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Mikerphone Brewing

 

Super nutty, but not to the point of graininess. In the smell wafts of hazelnut crash upon the nose, with vanilla, cocoa, rye, booze and malt behind it. Taste is huge hazelnut upfront with the rye, then slowly gives way to cocoa, vanilla and sneaky robust malts. Feel is thick, chewy, heavy, and robust, though sweet. Surprised how big this beer was given the flavors, but it worked

750ml capped bottle, tumbler glass. Pours a dark cola brown body, opaque and fairly dark enough to be black. One finger mocha head, good retention, a bit of lacing. Smell is nutty, big nutty hazelnut, light chocolate syrup, milk chocolate, a fair bit of vanilla sweetness, more nuts. Flavour is a bit more complex, has more spicy rye on top of the hazelnut nutty sweetness, milk chocolate, marshmallowy vanilla, cocoa. Works great. The rye helps balance out the hazelnut sweetness a fair amount. Medium fuller bodied, appropriate carbonation, more nutty sweetness with a rye spice on the finish. Balanced, still sweet but easy to drink a good amount of this stuff.

Grabbed this on a whim at Beer Temple in Chicago, and I'm glad I did. It pours black and moderately thick, with a half-finger of head on a delayed reaction from the time of pouring. The rye and hazelnut are standouts, with the nibs and vanilla in a complementary role. The smell almost gives an impression of it being a milk stout, with a touch of lactose tartness that I don't think is actually present, given the flavor profile on the palate, which is very round and balanced. Not too much sweetness, a dessert for someone with only a minor sweet tooth. On par with some of Mikerphone's other rotating flavored stouts.

 

Dark and fairly thick, with very little head and a very oily appearance. Smells mostly like chocolate and a little vanilla. Taste is pure hazelnut at first, with some creamy vanilla and spice from the rye. Strange that the smell is so chocolaty, but the chocolate really takes a backseat in the flavor. Kind of sweet, but not overly so. Pretty intensely flavored beer. Drinks kind of thick and oily, but overall nice. Very little carbonation. I've had a number of different hazelnut stouts, and this is one of the better ones I've had. The rye really makes this one unique. I would have another, and I'm glad I bought a second bottle.