Manumission II
Métier Brewing Company

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing nearly opaque in the glass with a half finger dark khaki head with good retention and nice lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, maple syrup, cocoa, rye spiciness and a hint of dark dried fruit. Flavor is dark toasted malt, rye whiskey, light maple syrup, baker's chocolate and hints of dark fruit. Woody oak in the finish. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. A solid barreled stout with good rye whiskey character and mild maple and cocoa. Body is a little thin for such a big stout, letting the oak and rye contribute some light astringency that a heavier body might cover. Otherwise, a pleasant stout with good barrel character. I think this is the sophomore barreling year for Metier and it seems like they are doing fine. Although I bought this bottle from a fresh shipment at PCC less than a month ago, I see that it almost a year old and I saw a note about Manumission III, so the new version is already out. Although it could be dialed in a bit, I'm definitely going to try the III version, hopefully closer to release from the brewery.

really nice beer here, my first from these guys, aged 18 months in maple syrup and rye whiskey barrels, and the barrels really elevate this, a base stout thats big but seems relatively simple, relying on the barrels to make it unique it seems, and they certainly do. black in the glass with high shine and just a patchy burlap colored ring of bubbles on it, looks well enough refined and tidy for a beer this dark, no super leggy or anything. the nose is the same as the taste, both delicious, maple comes through right away, the good stuff, dark amber and deeply earthy, nice with the coffee i note i pick up from the roast of the grain that forms the low end of this. there isnt a ton of middle malt sweetness either, even though this has a great body on it, the maple does most of the sweetening to my senses, which rules. the whiskey character is obvious, but its not like spicy rye to me, maybe some of that is covered up by the oak, which is strong here, and maybe there was bourbon in the maple barrels first so it blurs out a little more generic, high end, but not rye specifically to me, at least not until it warms up a little bit, which really expands things. the overall barrel aspect is great though, and this is clean and flavorful, some bittersweet chocolate comes in, again super compatible with the obvious maple, a light almost poppy seed note too, could be the rye there, smooth and long at the end but not overly decadent as this sort of thing goes. darn good, good enough to have me eager to try more from these guys. very nicely executed.