Syrtaki
Aslin Beer Company

 

 

 

 

 

This one pours a very dark black color, with a small head, and not much lacing.

There's a lot going on here - I get mostly honey and pistachio on the nose - it's a sweet nutty aroma and it's killer. I'm not sure I could pick out the cinnamon here. There's some roast, too, and lots of chocolate fudge.

This is your typical ridiculous Aslin stout. The honey adds a very pleasant sweetness, and there's enough roast to balance it out nicely. The pistachio is really well done - that's a flavor I don't see often in pastry stouts, and it's very welcome for me. There's not really any cinnamon, but there's a nice creamy vanilla finish, and just a touch of walnut.

This is thick and chewy, with no real indication that it's 15%. Aslin might be the best brewery out there at hiding booziness - it's absolutely unreal.

This is pretty ridiculous, and pretty tasty.

 

 

 

 

The beer pours a good brown tan head that is creamy and the beer itself is a very dark brown color such that it resembles a black like color. The texture is extremely smooth looking and seems to have a bit of a viscous thick honey look to it.

The smell is good. The main note seems to be a strong honey smell peppered with a sweet vanilla and walnut note with the intermittent cinnamon coming out and mixing with the other notes. There is definitely a sweet chocolate note that comes out the finish but the honeys seems to be making it sweeter and less bitter than it would be.

The taste is good. It starts off with a strong and sweet honey note mixed with vanilla and light walnut and cinnamon adding a good spice character to the main notes. The pistachio note is fairly moderate and adds a nice desert character to the beer. The chocolate is sweet but doesn't come out until the finish and lingers on for a while.

The feel is good. It has a fairly heavy body but has a good viscous and slightly thick feel to it. There is a tiny and light carbonation but it's almost non-existent.

Overall, this was a very indulgent and very sweet beer. It's definitely a good heavy pastry beer for desert given how sweet it is. It's definitely one their more interesting and indulgent stouts.

Dark thick with a long lasting brown head. Smells sweet with honey walnuts coffee chocolate. Taste is the same as the smell. Very sweet with nuts coffee chocolate vanilla. Nice bitter finish. Delicious.

 

 

 

 

 

16 oz. can with no date, but release was about 10/19/18. Poured into Kane goblet and allowed to warm.

L: 1F tan head with pretty good retention, an amount of tan sticky lacing that lasts for quite a while, along with a persistent ring. Beer is dark black.

S: Vanilla really dominates the nose. You do get a whiff of nuttiness and a hint of cinnamon.

T: More complex than the nose. Vanilla still strong, but the cinnamon and honey are more pronounced and the nuttiness comes through. The roasted malts in the stout base and the high ABV keep it from becoming cloying.

F: Full-bodied, not much carbonation. Construction and balance are quite good. Heat control on the alcohol is outstanding. Could have gone higher if the vanilla was just a tad less. It's a heck of a job though.

O: So they tried a baklava stout and did a pretty nice job. Let's barrel age this baby and see what happens!

This beer is a behemoth at 15% abv. The honey and vanilla pop right and it has a heavy, sweet and chocolatey roasted malt backbone. I'm not really picking up the cinnamon or the nuts as stand out flavor notes but they do add the the overall composition in a good way.