Speedway Stout - Coffee Cake
AleSmith Brewing Company

A - Dark brown-black body, opaque, with a brown head that fades quickly, and not cap or lacing to speak of.

S - Quiet when still cold, vanilla and spices come forward as it warms, all over a sea of booziness.

T - Lush malt and rich spice notes, cinnamon and vanilla, a touch of barrel and bourbon through the middle, and a dry, slightly earthy note in the finish.

M - Moderate weight, particularly in light of the ABV, with only minimal carbonation. The close is clean, inviting a fairly quick return which can make this a bit dangerous if you are not careful.

O - I enjoyed this pastry stout more than most of this style. The flavors are welcoming and restrained, and the result is pretty well delicious. Solid.

 

 

Poured from the 16 oz can into the test glass
A - Dark walnut color, carbonation assembles into a thin mocha colored ring, lasing the entire experience.
S - Cinnamon, up front, roast coffee, dark chocolate, some dark fruit in there as well. Hints of raisin, fig
T - Here the vanilla appears, cinnamon has a presence, while avoiding a starring role. Coffee and barrel treatment are not standout indivual elements. There is a lovely balance across the flavors as the offering warms.
M - Medium to slightly heavy texture, Silky on the palate, excellent bitter to sweet tension in this offering. Finish is protracted, linger has a desserty posture.
O - A very good variant, both the spice and the vanilla are in balance with the base offering

 

 

Pours deep black with minimal head into a 4oz tulip taster. Smells of strong cinnamon. Taste is too much cinnamon for me, but otherwise is good quality.

 

 

On tap at 2016 SDBW AleSmith Grand Prix. This is one that sounded like it would be an amazing variant but just didn't seem well executed. The aroma was decent enough, with some cinnamon alongside the base beer, but the taste was fairly muddled and a bit astringent. There were sips which gave the impression of eating a half teaspoon of cinnamon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On tap at the AleSmith tasting room on 11/10/16.

Pleasant cinnamon and vanilla accents blend nicely with the coffee and cocoa notes of the base beer.