Pappy's Secret Stash
The Alchemist

 

 

 

Pours near black from the can, 3” tan head with very good retention and excellent lacing. Nose is vanilla up front, with milk chocolate, very light malts. Taste is mildly sweet but not sugary; vanilla has an undercurrent that highlights the beer nicely. Mouthfeel is very smooth and full for the light ABV. Found this really impressive, especially considering I’m not a huge lactose person.

 

 

Can purchased and drank at the Alchemist Beer Café in Stowe, VT.

This one pours a very dark black color, with a small head, and lots of lacing.

This smells like creamy and rich vanilla, coffee, and roasted malt.

This was a wonderful surprise – it’s probably second for me from the Alchemist, only behind Luscious, for their dark beers. The vanilla is extremely well done here, sweet but not sticky or cloying, just rich, caramelly, and just the perfect amount of sweetness. The lactose is done judiciously here, just proving a smooth layer of drinkability to it.

This is really drinkable, creamy, and just a pleasure to drink. It’s creamy and sweet but doesn’t sit heavy on the palate at all.

This was honestly really great.

 

 

 

 

This beer & a couple of others were recently brought back & gifted (!) to me by someone who had been up that was & knew of my CANQuest (tm). I am deeply grateful for their generosity. Many, many thanks!

From the CAN: "Pappy's Secret Stash Vanilla Milk Porter"; "Certified B Corporation".

I was CANxious to get started after that last one so I Crack!ed open the vent & beCAN a steady C-Line Glug into the awaiting glass. It beCAN with a pseudo-cascade that formed just under two fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, deep-tan/light-brown head with decent retention. Color was stygian Black/Opaque (SRM = 44), allowing ZERO light penetration. Nose eradicated any doubt that vanilla was involved. Mmm. Mouthfeel was medium to full, not quite creamy, but on the approach. The taste was mainly vanilla with a wee tad of sweet chocolatiness thrown in for good measure. Mmm. Finish was semi-sweet, bordering on semi-dry. Mmm. This would probably be best as a dessert beer. YMMV.

A big thanks to the prince of porters, woodychandler, for this beer. Poured from a 16 oz. can. Has a black color with a 1 inch head. Smell is of roasted malts, some coffee and vanilla. Taste is the same as the aroma, as well as a touch of chocolate. Feels medium/full bodied in the mouth and overall is an enjoyable beer, but I was expecting more.

 

 

 

No canning date (released at brewery 3/22/19; presumably canned within the week)

Pours a dense black with a few fingers of light mocha head, frothy and creamy; great retention with consistent webbing of lasting lacing and thick collar of foam.

Burly aromas of roasted malt and barley strike first, with cocoa nibs and hints of milk sugar and molasses intertwine for a calm sweetness; herbal hops add a bittering tone to the finish.

Taste shows a calm, roasty character that invites a creamy vanilla and light cocoa across the mid-palate, with a faint nuttiness adding further depth over time; vanilla/chocolate swirl is supremely subtle but artfully done on the very back end.

Mouthfeel presents a fluffy medium body, perfectly integrated carbonation, and an overall exceptional balance of creaminess and bitterness; easy and smooth throughout, but the level of consistency and diversity on the palate is as much as you could hope for in a porter. Sits on the palate almost effortlessly.

Very nicely done porter that uses its flavor additions so very subtly and deftly to enhance the pure roast of the base beer; a depth understated enough you almost miss it, but what do eventually take away is malty and rewarding.

 

The pour is pretty awesome...near black liquid with a chunky head that lasts a while. When that foam collapses, it sticks thickly while falling to a ring and rafts in that tulip.

The smell is roasted malt, chocolate, some coffee, just a little vanilla, slight caramel or toffee note.

The taste follows exactly with the nose. It is a restrained beer, not so much in your face. It is a lightly sweet porter with just a little vanilla, kind of a bittersweet and milk chocolate blend going on, just a touch of charred bitterness. The vanilla comes out a bit more on warming, but I think it could use more.

The feel is of a smooth, nice drinking porter. A bit chalky on the finish, presuming this is thanks to the lactose.

True to style in terms of the porter identity, in my opinion. Well done, nicely constructed, unpretentious brew if slightly unremarkable.