Party Cake
Area Two Experimental Brewing

Pours dark black in color, opaque with minimal head. Tasteis roasted malt and vanilla cake, complete with frosting and barrel. Heavy body, moderate low carbonation, roasty. Nice sipper. Nothing mind blowing but good.

 

look: dark yellow, straw

smell: malt, sugar, cream

taste: feel too much sugary and also fake

feel: smooth but boozy

overall: not so enjoyable, maybe it's good for party

Love my Cream Ales and when I saw this at the Bottle King in Morris Plains recently, I had to give it a go. Never had one quite like this as it was quite strong, packing quite an unusual punch as this was as hefty a Cream Ale that I've ever had this side of Carton.

This had a deep golden hue with plenty of carbonation to it as the streams of bubbles rising to the surface were everlasting throughout my session. Plenty of head topped it off as it quietly settled down although the lacing left behind was only in the form of a few thin and wavy rings near the center of my pint glass. Tons of cream, root beer, and cake frosting in the nose as the taste was just as full and sugary with hints of sarsaparilla and vanilla to round out the fairly straightforward feel to this beer. Ever have one of those grocery store-bought cakes that you see at kid's birthday parties? This was like that as it was fun, easy to scarf down, and left me feeling a tad bit guilty afterwards - though that was also in due part to the heft in this.

Yeah, this was strong and even if I didn't feel it on my palate that much, I certainly could by the time I finished this off. No date was given on the bottom of the can but this felt as fresh as possible for a beer of this sort and I loved how the Two Roads and Area Two logos were imprinted on the can itself! I've had a few brews from the former before but this was the first offering that I reviewed from the latter and yeah, this was experimental in the sense that I've never had an "Imperial Cream Ale" before. Feeling lucky and adventurous? Give this a go but leave the clowns and balloons at home for another day...