Dark Aura
Third Eye Brewing Company

 

12 ounce can, date stamp on the label is off center, I think it says canned 12/11/24 but it could also be 2/11/24. Thanks to my buddy Terry for giving me a can! Served in a snifter, the beer pours dark brown/black with almost an inch tan head. Head retention and lacing are both good. Aroma is nice, I smell a lot of milk chocolate and peanut butter, along with some roasted malt and vanilla. The taste is pretty much just like the aroma, but there's also some burnt/charred malt and coffee flavors noticeable too. The chocolate and peanut butter stand out in both the taste and aroma, but don't overwhelm everything else. Mouthfeel/body is medium/full, it's coating and smooth with a moderate amount of carbonation. I thought this was good, worth trying especially if you like peanut butter and chocolate brews!

On tap at the brewery, served in a goblet.

Look: Black, with a 1/2” head that pretty quickly reduced to adequate dark brown lacing.

Nose: Peanut butter and sweet cocoa.

Attack: The nose exactly in reverse, with dark roast underneath, as well as a hint of molasses.

Finish: Bitterness from the dark roast. Alcohol warms on the way down.

Mouthfeel: Thick and smooth, adequate carbonation.

Overall: A very well balanced, complex flavor. This is not near as hoppy/bitter as most RIS’s, but I’m (perhaps inappropriately) not downrating it for that, because it’s really good, and I’m not a hophead. While It doesn’t hit the very top of my RIS list, I’m enjoying it immensely tonight, and I’d happily order it again.

 

More than just dipping their toe in pastry beer, Third Eye has us all wading around in the stuff. The striking character of chocolate and peanut butter is so deep we can basically taste it.

Very dark brown and extremely dense if not agitated, Dark Aura pours like cake batter otherwise. With a nearly impossible separation of bubbles from beer, the scent is all about those popular peanut butter and chocolate candies with a scent of coffee. The expectedly sweet stout is dessert rich with the first sip and never lets up with its chocolate, caramel, honey and toffee sweetness.

Slathering the middle palate with dense and chocolaty malt, the flavor of peanuts make sure that a savory, nutty and buttery texture meets its taste. Roasted malts bring coffee flavors and a pleasantly bitter balance that hardly takes an edge off of the fudgey sweetness straight through to a sugary batter finish.

Full bodied, lacking proper balance and quite simple in its approach, the ale simply lacks the complexity charm the tastebuds in the same way that the candy does.

This can was sent along by my son-in-law's dad - thanks Dave. It's from a Cinci brewer and I think I just saw one of these at Saveon this week but did not buy it because the brewer was unknown to me and from Cinci.

It pour as like a stout, with nice fine fizz bubbles. The aroma is a very strong peanuty smell. The taste is also very peanut butter dominant, and while sweet, it is not overly so. It sits just right on the tongue, more like a milk stout, but may be a little overpowering for most food.

Recommended. This is a nice gimmick stout - a delicious peanut butter treat.

PS The can still had mass after all the liquid was poured, so I poured a little back into the can, shook it around and got a lot more peanutty goodness. Give this can a few rolls before pouring.

16 FL OZ can
Served in a snifter

This beer pours a deep brown color and is topped with a small tan head that leaves little lacing.

Big chocolate aroma with a nice peanut butter accompaniment. Smells fantastic.

This is one of the rare beers that the taste is just as good as the smells, especially when it comes to peanut butter as an adjunct. Chocolate forward with just the right amount of peanut butter. Peanut butter in a lot of beer tastes off or cloying. This is pretty damn good.

Full bodied with a smooth, almost syrupy, mouthfeel

I enjoyed this beer very much. Pleasing to the senses. There are not a lot of good peanut butter beers out there. This is one of the few.