Speedway Grand Prix MMXXIV - Rocky Road Edition
AleSmith Brewing Company

 

16oz can poured into a snifter.

A: Pitch black pour with what looks to be good clarity. Some lighter garnet hues at the very edges. Three fingers of brown head don't budge for a very long time. Chunky, broken rings of lacing.

S: Chocolate sauce and roast up front. Soot and a bit of acrid smoke. Strong pull of amaretto and that almost cherry pit-like whiff that comes along with concentrated almond extract. Brownies with walnut. More heavy dark fudge and cark chocolate truffles. Medium roast coffee and a flash of steely, green hops come out with time and warmth.

T: Fudge brownies with walnut right off the rip. Deep chocolate nuance, with a lot of nuttiness and brown cocoa that later deepens into dark chocolate and chocolate truffles. Big pull of amaretto mid-palate, with that big almond and cherry pit flavor. Medium roast coffee pulls through immediately after and takes its time blooming. Lots of nougaty and creamy vanilla is not far behind. The more roasty and acrid edges start to pull through more later in the session. Touch of smoke. Brush of alcohol and green hop bitterness. Finishes on the drier side with lingering coffee, amaretto, and a hint of smoke.

M: Full and rich with a deep and decadent creaminess, like a melty mousse. Carbonation is ample, with a bit of a prickle at the tongue. Some alcohol warmth.

O: I am always skeptical of very "busy" dessert beers with lots of additives, but this one came together in the end. The nose had a lot more amaretto pulling through from my perception, but in taste it meshed and fit much better. The most important thing is that it stays drinkable and does not feel too sweet or sit too heavily relative to its size. It was actually easy and enjoyable to finish the full 16 ounces, which is a lot more than I can say for a lot of the dessert bombs clogging shelves. It lands more on the side of hedonistic rather than complex, but there's nothing wrong with that.

Look: black with a half inch mocca colored head

Aroma: roasted malts, nuts, chocolate, marshmallows, coffee

Flavor: roasted malts, prominent nuts/walnuts and almonds, marshmallows and chocolate and some coffee.

Body/Overall: full bodied and I think it is delicious

16 oz. canned on 10/10/24

Dark, chocolatey, sweet creamy vanilla, amaretto, slight cherry, toasted walnuts, almonds, dark roasted malts, caramel, toffee, brown sugar, molasses, rich bold coffee, condensed milk, dried dark fruit, with some earthy hops.

16oz can opened 3-8-25.
1 finger tan head with decent retention - holds at a solid cap, Thin lacing. Dark midnight body.
Amaretto in the aroma. Pistachio almond ice cream. Coffee, red fruit and what smells like a green hoppy aroma late.
Bitter coffee, dark chocolate, almond,
Full body and silky mouthfeel. Sweet and roasty bitter and lingering finish.
Very Good.

 

De OkassionalBeer. en copa Teku. Con palomitas. Jugando a Monster Boy. Perfil a gominola que, sin estar nada mal, no se corresponde con lo que uno espera leyendo la etiqueta, no apreciándose ninguno de los adjuntos que se supone que lleva

 

ONE PINT can
Served in a snifter

This beer pours black and is topped with a dark brown head that leaves no lacing.

Coffee and dark chocolate aroma.

Coffee forward. I get some dark, unsweetened chocolate. Bitter, black coffee finish

Medium bodied with a smooth mouthfeel

Tastes like bitter coffee like all the Speedway variants.

Canned 10/14/24. Drank 01/25/25.
Pour is jet black with a finger of quickly fading deep khaki foam.
Nose is fresh coffee, vanilla, milk chocolate, almond? I think it's amaretto
Taste follows - a big hit of walnut or almond? upfront followed by coffee, vanilla, milk chocolate.


I think it's amaretto i'm getting, as with the nose. It's pretty prevalent which isn't like speedway variants. They're usually pretty balanced but this nutty amaretto thing is really taking over.

 

 

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing opaque in the glass with a one finger milk chocolate head with great retention and solid lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, vanilla, nuts, candied cherries, cocoa and almond; aromatic. Flavor is dark toasted malt, vanilla, almonds, generic nuts, milk chocolate and coffee; light bitterness in the finish. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. This one has quite an amazing aroma. I got strong cherry aroma notes from the pour and in the glass; I'm guessing it's an artifact from the almonds and some other ingredients. The flavor is strong almond with only a hint of cherry esters. Lots of vanilla, nut and chocolate flavors. This one sounded too busy and complicated, but the overall flavor is quite nice; the nuts and vanilla are particularly harmonious. As with the last one I had (raspberry), the other flavors do mask much of the coffee. This is a fine variant that I would like to see again. Balance is excellent. I'm happy with this four pack so far and it's actually a great bargain for the ABV and flavor depth.

16oz can served in a Spiegelau tulip, Pours one shade shy of black with a dense, 1.5 inch, mocha-colored head embedded with pinpricks and ringlets. Nose reveals notes of cocoa, roast and pistachios. Taste follows nose with addition of boozy vanilla notes. Mouthfeel is medium-light in body with a carbonation that is slightly assertive for the style. Overall, a very nice pastry stout out a fair price point, but a little lacking in the body.

Poured stout black with a very decent light brown head that left sparse lacing.
The taste features nuts, almost overwhelming, the chocolate, vanilla and mallow come in after. The coffee which is an intrinsic part of Speedway is almost lost in the mix, but somehow the stout comes through.
The feel is typical Speedway, lightly viscous and way too easy to drink faster than one probably should.
OA, I liked it better than the coconut Vietnamese coffee version but not as much as the raspberry chocolate one.

 

 

Part of the 4-pack variety I found. What a fruity-anisette aroma, like punch with amaretto. Also there’s marshmallow, cherry with pineapple…Almond. Another one from this brewery smelling this good? Impressed. It appears unassuming but much like a stout should, nice pour with the deep tan head and lacing.
The taste is definitely all of that, but with coffee and vanilla. Overall, about half of its ingredients are used to make amaretto so it makes sense this flavor. It’s so good because it’s also not sweet in the finish, but still sweet overall. I still get the hops. I feel it’s well balanced. Too drinkable (that’s both good and bad), but it should never hurt the review. I look forward to trying the other 2 cans from this pack. Essentially $5 per tall can. I call it a value. Other stout-oriented breweries ought to benchmark their own output and compare it with Alesmith’s. Up until this variety pack, I only tried their Speedway regular. Liked it a great deal but I grew tired of imp. stouts. But man these flavors are well done. They could charge “The Bruery” prices on them, and most certainly “Goose Isl. BCBS” prices. This may be better than many of those.

Can pour - dark as night blah blah blah. Almost a jfc this is sweet kind of thing. Not sure about this one.... marzipan on the the last sip..and the one after that..lingering booze..sweet af....

The last of the three versions I picked up of the Grand Prix, this one again didn't quite live up to expectations. Less head on the pour, still viscous and black and oily...very nutty and dry, with a strong vanilla presence blending with the coffee from start to finish. Thick body. This version seemed less cohesive than the other two, as far as the adjuncts. Still, not bad.