Eh?
White Elm Brewing Company

16 oz can
Snowman chalice
Let's hope this works

Crack of the can yields a soft click with no carbonation. Deep inky black that forms into a lighter black and has a thin fleeting head.

Aroma of maple syrup, coffee, and slight tin. Even slighter milk sugar sweetness.

Flavor brings a nice heavy roasted coffee presence, followed by earthy waffle batter, hints of maple sap, cocoa, and slight marshmallow. This tastes like a Christmas morning breakfast on your breath about a half an hour after you've finished. Really nice touch.

Feel is thin and slick, not much for carbonation or depth, but has a nice roasty sticky finish. Mild to moderate warming alcohol.

Overall, while a bit diluted, this comes across as a good starter beer for a night (or day) of drinking during a shut-in snow day blizzard. It's not over the top flavorful like a Prairie or even White Elm's other stouts, but it has this certain "just ate a satisfying and filling family breakfast" vibe that I've never experienced before. And that's just fucking cool.

16 oz can from Tavour. Black, flat pour. Aroma hits first with a brief hit of roast malts before being taken over by the maple. Taste also leads with the maple, minor coffee notes, more sweet than bitter. Nice weight and feel, very well balanced and tasty AF.

 

 

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing opaque black in the glass with a barely present head that dissipates to nothing with slight lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, milk chocolate, maple syrup and lactose. Flavor follows with semi-sweet dark toasted malt, milk and dark chocolate, maple syrup, drip coffee and a touch of lactose. Chocolate and coffee finish with light, lingering maple syrup and a little hop bitterness. Medium bodied with light creaminess and satisfactory carbonation, despite the nearly still pour. This tastes almost exactly as I expected from the ingredients, which are fairly well balanced. Chocolate notes are the dominant character, but coffee and maple syrup are well integrated into the flavor. The light hop kick in the finish was unexpected, but worked nicely, giving this a bit of extra character. Nothing surprising here, but nice integration of the added flavors and pleasantly well balanced. Needs a little work on the looks.

L: Black as pitch with a thin and quick-fading tan head, resulting in nearly zero bubbles on the glass.

S: Maple syrup dominates. I smell nothing else and the maple boarders on artificial as it overpowers the nose.

T: Taste is better than the smell (sightly) with some roast coming in. Essentially one note.

F: Thinner than desired but the milk sugar gives some smoothness to help out. Good carbonation but went flat while drinking it.

O: Really wanted to love my first White Elm brew, but I chose not to finish the 16oz can. 4.08 is not an okay beer it's a good beer and that is not what I feel this is. It's almost okay and so I answer Eh? with 'eh."

 

 

White Elm Eh? Imperial Maple Stout, 8% ABV. Pours dark brown and somewhat thin, with a short head that vaporized instantly, leaving no lacing. Nose is sweet maple, lactose, chocolate, and coffee, taste follows with some roast malt and slight bitterness. Mouthfeel is thin and under-carbonated. Overall excellent.

Pours flat with no head or effervescence. Smell is subtle hints of chocolate and maple, and malty booze. Thus far, unimpressed. Then the taste is really nice balance of chocolate, maple, vanilla sweetness and a slight roast. Smooth body. Great finishing beer. This is my favorite from White Elm so far.