Pot De Crème - Chocolate & Strawberry
Hubbard's Cave Brewery

Review: 1984
Name: Chocolate & Strawberry Pot De Crème
Brewery: Hubbard's Cave
Location: Niles, IL
Style: Dessert Stout
ABV: 12%
Date: March 2019
I am drinking Pot De Creme today using a tulip glass. I served it at 48 degrees. The pour created an airy, frothy, one-fingered, dark tan head with average retention. The color is dark brown, nearly black, charting around SRM 38. The beer is opaque. The somewhat quick dissipation left no lacing on the glass. The appearance is average for this style.
The initial aromas are chocolate, strawberries, vanilla, and bready. Swirling the glass, I noticed soft floral, caramel, molasses, cream, light coffee, a hint of smoke, and a light chemical aroma. I don't know what that smell is. I tried several times to find out if I had ever smelt something like that before now. Is it a strawberry extract note?
The flavors are intriguing. The chemical-tasting flavor is amplified in the taste; I am leaning toward an extract used. It has a strawberry flavor, but it tastes odd. The chocolate is dark and is a welcomed addition to this beer. The dark malts are bready, roast, a hint of char, and earthy. I also taste caramel, molasses, vanilla, cream, soft floral, and coffee.
The mouthfeel is bitter and finishes dry. The body is medium-plus, with medium carbonation.
The beer tastes like the wort boil went too long, too. Some unpleasant flavors, including that odd chemical note, are coming out. I do not taste any of the flavors. I am enjoying the beer, and those flavors above are distracting. The sweetness is not cloying, which is a plus. I was reading the can and wondered if this was a blending brewery. The other Pot De Crème that I consumed was far superior.

Pours opaque, jet black in color with one quarter inch head. Taste is Neapolitan ice cream with white sugar and roasted malt. Heavy body, sweet but not cloying with low carbonation. In the middle of road for this series but they make some of the best sweet stouts. Would get again.

 

 

16oz can poured into a snifter. Chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, let’s go! Strawberry is the dominant flavor on the nose. The palate is very sweet, definitely a nice dessert beer. The strawberry in this beer is a little overpowering and artificial-like.

 

Hubbard's Cave Chocolate & Strawberry Pot De Crème Imperial Stout, 12% ABV. Pours black and thick with a slight brown head that left some lacing. The end of the pour was chocolate syrup. Nose is chocolate and light strawberry. Taste is sweet chocolate and tart strawberry. Excellent mouthfeel, overall outstanding, but not quite as good as the base Chocolate Pot De Crème.

 

L: The pour was nothing to write home about as I gave it a very hard pour and got very little head. Very dark, opaque color which is standard for an imperial stout.
S: Subtle boozy smell with a hint of berry. Lacking a bit of potency, but delightful regardless.
T: This is a fantastic tasting beer! The strawberries are a very nice background to the smoothness of the creme. Not overly sweet, but enough so to dampen the booziness which leaks through just enough to remind you this is a 12% beast.
F: Low carbonation (poured from a can that sat in refrigerator for roughly 1 month) which gave this beer a super smooth mouth feel. The booze does not burn in the slightest.
O: This is a delicious beer that makes me want to try all of Hubbard's Cave's Pot De Creme series. Lacking ever so slightly in looks and smell, but that is more than made up for in its taste. Give it a shot if you see it.

Minor head with few spots for lace. The color is deep, dark brown. No light passes.

Fresh, clean aroma with little Stout presence. If I were blindfolded, I would guess this to be a Kölsch or a Helles.

The taste is completely different from the nose. First it's sweet with a darker chocolate flavor. The strawberry is strong; the vanilla is also present but secondary. The body is expectedly rich and the effervescence is high. The swallow reminds me of chocolate covered cherry--super sweet, fruity and mildly chocolatey. The aftertaste is lingering strawberry and vanilla. A super complex beer.

 

 

16oz can with 2019-2 on the bottom center of the label...canned on date? Batch #? Opened 10-4-19.
1/2" thick tan head with decent retention down to 1/4" and sitting on a pitch black stout with only the slightest hint of dark brown at the bottom edges when held to the light.
Floral, berries up front -- dark chocolate and roasted malts...there's a nice freshness to the floral and strawberry/berry aromas that take center stage. Vanilla comes on about 10 minutes after the initial pour, now like a Neapolitan ice cream melted.
Roasted malts is more aggressive in the flavor before a tangy, sweet, sour strawberry hits in the middle before the roasted malts finish off the sip. Could be described as a strawberry ice cream sandwich based on that.
Creamy mouthfeel, smooth and slick. Low to medium carbonation. Mild bitter roasted malt finish...off dry at most, bordering on a sweet finish.
Unique flavors and aromas, good stuff.

 

 

First review? Awesome. Let's get it started.

Pour is thick dark, opaque brown. Two fingers of head from perhaps an overly aggressive pour. Dark brown on the outside and khaki in the middle. Interesting.

Smell is delicious. Strawberry jamminess, bitter dark chocolate, and a little bit of roasty malt.

Taste is much of the same. The strawberry is sweet and tangy, the chocolate and malt adds a contrasting bitterness.

Full bodied. Nice amount of carbonation considering the ABV. Smooth going down.

This is a nice dessert beer. Simple and a little one dimensional, but executes damn near perfectly. Another good entry from Hubbard's Cave.