Candy Cane Nitro
Left Hand Brewing Company

Left Hand Candy Cane Nitro Imperial Peppermint Milk Stout, 9.5% ABV. Pours black with a nice two-finger light-brown nitro head that left good lacing. Aroma is lactose and peppermint. Taste is malt, lactose, chocolate, and peppermint, faintly sweet, slightly bitter. Decent nitro mouthfeel, overall very good to excellent.

 

 

this beer is bad. like it’s not DISGUSTING, but this is not no peppermint mocha stout. this is water with a dash of swiss hot chocolate mix and maybe a dash of pilsner. 10/10 do not recommend.


as a nitro, it’s not bad.

Poured from a 16 oz. can into a tulip glass; no discernable birth date. Pours light black with decent finger of head that has great retention. Tastes of chocolate milk with slight candy cane like backing. More pronounced as warms. Good.

 

Pours an effervescent Chestnut/Auburn with a thumb+ of tight cream-colored head. Lovely head retention & better than average lacing

S: Some minty notes & chocolate, a little muted from the Nitro

T: Follows the nose, some dry notes with booze on the fringes. More of the same as this warms up, a little woody hops break through, some vanilla too. Finishes with trace of woody hop bitterness, minty notes & a little cocoa

MF: Medium body, creamy carbonation

Most of the time I consider Nitro a detractor, here it's about a push, might even be a slight help. Certainly helps with drinkability. This isn't one I'd tap again, but if someone offered me one around the Holidays, I'd be cool with that. ABV is very well hidden, could be lethal

Canned on: 9-9-24

A - Pitch black pour with a dense creamy one fingered creamy caramel layer.

S - Cocoa and mint permeate the nose.

T - Toasted cocoa malt base with peppermint over top and finishes on the sweeter side with some lingering toasted cocoa on the palate.

M - Medium body that's silky creamy.

O - The ABV is deceptively well-hidden in this beer.

i wanted to like this more than i did, although its well past the season now and could be fading, still cool to see something different from left hand out in idaho on nitro, and the nitro does sometimes mute added flavors, but i thought this a little thin for what it is and the peppermint aspect overly subtle, although the base stout is predictably pleasant and the nitrogenation excellent from a brewery who really knows what theyre doing with that. looks just a tad lighter than expected from the faucet for being an imperial, brown not black and not rea viscous, but the creamy light brown head is lovely. the aroma on this is a little stale to me, not sure if they actually added coffee to this or if its just a suggested flavor note, but it seems like they did and its oxidizing, thinning this out and taking away some of the richness. i do get lightly spicy peppermint, dark chocolate and roast, and less sweetness overall than anticipated, which i dig. the flavor has the mint mostly at the end, a milk chocolate richness in the middle, and nice dry roasted character through most of it, soft and smooth but with faint coffee-like late astringency coming up later on, layers of raisin, fudge, and more herbal peppermint than actual candy cane, subdued to me, mostly on the swallow and exhale, certainly was probably stronger when this first dropped, still there, but nondominant. the smoothness of the nitro is interrupted by that acidic feel, and i get a hint of warm cola on the back end before the mint. interesting stuff, obviously i have at the very least a fading line pour, and thus missed this at its best, maybe find a can laying around or catch it next year to compare, but at this point the idea and the branding i think are better than the execution of the liquid, at least as its reached my lips. absolutely no sign of its alcohol strength though either.

 

13.65 FL. OZ. can
Served in a snifter

This beer pours black and is topped with an inch of creamy, tan head that decent lacing.

Peppermint aroma with some milk chocolate.

Peppermint flavor with some milk chocolate.

Medium bodied with a creamy mouthfeel

It's ok. I need to fill the void the R. Shea left when they closed taking their peppermint milk stout with them.

From a 16oz can. Packaged on October 2nd, 2024.

There was a weird ass hiss upon opening the can, because of the nitro. This is a fairly clear dark amber colored beer. The head is the star of the show because of how creamy it looks from the nitro. It is 1 finger and cream colored. The head is VERY long lasting, and There's some lacing on the glass.
The aroma is so damn faint. I am just getting the faintest hint of peppermint off it.
The flavor is, like the nose, faint. I just get a faint peppermint flavor here. There's also a faint caramel grain flavor in this beer.
The body is so damn smooth and creamy feeling. There's no alcohol burn in this beer.
It looks and feels good, but the rest is a bit of a let down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pours dark. Creamy foam. Peppermint aroma. Big chocolate peppermint body. Creamy smooth. Not too sweet. Slight bitter finish. This is way better than expected. Definitely worth a try.