Follow Your Heart Southward
Casita Brewing Company

 

 

good look. nose of bourbon chocolate and vanilla, mild coffee. taste follows very well balanced chocolate vanilla barrel and mild coffee. feel is rich and decedent - perfect for a BA stout. Overall great stout!

500ml bottle poured into HF tulip.

Appearance: black bodied stout with brown head that is somewhere between a light and medium brown color.

Smell: vanilla, chocolates, black licorice, dry oak, and bourbon. Surprisingly no coffee notes.

Taste: Sweet and rich vanilla with dry oak notes and smooth bourbon to start things off. The beer transitions into black licorice in the middle with the smooth bourbon still lingering. Lots of milk chocolate notes with a hint of caramel throughout the beer. The beer finishes with a light sweetness and strong roasty coffee that has a unique nutty note for sure.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied stout with low, but almost moderate carbonation levels. Velvety and silky body / feel. Not exactly motor oil thick, but the amount of thickness is perfect. No booze at all.

Overall: This is my first brew from Casita Cerveceria and it delivers! No doubt this is a Hill Farmstead Collaboration beer because it has all the boxes checked to prove that this is definitely a Hill Farmstead barrel aged stout. I could blind taste test this barrel aged stout and know that Shawn Hill had his hand in the crafting this barrel aged stout. The giveaways are that silky body with no booze presence and how well the flavors all melded together so well. It just screams Shawn Hill. No other brewer crafts barrel aged stouts like this, it is pretty obvious that his influence is here. As for the pecan coffee... its a unique ingredient that I was skeptical that would make an influence into the beer, but it showed up with its "A" game. It gave a really nice nutty coffee flavor almost like hazelnut, but not quite hazelnuts. Great barrel aged adjunct stout. I would categorize it as a dessert stout for sure.

Bottle: Poured a pitch-black color stout with a large dark brown foamy head. Aroma of floral coffee notes with chocolate and bourbon notes is quite rewarding. Taste is a nice mix of floral coffee notes with subtle bitterness, some bourbon notes with some woody and vanilla notes with huge black chocolate notes and light residual sugar notes. Body is full with nice creamy texture and good carbonation with some warming alcohol notes. I had no expectation but this was quite the treat.

 

500ml bottle, 2018 release, poured into a stemless wine glass. Enjoyed on 11.24.18, reviewed from Tasting Journal.

The beer pours a deep, jet black color, super viscous and thick as it fills the glass with a finger of tan head, moderate retention and nice spotted lacing. The aroma is excellent, strong dark chocolate, marshmallow, vanilla, soft bourbon, light coffee, mild oak, light char with toasted dark grains and deep stone fruits. The flavors are great, loads of barrel character right out of the gate, charred wood, warm and spicy bourbon, a bit of toasted coconut, dark bakers chocolate with a nice marshmallow character, soft coffee that adds a nice richness with roasted grain and nice pitted stone fruits linger on the palate. The mouthfeel is good, coating with a thick and heavy body, smooth and rich with a creamy but warm finish.

Verdict: An exceptional barrel aged stout from Casita Cerveceria. The barrel character is wonderful, packs a lot of oomph into the beer without turning this into a hot and fusel beer. Layers of rich and decadent flavors, wonderful vanilla marshmallow character and a nice coffee presence as well.

 

 

Nose is vanilla cocoa with a nice thin tan head little to no lacing. Taste is sweet toast vanilla is upfront and cocoa and roast finish

 

 

 

Poured very dark black with very little head on top. The smell of the beer has massive roasted aromas coming off of it. The coffee and barrel notes along with the dark malts meld together and create a very powerful punch to start things off with this beer. The taste is about as powerful as the nose lead me to believe, this beer is a sipper. Really give this one the time to sink in if you can and be sure to let it warm up a little too. The feel is oily and thick. Overall it's an impressive beer from a place I wasn't actually familiar with not too long ago.

 

 

 

The beer pours Pitch Black with a thin khaki head that recedes quickly. It has low carbonation. The beer smells of Dutch chocolate, coffee, vanilla, pecans, hazelnuts, and bourbon. It tastes of chocolate, mild coffee, vanilla, pecans, hazelnuts, and bourbon. The feel is medium light and smooth. A good BA stout from Casita.