Liars
Structures Brewing

 

 

 

collaboration with freak folk from vermont, an interesting brew that had me curious from the get go, a big old meaty imperial stout conditioned on vanilla beans, cacao, toasted coconut, ladyfinger cookies, and weirdly, cream cheese. ive seen that in beer before, but always in sort of gimmicky beer, you know, fruited sour made with tons of cheesecakes or whatever, but not in a stout like this that appears to be taking itself quite seriously, so odd! thick and viscous, very little head, intimidating matte black, big boozy presence in the nose right away, but a ton of nuance too, even when its cold. not sure i get the cookies, not even really sure what to look for there, a light almond note in here maybe and something floral a little bit, but its bigger vanilla and chocolate right away, some of the coconut coming through too, espresso notes from the roast, light spiciness in the mix too, and then the fatty cream cheese, which adds a light tang and a total caloric aspect that makes this seem filling right away, not totally appealing, but definitely original. the flavor starts out fine, lyers of interesting dark malt and bitter earthy cocoa nib character, warming alcohol and decadent vanilla, with a wrinkle of the coconut and good coffee, some bitterness, faint smoke, amaretto. the cream cheese does come in though too, and its more than a texture thing, which is almost greasy from it, and weighty as heck, seems like they really went for it on the dosing. its tart to me, milky like heavy cream, full of lipids, and frankly a little bit gross. its not sweet enough to hit like cream cheese frosting, so it sort of hits like spread on a bagel, just not agreeable in a beer i dont think, despite whatever they were going for being relatively original, its just not successful. a shame because the rest of this is neat and well made, plenty complex without any dairy, and this part feels weird in my belly and stays on my palate while. admittedly i am not a huge fan of straight up cream cheese, but had to know what it would be like in a beer. i wouldnt go back to this one, but if you love the stuff, give it a whirl. interesting and fun i guess, but i dont need cream cheese in my stout...

Liars is midnight black, very dark, with zero head or lacing. The smell is vanilla and maple. The taste is similar. It's quite sweet, which I guess is appropriate for a beer said to be inspired by tiramisu.

This beer will appeal to fans of pastry stouts, but that doesn't quite include me.