Veterans Ink
Exhibit 'A' Brewing Company

Looks and feels very thin, needs more body and thickness. But smell is fantastic, like a Reese’s cup. Can’t get any coffee on nose or palate.

Thanks for JLindros for hooking me up with a can of this beer.

A - Poured into my Duvel tulip a kind of murky dark brown with a one finger tan head that fades almost immediately like soda. Swirls bring absolutely nothing back.

S - Big aromas of rich roasted peanuts. Like I'm smelling a container of freshly roasted, freshly ground peanut butter. Impressive to be sure as this does definitely smell like a fresh batch of Teddie's Peanut Butter. Swirling produces a little bit of a chocolate aroma that becomes chocolate peanut butter cups before transitioning completely back to peanuts. I actually don't know if I've smelled a beer this true to peanut without also having some sort of off aroma.

T - Taste is similar to the nose with all that peanut. Big roasted peanut butter, over and over and over. Decent roasted malts and dark malts, the cocoa is a bit second fiddle here though, like a fleeting chocolate that also brings some bitterness to the finish as well. The aftertaste is a bit oily, like an undermixed jar of peanut butter.

M - Mouthfeel is nicely carbonated, bright, butt he body is on the thin side. Definitely could use some weight behind it.

O - Overall this was an interesting beer for sure. The peanut level here is utterly absurd, to the point that it overpowers everything else incredibly easy. I think that a bigger beer would have been a more fitting vessel for this as the porter winds up coming across on the thinner side as opposed to rich and heavy. Even an oatmeal stout would have been a solid choice to lend some much needed lusciousness that could have played off the richness of the peanuts nicely. Also, the appearance was borderline terrible. The fact that it at least had a head, if only for an instant, is why this wasn't lower than it was. I like this beer, I would drink it again (though not more than a pint probably)...but it's stylistically flawed for sure. Due to that, as impressed as I was with the nose and taste, I can't give this high marks overall.

Serving Type: Can

Canned 2/26/20
Pours a med off-white head that is very fizzy and fades like soda, no real retention or lacing, mild legs, dark mahogany brown color

Nose brings loads of peanut butter, raw earthy nuts almost hazelnut like, an interesting earthy cocoa, peanut shells, little bready dough and roasted coffee, raw cocoa nibs but burnt cocoa nibs

Taste starts with loads more peanut butter, raw peanuts, peanut shells, earthy nuts, into more of the burnt cocoa neabs and earthy raw cocoa, a touch of dough and bread, hints at sweet caramel but never gets there, some bitter roasted dark coffee, and mild hop bitterness, light creamy lactose sugar late when all the other dominant flavors are mostly gone, a mild sticky finish with lingering roasted coffee, burnt cocoa, and plenty of roasted peanuts

Mouth is med to fuller bod, med-light carb but a prickly carb, very low alcohol warmth

Overall this was a very unique beer, interesting as well, but not sure if I really like the sharp flavors, it's not so much a beer as it is a desert, although I bet rudzud will like it more than I do

Peanut butter stouts are a hot commodity these days, but I honestly don't think I expected Exhibit 'A' to put one out. I dunno why, but something about these guys' portfolio doesn't seem like it foreshadowed this style of beer to me, but here it is. This is kind of an "all-local" collaboration beer with locally-roasted cacao as well as local peanut butter AND local grains. Pretty cool stuff, but EA is known for that type of thing. Anyway, enough with the exposition, let's get into the beer.

The pour is a pretty unappealing dark brown color with low clarity. It's honestly not dark enough to be a stout, and the head dissipates almost immediately. It's a pity, though, because the collar has a nice dark khaki hue to it, but the influence of the peanut butter/peanut flour (I assume, anyway) really hampers the head formation and retention on this beer. Some carbonation activity is obvious toward the top of my glass, but it's also surprisingly languid. Not a great first impression here.

Scent is nice, with a heavy dose of chocolate and roasted peanuts right up front. It's actually really evocative of a fancy peanut butter cup (doesn't smell precisely like a Reese's, in other words) with a superb dusty and dry element, likely from the peanut flour. A lot of examples of this sub-style that I've had recently have an odd dark fruit note that undercuts the interesting interplay between the chocolate and peanut butter aspects, really disconnecting me from the "peanut butter cup" experience that is, obviously, very important to appreciating what's going on. Very glad this doesn't have any of that.

The feel and flavor are a little too thin for me, and, though the dark fruit element isn't really there, I'm just feeling let down by the fact that this isn't as rich as it could be. The peanut butter and chocolate liqueur flavor is really prominent and surprisingly well-done, though, all things considered. Some yeastiness and coffee flavor from the grains, with some decent follow-through toward the finish, ending pretty peanut-forward and slightly-sweet. I am somewhat glad I didn't go for a four-pack of this one, but it's not bad at all. I just wish it were a bit more full-bodied and better-looking; it would be quite a great peanut butter beer if it fulfilled those qualifications, in my opinion.