Churro Please
Lead Dog Brewing

delicious beer, among our collective favorites when we visited last weekend. definitely a stout not a strong ale, either its changed or this is just listed wrong, and they had it at 7.8% abv. really cool brew, distinctly churro flavored, but also not too sweet to drink a pint of surprisingly, so few of these dark beers modeled on desserts ever allow for much volume. frothy tan head from the tap, clean and shiny near black color, not overly viscous but dense enough to look the part. it holds its head well and has some lazy web lacing as it drinks down. the nose has that cinnamon sugar thing right away, neat with the roast, i get a little caramel richness in the middle, a hint of raisin, and black drip coffee too from the roast, cohesive, not overly complex, and not packed with milk sugar and marshmallows and all that crap that somehow has been on trend for a few years now. there is a light vanilla note to the flavor, but it seems kind of wrapped up with the cinnamon, keeps it from being spicy, instead its warm and kind of cozy and wintery, and definitely hits like a churro. deep dark chocolate and coffee character with the roast, and the roast and the cinnamon are nice together, this is very cohesive and natural, unforced to me, not overdosed either. not as sweet as so many, smooth in feel, with just a little alcohol presence on the back end once it warms up. it doesnt have that fried food slickness or weight, but who wants that in a beer? maybe a little light on carbonation, but the body is right for the flavors. a good approximation, light smoke as it warms, and some finishing bitterness too keeping it balanced. really tasty!

Pours a lot like a stout or porter, but there are characteristics here of a strong ale/brown ale and I like that, works well on this one. Deep, dark brown color, nearly opaque with an off-khaki head. Cinnamon is strong without coming off too spicy. Vanilla and notes of cocoa are apparent, smooth malty ale body with invisible alcohol. Nice little drinker.

 

Appearance - Pours hazy and rusty in color with an off-white, half finger width head. Fair retention before breaking down into a thin, broken layer of suds. A few small spots and thin lines make up a minimal lacing.

Smell - Cinnamon, toasty malt, vanilla and a hunt of sugary sweetness.

Taste - Follows the nose. Fair notes of cinnamon, lightly toasted malt giving a 'dough impression', then a trace of vanilla sweetness adding to the finish. Mostly a light dough and cinnamon spice impression lingering in the aftertaste.

Mouthfeel - Light-to-medium in body with fair carbonation. Slick, easy drinker before a slightly watery, but easy going finish. 7.2% is not noticeable in the least.

Overall - Really smart not to make this a stout, as that roast/chocolate base would've likely wiped out much of that churro character, as I've experienced in the one or two churro beers I've tried before. Instead they just made that cinnamon and 'dough' the focus, as balanced as it is, and it works well. Nicely done, Lead Dog.