Reverse Migration
Equilibrium Brewery

This review is for the 2025 Barrel Aged version, which is 17% ABV. The pour is thick and black, with no head or carbonation. The feel is rich and thick, and the smell and taste are chocolate, coconut and subtle coffee. A fantastic and well balanced barrel aged stout.

 

Ordered the 500 mL bottle, among 3 other flavors. A soft thick, black, syrupy pour. Midnight black in color. Coffee (espresso), vanilla, chocolate, coconut and very very sweet. Really hides the 11% ABV. Had no head or carbonation. A great desert beer.

Batch 2: Pours pitch black color with a small brown head that left minimal lacing. Smells like roasted coffee, espresso beans, dark chocolate, cocoa powder, molasses, charred malt and faint coconut. Tastes like burnt coffee grinds, hot fudge, cocoa nibs, dark fruit, molasses, bakers chocolate and some faint floral notes. It gets sweeter with every sip and borders on cloyingly sweet. Mild alcohol burn comes through after each sip of this thick, rich brew with minimal carbonation and a chocolatey finish.

A little over the top for me. Blacker than black, stronger than 11%, in your face finish, but is too much of a good thing a bad thing. Not necessarily I say.

From the 500 ml bottle in a snifter. This monster brew pours a pitch black
with a fantastic head of brown foam that lingers long settling to a fat ring,
thick clumping layer, and sports some thick lacing. Nose of coconut, dark
chocolate, vanilla, brulee, and coffee dashed with dark fruits. Flavors
follow the nose with rich coffee, vanilla cream, brulee, char, and dark
chocolate dipped dark fruits of blueberry and toasted coconut. Mouth feel
is thick, coating, syrup like, faint carbonation, and a sweet verging on cloying
lightly dry bitter malt finish.

Overall, a bit overkill on the sweet malts but interesting none the less.

Cheers

 

Poured a black body with minimal khaki tan head that died real quick. Get some notes of coffee and vanilla, but mostly a rum-like booziness (guess that's the coconut b/c it did strike me as coconut rum for a second) and roasted malts. Medium to heavy body, dense, slightly chewy, the booze isn't strong but the beer really seems to just have a mash of coconut smooth, coffee and dark fruits (seriously tasted like raisins and prunes for a second). Took me a while to drink b/c it's dense, slow sipping and quite frankly mostly tastes like dark fruit and then has a minor dry finish.

Fresh 500 mL jug split into 2 snifters.
Thick as fk, black black, struggling foam dissapears b4 the photo.
Aroma of dark roast coffee, burnt malt, a touch of vanilla.
Taste is coffee front, vanilla note, fig, plum, chocolate coffee bean. No coconut, no alcolol bite to be found.
Mouth is overwhelmingly thick. Just a little carbonation.
Overall, this is beer syrup that should have been built up beyond the weak 11% ABV to counter the cloying sweetness. The potential to be a fine Russian Imperial Stout is begging to break out, but can’t weave through its density.
Sometimes too much is not enough.,. not a ‘fail’, not a sink pour, but damn close.,

Look: It pours like thick motor oil. At first I thought there was something wrong, but it's just thick.

Smell: It has a very dark brown head with low head retention. There are strong chocolate and coffee aromas with a decent coconut element. There are also brownie batter notes.

Taste: There are strong dark chocolate flavors with coffee. It has cocoa notes with coconut.

Feel: It has a chewy and extremely thick body. There is a balance between bitterness and sweetness with the finish.

Overall, there are some really nice flavors and aromas. The thickness actually surprised me, but the beer is pleasant and drinkable.

Glossy back with a tan foam head that retains fairly well, even leaving some stretching lace on the glass.

On the nuttier side of coconut with a toastier coffee balance, it's viscous but dry despite a fairly decadent chocolate covered banana sort of characteristic.

Really nice and possibly the best EQ stout I've had.

04/11/23 bottle @ home

My second Equilibrium/3 Sons collab comes in a 500ML bottle. The first one was great, so hopes are up. Split with my wife.

The pour is dense black & the big mocha head looks even denser, like one could walk on it. Smells like a nice candy bar. Coconut, chocolate, rich malts. Nice.

Reverse Migration doesn’t quite capture that lovely aroma; kind of like smelling coffee then being forced to take a sip (OK, not that bad). Very, very sweet. Coconut has the upper hand, before the cocoa & malts get all tangled up, with a bit of vanilla on the finish. Rich. Thick. Big. Half this minor bottle will do, thanks.

Not the powerhouse I was expecting after this ticked my nostrils, but still a very good beer.

A - Pours a motor oil black with a two finger dark brown head. Good amount of oily lacing.

S - Aroma black coffee

T - The taste is black coffee, dark huge chocolate, vanilla, caramel and light coconut.

M - Full body with low carbonation. Syrupy mouthfeel with a slick dry finish.

O - Nice stout. Coconut is very light in the flavor. Big viscous mouthfeel.

 

 

 

 

 

12/25/2024 (4.25)
Batch 3 ongoing collab with 3 Sons Brewing. Grabbed a bottle at Perfect Pour. Same enjoyable big black brew. Related, after numerous similar heavily bodied syrupy stouts over last 5 years ( ie Mortalis) not quite as excited about body and dropped rating from 4.5 to 4.25.
5/17/2019 (4.28)
Batch 1: Bottle pour at Eq. Brew pub. Reportedly on site only. Big and chewy; tasty. Mine was a bit more coconut fwd than other reviews. Still melded well with chocolate coffee base. Nice nose.