Oooey Gooey Louie
Narrow Gauge Brewing Company

Pours a murky burgundy-brown that leans more into the burgundy side. Head is two fingers of yellow-ish white.

Aroma is sugary from first rip. The sugary quality is built up by lactose, brown sugar, vanilla bean, and caramel. It peaks quick with those sugary notes, with little retort from the rest of the profile. The remainder of the notes are cheese, which is dry, powdery, and weak, and bready, earthy malts. It leans into sweet, and big time, with lactose and brown sugar clinging to every nose hair.

Flavor profile follows, but manages to be more nuanced and flowing. It hits those same sugary notes up front - brown sugar, cane sugar, lactose, vanilla bean, and caramel. After this diabetes inducing blast of sugar comes powdered cheese. It dries out the finish, which is a stark contrast from the start, showcasing some malt structure work of bready, caramely, and earthy malts. These notes sit like smoke on water, or oil and water, two separate stratospheres. As the beer warms, it swirls together more, feigning some intimate relationship, but never completely blends. It certainly leans sweet, but as this beer is made to mimic a dessert, this may not be the worst thing.

Mouth feel is medium-thick in thickness. It has a near till effervescence that just bubbles up infrequently and softly on the tongue. A soft grit adds some inconsistent texture to each sip.

Overall, this beer is modeled after a dessert, and for that it's not blatantly unbalanced, but it leans into sugary notes big time. The interaction between notes leaves a bit to be desired, as it hits those sugary notes hard without much retort or call for balance.

Served in a 15.5oz Spiegelau tulip from a 16oz can.