Pitching Tents
Arrow Lodge Brewing

Bottled 2020. Pours a pitch black color with a small brown head. Head retention is minimal. Lacing is mild. Roasted chocolate with vanilla on the aroma. Roasted chocolate, followed by vanilla on the end. Very mild bitterness. Heavy bodied with mild carbonation.

 

 

2 September 2020 - Beer #176

Price: $23.99 on Tavour

Appearance: 5 - beautifully pitch black with a lovely dark head.

Nose: 5 - there's A LOT on the nose. Very roasty, then about 60/40 coffee to vanilla. Pretty perfect.

Taste: 4 - very tasty. Not quite the blast I was expecting, but rather good. More like 70/30 coffee to vanilla.

Mouth: 5 - silky smooth from the lactose. A pleasure rolling down my throat.

Overall: 5 - pricy for no barrel, but an excellent offering.

Cheers!

Rides into town viscous black, no head. Smell has just wonderful espresso coffee beans with fresh vanilla and dry dark chocolate wrapping around it. Reminds me of coffee and white chocolate covered almonds. Taste is not as confectionery, coffee beans are not as zippy but still lead, with dark chocolate becoming more lush and nuanced vanilla rounding out, with some roast and malt serving as the foundation. Feel starts dark and percolated, but then lightens and sweetens up, but the finish is a little all over, it is what holds this one back from true greatness. Still, nice first beer from these fine folks, cheers!

 

Bomber from Tavour. Both new breweries to me. Near black pour, still. Aroma is a subtle blend of roasty malts, milk chocolate, coffee and vanilla. Taste starts sweet, more chocolate, vanilla, milk. Coffee lighter in the taste than the aroma. Bitter bite lingers., mocha. Solid all the way through.

 

A: The beer is jet black in color. It poured with a short, dense tan head that quickly died down, leaving a narrow collar around the edge of the glass.
S: Moderate aromas of vanilla beans are present in the nose along with underlying hints of chocolate and bits of coffee beans.
T: The taste has lots of flavors of vanilla bean along with notes of chocolate and lactose and hints of coffee beans. The lactose also contributes a slight bit of sweetness; no bitterness is perceptible. As the beer begins to warm up the vanilla beans become stronger and linger into the finish.
M: It feels nearly full-bodied on the palate and has a moderate amount of carbonation. The lactose contributes a bit of smoothness to the mouthfeel.
O: This is a very vanilla-forward pastry stout that manages to hide any traces of alcohol very well from the taste.

Serving type: bottle

Interesting that we get a collab from two young brewers; one in the California foothills on the way to Tahoe and the other in the sprawling LA basin. The LA brewer offers the AIS as a speciality marketed through their Honor Society. But, the two found each other and produced an impressive AIS.

I'm Looking at an inviting foam that becomes an oily viscous... much like how I brew coffee. So, we are already friends. Smells are a full onslaught of bittersweet chocolate malts, vanilla, coffee and then some sweet... just to make the point that it is time for dessert. Tastes are fine; the alcohol is well-concealed and the bittersweet finish lingers. A soft, liquid tiramisu.

As I implied at the start, I like how this improbable collab became real. The story behind Arrow Lodge does not strike me as being out of the ordinary; just a passion for brewing. Slice has a similar story; but I am more likely to come visit them on my way to Tahoe. Good luck to both brewhouses getting through this catastrophe that our Fearless Leader has accelerated.

 

Sweet vanilla creamer, roasted coffee nose on this one! Taste follows with a mocha and hint of vanilla, roasted coffee bitterness. The coffee bitterness lingers on the back of the throat for a bit. The lactose adds some nice depth and decent mouthfeel! Good!