Speedway Stout - Stroopwafel
AleSmith Brewing Company

Pours a dark mahogany brown and settles black in the glass with a sudsy tan head that leaves moderate lacing. Beautiful imperial stout.

The nose features roasty coffee, rich caramel, molasses, vanilla, and a touch of cinnamon, all of which are replicated on the taste.

The mouthfeel is full and edges toward creamy. This drinks like a decadent Belgian waffle and I am absolutely LOVING it.

 

 

A very rich and bold mix of caramel, brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon, thus creating a very rich tasting and smelling imperial stout. pair great with the eponymous Stroopwafel dessert.

2025-12-25
16oz can served in a WABL glass.

Pours with a medium sized head and fairly slow dissipation. Smell is sweet, caramel, vanilla, chocolate, roasted coffee.

Taste is more burnt bitter with a sweet topping -- tons of caramel, almost a vanilla buttercream frosting experience.

Mouthfeel is thick, chewy. Pretty good, a bit sweeter than I would prefer, otherwise not particularly remarkable.

Pitch black ! Rich, robust and boozy with lots of cinnamon, coffee, brown sugar and caramel. Decent balance; definitely lots of dessert-like sweetness. Full bodied with a warming boozy finish.

Poured at fridge temp. Pours a thick black with an inch of light brown head. The nose is lovely. I'm getting a lot of vanilla and caramel, and not immediately picking up on the cinnamon of coffee. Comes across as a chocolate milkshake. Super smooth.

The taste brings out all of the advertised flavors. Roasted malts, cinnamon, vanilla, dark roasted coffee, brown sugar. More bitter than sweet. Charred wood and super dark chocolate are dominant. Very nice.

Mouthfeel is pretty thick and creamy. Aftertaste is mostly dark roasted malts.

Pours a dark brown with a 1/2F head and moderate filmy lacing.

Smells of coffee and caramel.

Tastes of roasted malt, coffee , caramel and marshmallow with a slightly bitter , boozy warm finish.

Heavy body with light carbonation. Lush, syrupy mouthfeel.

This is a powerful, sweet sipper that is about an inch away of being too cloy.

 

 

16oz can poured into a snifter

A- pours jet black in color with a one-finger creamy khaki head that has good retention before settling into a film

S- caramel and burnt brown sugar up front, followed by a swirl of cinnamon and vanilla cream. Undertones of charred malt, dark chocolate and a hint of molasses

T- bold charred malt, dark chocolate and espresso form the base beer up front. Mid-palate starts to bring out flavors of cinnamon, creamy vanilla & espresso beans. The finish gives malty sweet caramel notes with burnt brown sugar Lingers of coffee, cinnamon & chocolate

M- medium body with moderate carbonation leads to a creamy mouthfeel that turns velvety into a warming finish

Solid dark appearance with a lasting brownish head
Medium light carbonation with a thick creamy body. The high abv definitely contributes to the body as it produces an alchohol burn.
Aroma is malt,cinnamon, vanilla,boozy and dark chocolate mocha.
Definitely an intense dessert beer, one is about all you need for one night

 

Look - Pours a dark blackish brown color with a very nice thick light brown head that sticks around. Can't complain about the look!

Smell - Brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and maybe even some caramel and coffee.

Taste - Coffee, cinnamon, and... well that's about all I'm getting in the taste. Unfortunately, I'm generally not a huge fan of coffee stouts.

Feel - Had more of coffee bitterness than a stroopwafel sweetness to me. If the taste was more like the nose, I'd have probably rated this higher.

Overall - Overall, a bit of a letdown. This has potential, but this version didn't quite do it for me.

 

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing opaque in the glass with a two finger dark khaki head with great retention and nice lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, cocoa, waffle, vanilla, light coffee and caramel; inviting. Flavor is lightly sweet, dark toasted malt, caramel, vanilla, drip coffee and a hint of cinnamon. Light espresso coffee bitterness in the finish. Medium bodied with moderate creaminess, nice mouth feel. The aroma has an eerily accurate component that reproduces a waffle and butter. Not sure if the butter note is there or an artifact of the waffle aroma. As always, good coffee profile with only a hint of coca, but a stroopwafel cinnamon and caramel presence. Fortunately, this reproduces the waffle character without being overly sweet; mild sweetness leading into a faintly sweet, but coffee ground bitterness in the finish. Nicely done. I'm still amazed at these specialty stout's ability to reproduce dessert flavors so closely. Many are also too sweet for me, but this one is fine. Nicely done and delicious. One of my favorites so far.

 

If, as I did, you guessed that a stroopwafel was an armored personnel carrier from 1943, you'll be delighted to know that it's not. In fact, this fine beer tastes hardly anything like something Captain American might have hot wired deep behind enemy lines. It's pretty good. But I could not do this all day.

Honestly, this might be the best Stout I've ever had. Most of the Speedway variants are fantastic, but this one took the cake. Had it at the Brewery sometime in 2019 and immediately got a growler to go. Just fantastic.