Catch Hell
Half Acre Beer Company

 

Appearance - The beer was slick and oily black.

Smell - The nose had notes of chocolate and dry cinnamon with an overall sweetness.

Taste - at the front, there was a wall of chocolate which yielded to reveal the cinnamon. The cinnamon leaned toward the dryer side. there were notes of vanilla, while giving the impression of a cookie drizzled in chocolate syrup.

Mouthfeel - There was a big body here, it was close to drinking syrup.

Overall - This was a solid BA stout.

 

 

Canned on 1/26/2023; consumed on 10/2/2024

Pours a starkly viscous, oily-black body capped with a finger and a half of fluffy, pale mocha foam; solid head retention leaves a creamy half-finger of cap, large, silky collar, and a select few webs of lacing holding to the walls of the glass.

Aroma brings warming cinnamon flowing into a burnt vanilla undercurrent upfront; roast progresses steadily, leaving hints of melted dark chocolate against oaky barrel lingering.

Taste offers tempered cinnamon in flux with ample roast and dark cocoa underpinnings as a modest char settles into silky vanilla past the mid-palate, popping amply into the barrel-laden finish.

Mouthfeel features a full body and minimal carbonation, thick in texture while sporting silky, creamy edges as a roasty prickle proceeds over the mid-palate and slickness meets a subtle warmth on the finish.

Cinnamon balance contrasts a deft vanilla infusion as waves of barrel inflection take hold; proper adjudication of adjuncts keeps this stout roundedly palatable throughout.

Oily black appearance in the glass. Deep tan head.

I am getting a healthy dose of both sweet vanilla and warm cinnamon, complimenting bourbon and chocolate notes as well.

 

Once again thanks to 4DaloveofSTOUT for this 12 oz. can dated 1/26/23. So far Half-Acre is 50/50 on BA stouts; one great (Benthic) & one bleh (BA Big Hugs). High hopes for this one.

Dark black with a large mocha head that falls within five minutes or so. The nose is vast arenas of bourbon & booze, with a chain collar of chocolate.

Catch Hell is lovingly balanced, which I normally mean as a fatal insult. Not here. The bourbon is smooth, laying on top of smooth, sweet malts, accented by smooth vanilla. Cinnamon – which can be a 224 Valkyrie to the heart of any good beer – is restrained & refined, lending spicy depth rather than a cinnamon waterboarding. Lovely dry, mouth-parching oak on the finish. I could take this in bigger packaging.

The smoothness is the appeal here, along with a gorgeous blending of flavors. Excellent brew.

 

 

Had on tap. Somehow I had always missed this one, no longer, I finally caught catch hell! Yuk, yuk, yuk. Anyways black body with a brown head in a typically well done stout pour. Big smells here with potent cinnamon and slightly lesser vanilla atop a bourbon, chocolate and malt stout. Taste has bite to it with big cinnamon and booze leading that effort, vanilla, chocolate syrup, hint of coconut and toasty oak with smooth malt backing try to maintain order, but they.... catch hell! Feel emphasizes this bite more, big heat from time to time, thinner for HA stouts, but that wouldn't be hard, smooth otherwise with some chew. I like all the aspects here, good stout, but having more cohesiveness would elevate this one

 

Canned 1/26/23
Consumed 4/19/23

HA is usually great at keeping the pastry stouts at a reasonable level of sweetness for me, but this batch of Catch Hell tips over for me. Compared to the various Benthics I had at the brewery last week, this is chocolate cinnamon syrup. It looks like a pretty ba stout. The smell is missing the barrel that I love. For a pastry stout, it's kind of plain which is really surprising given the cinnamon. Overall, it's enjoyable, but a disappointment given their high pedigree.

 

 

 

 

poured from a 12oz can into a rev deep woods tumbler. pours an inky, oily black with not quite a finger of mocha brown foam. foam recedes into a thick brown collar around the rim of the glass. wonderful aromas of chocolate, cinnamon whiskey, vanilla frosting and bourbon-soaked oak. i get just as much, if not more, vanilla and chocolate in the taste as i do cinnamon (which i very much appreciate). thick, full mouthfeel with a bourbon barrel punch and dry cinnamon on the finish. once this really warms up and opens up, it showcases a lot of depth and complexity. an extremely well made barrel-aged imperial stout and very good execution of flavor additives. very much enjoyed.

 

Tasted in a snifter from draft at Consume on August 22, 2021.