Vaccaro's Cannoli Cowboy
1623 Brewing Company

On draught at the brewery.
A dark pour with a thin head and little lacing.
Malt forward, the cannoli cream filling and spices dominate the flavor profile. Vanilla, cinnamon, a hint of fennel, pistachio, almond, powdered sugar, pastry dough, semisweet chocolate.
Medium bodied mouthfeel, borderline cloying.
The bitterness puts up, but doesn’t win.
A good Italian dessert beer.

Poured from a 12 oz. can. Has a black color with a 1 inch head. Smell is of chocolate and cinnamon. Taste follows the aroma, lactose is present, a bit on the sweet side. Feels medium/full bodied in the mouth and overall is a solid beer.

 

 

Very dark brown into black, minimal lacing, prominent bitterness with sweet cinnamon riding along, aftertaste a bit bitter, not at all boozy. It's good, a little too sweet to drink along with food but nice at the end of a meal.

Appearance:
The head is a tempest of boiling, translucent mocha; it churns with such fury that the whole thing blows itself out in under 30 seconds. In contrast, below it lies a placid, brooding, well of blackness.

Bouquet:
At first, the metallic tang of lactose clogs up the nostrils, so put your glass down and come back in 5 minutes; then the aroma improves substantially. One moment, you’re smelling hot metal in a welder’s workshop, the next, you’re standing in a mom & pop bakery, breathing pure bliss: Powdered sugar, flaky pastry dough, cinnamon lattes, and Mexican chocolate.

Feel:
Dense and buttery with a tingling carbonation that feels like prickles of ground cinnamon. Semi-sweet with a dry, Irish stout linger.

Taste:
A thin lacquer of creamy milk chocolate, broken by torrent of horchata; the two swirl into one other until they’re abruptly encrusted in the crumbly pastry of authentic cannoli shells.

Overall:
It’s astonishing how packed with pastry this little 4.5% stout is.