The Snuggle Is Real
Southern Grist Brewing Co.

 

 

 

A 500 ml bottle poured into a stout glass. Opaque dark chocolate color with a medium tan head. Cinnamon dominated the nose, along with some vanilla and chocolate. A sweetness in general. The taste was more balanced. The cinnamon made an early appearance but melded nicely with the vanilla and chocolate. Fairly sweet and thick but not cloying. Certainly not boozy for the “10.1%” (see TN beer laws). Recommended!

 

 

 

So real

With just enough cinnamon, cacao and vanilla to suggest a south-of-the-boarder hot chocolate character, the omittance of chili peppers seems like a glaring flaw at first, but the taste of a chocolaty horchata also allows for a certain level of forgiveness. Yet to see this as any kind of struggle is simply an embarrassment of riches.

Mocha brown and with a velvety pour, The Snuggle is Real pours with appearance of creamy hot chocolate while crowning with a dainty cappuccino froth. Rich aromas of chocolate, spice, coffee and cream entice the nose with a brownie batter scent and a delicate tingle of booze. Decadent sweetness slathers on the tongue with a creamy, caramelized, sweet cream savory taste of Yoo-hoo chocolate drinks.

And that sweetness isn't going anywhere. Its saturates the tastebuds fully even while the sharp spice of cinnamon and the soothing taste of vanilla offer a reprieve from the nearly cloying maltiness. True cacao flavors are of the bittersweet morsels variety and wraps the entire session in unapologetic lavishness. A mild hop bitterness is woodsy and coffee-like, riding beside the cinnamon spice for a mild balance to the linger of malt.

Full bodied and silky smooth, the rise of alcohol spice gives a kahlua-like spice to the savory nature of chocolate and cream to allow for a surprisingly drinkable dessert beer. A long linger of cinnamon outlasts all of the flavors for a minty spice and a hint of Christmas in the end. They're right, it is real.

 

 

Overall I felt this was the better of the two stout releases. Could have used without the cinnamon as I feel this would have improved a beer. But that’s just cause I don’t really love cinnamon. More well-balanced and less overly sweet van over stuff