Star Gazing with 8th State
Humble Forager Brewery

 

 

 

Humble Forager has the most pastry, pastry stouts. Star Gazing is the full representation of a caramel and hazelnut pie. Toffee, nuts, and vanilla paste combine into an ultra-indulgent stout. There’s times throughout the drink that you think you are actually eating dessert. Pick this one up if you have a big sweet tooth:

 

 

 

Pours out like pure murk. Motor oil, inky blackness. Dense and syrupy looking. I poured this out aggressively because I knew it was gonna look like this. Still, I only got a half finger of dark brown foam that disappeared quickly.

Nose is a huge swath of sweet confection. Chocolate, coconut, caramel, nuttiness. It almost smells like an Almond Joy. There's apparently roasted hazelnuts, but it seems more like roasted almonds to me. The hazelnut presence isn't quite near something like Untitled Arts BA Hazelnut Imperial Stout, which straight up smells like Frangelico. What this reminds me of is a cross between Anchorage's Blessed and Timber Ale's Lost Memories.

The taste absolutely confirms this for me too. The heart and soul of both those brews combined is what you get here. The chocolate, coconut, nuttiness, caramel, roasted malt all come through and basically trample over each other. Each flavor propelled forward. It has the German Chocolate cake covered in toffee or caramel thing that Blessed has and the Toasted Almond Good Humor bar thing that Lost Memories had. (Even though it's hazelnut) This is a very sweet brew so some may want to share this with drinking partners.

Mouthfeel is silky smoothness. So thick, dense, and oily it's like melted butter and ice cream. Unreal. Definitely not for everybody, but I love this sort of thing once in a while. This brew sticks to the sides of a glass like a sonuvabitch. Mild carbonation. You already know the drill.

Overall a fantastic dessert stout from Humble Forager. I have the Pecan Pie one coming up next and I'm excited to see how that one fares.

 

Immediately on the nose the toffee, coconut, and hazelnut really stand out; reminded me a lot of a Ferrero Rocher. The palate wasn’t cloying but needed time to warm. Some bitterness to balance the underlying coconut and Nutella richness on the base.

can into glass
Dark brown, thick, quickly dissipating head. Thick looking, opaque, ultra brown. All kinds of aromas going on here. Really dark roasted grain. Some cacao and toffee, in the smell, as well. Very viscous a molasses sweetness. The sweetness takes off any edge to the very dark roasted grain. The adjuncts add to the complexity, but don't really show themselves, even in the finish, just some toffee & cacao, in there. This is to be sipped like a liqueur. Thumbs up!

 

 

For those times when you want your cake and to drink it too, Humble Forager and Eight State brewers gives us the best of both worlds with a pastry stout treads on the more nutty side. Hazelnut and coconut join the usual suspects of vanilla and sticky sweetness for beer that drinks like dessert.

Very dark brown and easily taken for black, the foggy dark ale patiently layers in the glass while revealing a creamy, dense, short froth. As decadence greets the nose, the scent is redolent of pastry shops, bakery and mocha latte. Its savory and toasted nuttiness leads into a spicy kahlua-like scent ahead of a first and densely packed sweet sip of cake batter, milk chocolate, cappuccino, nutella and toffee.

The taste stays largely the same throughout the duration of the entire middle palate as the creamy, lush and extravagant malt sweetness saturates each and every tastebud completely, just like richer chocolate and nutty desserts. A very late rise of coffee roast and a more toasted edge to both coconut and hazelnut sings praises of coffeehouse drinks as a slight semblance to balance tries to peak through the stubborn malts.

Very savory, sweet and lavishly malted, the stout may appear as a single serve can but can easily be split two to four ways as palate fatigue steps in quickly. Its a delicious beer to taste, but will require another beverage for a chaser. Full, cloying and chewy, the beer offers a kahlua spice with hints of bourbon with its alcohol character providing a simmering warmth late on the palate.

 

 

Pours think like motor oil and is inky black. Scents of dry sherry, vanilla, and almonds hit the nose. Very rich flavors of dark malt, chocolate, and sweet sugar. Syrupy thick feel coates the tongue. This is a great sipping stout. and with a hearty ABV. Thoroughly enjoyed.