Pot & Kettle - Vanilla
Trillium Brewing Company

 

 

A lovely deep rich hue... brown bordering on black, with a soft fine khaki head that never really builds much at all, and seems content to be a slight ruffle to the edges, with a galaxy swirl through the middle. There s a few stray worms of foam that stick to the glass, but even they slide back down to their primordial origins before long, leaving little more than leggy distortions.

Nose is quite sweet up front. Big sweet vanilla bean, like french vanilla ice cream. There's a bit of roasty malts and maybe some faint coffee-ish inclinations hiding way way back int he back ground, but, cold at least, this is the all vanilla all the time channel. Now I can enjoy vanilla in a beer, but I worry that this bodes ill for teh balance I seek in beer, as in the force.

Flavour thankfully allows some of the other flavours at least nominal room to breathe, and they show well. There's a bold roast and almost burnt style malts... like extra dark coffee beans. There's a small element of extra dark chocolate as well. Bold, dark, bitter. All coated in a sticky sweet layer of vanilla that almost has like condensed milk-like properties to it.

It's not nearly as smoothe as I typically associate with an oatmeal porter. The finish lingers bitter and almost kind of tart. I don't know if it has lactose in it, but that's what it reminds me of. And the vanilla. It's overdone, to my taste. I'd love to try the base P+K, though, because there's a really intriguing bold heart of darkness laying within here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A- Tallboy into a small goblet with a black body and a nutty light tan cap. The head ascends to a maximum height of two fingers with a thick foamy texture and very good retention. Lacing somewhat rare with just a few foamy patches on the glass.

S- Vanilla oatmeal chocolate chip cookies instantly come to mind. Dessert like aroma but not one that is overly decadent or fudgey by any means, luscious without going over the top. The vanilla beans are authentic and come on with intense strength. Nutty, cocoa, roasty and toasted malts beyond that.

T- More reminiscent of the base brew here and some balance is restored although the silky, delicious vanilla bean is still very strong. The grains open up more and hops also come to life providing more depth. Earthy and slight citrus hops join the toasted nut, roasty, bitter dark chocolate and slight dark fruit base flavors. A harmonious combo of flavors after a few sips.

MF- Light-medium bodied with a substantial creamy texture that brings on some chewiness. High end carbonation and the finish brings a mix of hop and roasted bitterness.

The insane vanilla in each sniff is brought down to earth with a more balanced mix of flavors on the palate with vanilla, deep malts and moderate hops married well.

 

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

This smells like creamy and sweet vanilla frosting, with chocolate malt and brownie batter.

The base Pot and Kettle is pretty roasty from what I remember- that characteristic seems to be downplayed in this variant- as there is lots of vanilla and cake frosting- it's definitely a pretty sugary vanilla character. There's some sweet chocolatey malt character, too- with some cream soda and very light coffee. This variant is not as good at the coffee Pot and Kettle, but I'm still enjoying it.

This is creamy and deceptively thick, with a normal level of carbonation.

This is maybe a little bit too sweet, but it's still a worthwhile beer.

 

L - Ruby red out of the can and sits black in the glass with two fingers of almond head.

S - Big coffee and big vanilla. Cream soda, fudge brownies.

T - Vanilla is a bit more subtle on the taste and the coffee is dark and bitter. More fudge flavors and a nutty quality.

F - Full with good carbonation. Coffee lingers.

O - Good dessert beer. Vanilla made it a sweeter experience.