some chocolate.

T: Tasted of a marginal amount of malt, a fairly large amount of strawberries (could have used more), an odd medicinal quality, some light chocolate notes, and some other random berries. A strange and kind of uneven flavor. Not that bad, but it seemed to need a little more power than it had.

F: A good amount of carbonation with a dry finish. Medium-bodied.

O: I can't entirely dismiss this beer because it has its good qualities. Not bad, but not great.

Poured into a nonic pint glass, the appearance was a dark brown close to black color with a thick foamy eggshell white foamy head that slid off ever so gently. Some light concave lace ran here and there.
The aroma had an authentic sweet to tart strawberry character up front riding over some sweet milk chocolate portions and then a light dark chocolate, a little bit of dark bready toast and a light earthiness came out as it warmed.
The flavor was a nice blend of the sweet and the tart; compensating nicely with the ebb and flow of the berries to the chocolate. Moderate aftertaste of the strawberries and milk chocolate.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied with a fair sipping quality about it. Carbonation felt fine. Some roasty grind gripped my tongue and added a little bit of chalkiness. ABV felt on par.
Overall, works as a stout, but I don't see it as a fruit/vegetable beer, that's a bit of a stretch as there's too much "stout-like" qualities coming about. It's one that I'd be willing to have again despite the mouthfeel being a little "chalky."