Strawberry French Toast
Decadent Ales

 

 

L: Poured from a tallboy can to a snifter glass. Had a bright yellow color and a mostly cloudy consistency. There was a massive, foamy, very long-lasting head. Good lacing, too.

S: A very nice aroma of hops, citrus fruit, berries, maple syrup, a creamy quality, and vanilla.

T: Tasted of a moderate amount of the advertised strawberries, a hint of vanilla (lingers around for awhile), a good shot of maple syrup, a little creaminess, a tinge of citrus fruit (orange), and some hops (not overdone). A sweet and lively flavor. It has a nice subtlety and doesn't go overboard on some of its ingredients.

F: A fair amount of carbonation with a smooth finish. Medium-bodied.

O: A well done, easy to drink beer. Worth a look.

 

Pretty damn tasty beer. The hoppiness is quelled by the sweetness of the strawberry and the syrup but the cinnamon adds a nice spice to it that prevents this beer from being too sweet. Its well balanced and I wouldnt really all it hoppy nor dessert-y, its sort of a nice in between.

 

 

Looks normal enough. Pale yellow and hazy, billowing white head that calms down to about a quarter inch of foam, spotty lacing all around. Nose is primarily maple syrup with hints of the strawberry swirling about. Taste starts out odd before a few tastes start to drop out. There’s an immediate sweetness thanks to the obvious maple syrup, which as a taste becomes more defined seconds before a clash of cinnamon and general bitterness take place. Bitter wins but never quite overcomes the sticky syrupy sweet. It’s thick like a proper DIPA, not even slightly dry and leaves stickiness on the lips, as if you really just had French Toast. Not bad, weird though

Can't go wrong with french toast its pretty much the best Decadent ale I can remember that I no longer can find. This is why I treasure this variant it still had the base beer done with exceptional vanilla and syrup flavors mixed with a very subtle strawberry taste. I really should have grabbed a few more cans of this sweet and quaff able brew!

 

 

 

 

Canned 10/24/18, let’s see how it’s held up.

Nice deep golden pour, with a soft head of foam that sits about a finger high on top of the beer. Pretty even lace, with only a brief moment of cling before it slips back into the glass. Very small amounts of floating sediment.

Still getting some of that sweet maple to compliment a forward malt bill, but getting a lot of hops poking through as well. Not imbalanced, but not really getting the adjuncts as advertised anymore. Fruitier as it warms, but not picking out strawberry in particular.

Much closer to what I was hoping for with the flavors. Sweet maple syrup and vanilla compliment each other nicely right away. A fairly subtle hop bite, and a fruitiness on the backbone. As it settles on the tongue you get some of those strawberry flavors as well. Actually fairly close to their strawberry French toast goal, albeit just a tad quieter than I would have hoped. Cinnamon really emerges on the back of my throat as it settles and warms, a nice added touch.

Very soft mouthfeel, smooth and creamy with a lightly sticky finish. Medium seltzery carb cuts through the sweetness nicely, and the feel overall served as one of the more standout features of this Decadent offering.

Pours a thick, creamy off white head. Color is a beautiful hazy gold.

Nose is strawberries, syrup, sugar and cinnamon. Hints of lemon. Butter (not in a off way), french toast.

My god, that does taste exactly like french toast. The maple syrup is extremelly prominent. The sweetness is also pretty high, and does tend to build. The strawberry notes are present, but not as much as the overall french toast flavor. A slight twing of bitterness at the end, but its pretty light in that. Can taste the booziness in the finish a bit, and does build up as the beer warms up.

The mouthfeel is fairly thick and chewy. Carbonation is moderate, maybe a touch higher than moderate. The alchohol heat is noticable on the finish, but it's not more than I'd expect for an 8.6% beer.

Overall, this is an enjoyable beer. The base IPA notes are super drowned out from the additions in this beer, so I wouldn't go into this thinking about having an IPA. It is definitly a pretty cool beer to experience, as it does taste EXACTLY LIKE FRENCH TOAST. It comes in one of those big pint cans too, so maybe split it with a pal or two.

Canned 10/24/18

Appearance - Pours murky and orange in color with an off-white, half finger width head. Fair retention results in a thin, broken layer of suds with a thin ring of suds around the edge of the glass. A few broken lines and small spotting make up the lacing.

Smell - Strawberry and maple stands on the nose, with light buttery notes and light toasty malts? The aroma is spot on to what's being sold here.

Taste - Follows the nose at first. Strawberry and maple hit the tongue, along with light toastiness, but then the hops kick in with some grassy-like bitterness. The finish is a tug-of-war between the sweetness of the former and the bitterness of the latter.

Mouthfeel - Medium-to-full bodied with low carbonation. Light, syrupy texture with a slightly dry and sticky finish. Drinks smooth for the hefty ABV.

Overall - Strawberry french toast is totally in there, impressively so actually, but it doesn't mesh well with the hoppy bitterness. Semi-enjoyable, but this idea would have worked much better as a brown ale.

 

look: hazy vibrant peach. Off white head, nice messy lacing.
smell: all the flavors advertised...and it works as a whole.
taste: A more familiar experience here. I would know this is a beer :) there's the DIPA. The hops make an appearance in addition to all the added stuff. Interesting, unique, and most important of all, tasty as hell.

Date: Canned on 10/24/18, consumed on 12/03/18.

Appearance: Murky yellow leaning toward orange in color, no doubt from the adjuncts with two fingers of fluffy white head. It looks good in the glass, I don't mind that slightly sludgy look.

Aroma: Fruity but nondescript hops hit first followed by some light strawberry and some honey and vanilla sweetness. After giving it a few minutes to warm up, the cinnamon and maple syrup make themselves known.

Taste: Well, this certainly is different. The hops still give me a general feel, never going full steam ahead toward something definable, but it does taste green. The cinnamon really pops though followed by the maple syrup which adds a decent amount of sweetness. Oddly enough, the strawberries which were strongest on the nose are the least apparent here. The beer has a more medium mouthfeel and is very creamy, also there is no hint of the ABV. After it has been in the glass for about an hour, some herbal hop notes come out and the strawberries appear as a nice lingering aftertaste. At this point though, the sugariness has just about taken over. Props to Decadent Ales for using these adjuncts in an IPA when most breweries would typically reserve them for a stout or brown ale, but it does end up being a little too sweet for my tastes.