Tarzan Boy
Cruz Blanca Brewpub

 

 

500 ml bottle into a snifter. 2019 release, had 1/30/21.

Pours near black and opaque, thick looking, with a short head and sparse specks of lacing. Aromas of vanilla, banana, coffee, rum, some chocolate. The flavors follow along- coffee, more rum than the aroma, banana, chocolate, vanilla, malt. It’s a little sweet. Smooth, a solid full body, appropriately carbonated.

Great blend of add- ins, the coffee and bananas show well. The barrels are a little lighter than the usual CB barrel aged beer, but still have an impact. This might not have been one to hold on to for a little over a year, will have the 2020 sooner. Very enjoyable.

 

2020 Release.

Pours thick and viscous - a dark oily black color. Thin, very weak, struggling head sort of appears, but never actually covers the whole beer. Quickly disappears leaving no residual foam, not even a ring of foam along the outside of the beer.

The aroma is just incredible - notes of chocolate, roasted malts, rum, banana, vanilla, coffee - all of them are there and at various moments appear to be the dominant aroma, but then something else pops out to you. The overall effect is is this rich chocolatey bananas foster aroma with coffee in there.

Taste essentially follows the nose - notes of rum, chocolate, roasted malts, fresh coffee grounds, bananas, vanilla, brown sugar, and caramel. Again, thats a lot of notes - but they are there and they all are really intermingled from when you first sip it through the palate and lingering through the very end of the finish. The rum in this is there and really contributes to that banana foster profile, but Im impressed with how balanced it is. Rum is one of those things I often feel like dominates the beer aged in it - but here its nicely balanced and complimentary.

Feel is medium to moderately bodied. Not overly thick, but still pretty viscous. Somewhat prickly carbonation. Really smooth.

Overall this is a stunning BA stout. I get that the flavors might not work for everyone, but I love bananas in a stout when well done and this is top notch. Personally, this would make my top 3 BA stouts from 2020.

Had on draft and bottle. Poured dark, smells coffee, rum, slight banana, tasted smooth, rum and banana which I love. First time having this last year, can't wait until it comes out again.

 

Had on tap. Shout out to the Chicago Stout Releases thread for giving me the heads up on this one! Viscous black body with a faint brown ring. Lots of coffee melding into the rum barrel character in the nose, don't get any banana really, but has background coconut, chocolate and molasses. Taste now sees the banana introduced right away, with the coffee crashing down upon it and the rum flavors, a little strong on the coffee but I don't hate that, especially given how well it goes with the rum sweetness and booziness. Feel is thick, viscous, artfully boozy, and sneaky smooth before the coffee textures spice things up.