The Chocolate Monocle with Almonds
Third Moon Brewing

Got this from Emma & Terry. Cheers!

From a 473ml can into a snifter
Canned 22 September 2021
Collaboration with BreWiskey in Montreal
Imperial stout with chocolate, vanilla, almonds & lactose

APPEARANCE: Pours out clear black and somewhat syrupy, forming a small, thin tan head that disappears immediately. Black body with no carbonation evident. Thin scummy film and a slight ring is all there is. Same as the other version.

SMELL: Roasted aromas, some leather and tobacco, pure chocolate as well, with some milk sugars and some alcohol on the nose. A touch of almonds as well. Bold.

TASTE: Roasted flavors, some tobacco and leather, with lots of milk sugars and vanilla cream at the swallow. Plenty sweet. Boozy as well. Bold finish of lactose, and vanilla cream, some pure chocolate, a touch of nuts, roasted flavors, some leather, as well as decent booze lingers on the palate. Plenty sweet with lots of lactose on this one.

PALATE: Medium body and lower levels of carbonation. Syrupy and a touch flat, goes down fine with a bit of a scratch and finishes sticky. Some decent heat lingers.

OVERALL: Just like the original version, this one is alright. The head and look are just as lousy, and to be quite frank, the almonds I detected might have just been imagined. In other words, if you hadn’t specified that almonds had been added, I may never have detected any. It’s a solid brew with lots of lactose character and the feel is decent, but this is no more interesting than the normal version. Definitely worth checking out if you’re a fan of the style. Thanks again guys. Cheers!

 

 

Pours black with a finger of khaki foam. Liquid sits still in the glass, forming a murky glass of black ink. Aroma is roasty, toasty, and caramely malts with hearty milk chocolate, soft vanilla bean and almond. The twangy nut notes are reminiscent of the air quality in an old school ramen venue. It leads with sweetness, but is followed by hearty malt notes that ground it. Flavor profile features the same twist, leading with roasty and toasty malts that linger throughout. Dancing atop the malts is milk chocolate, lactose, almonds, and pine tree nuts. It leans sweet throughout, but is brought back to reality just slightly at the end via almond. Mouth feel is somewhere between whole milk and almond milk, driving that full consistency forward at the start before breaking away ever so slightly for bold nuts at the end. Overall, a bold and expressive stout that drives malt notes just as hard as additive notes. It's not overly sweet, and yet it owes some of its sweetness to the additives. Despite that, it's quite a pleasant blend and balance to sip. Almond adds that swell of sweetness around the edges that keeps it from skating off the edge.

Served in a 15.5oz Speigalau tulip from a "473mL can".

Pours an extremely dark brown with an inch of beige colored head that quickly recedes leaving behind some evidence, but not in the form of actual lacing. Aroma is remarkably restrained. It's very hard to pick up specific notes. There's a faint sweetness, mild booze, and faint chocolate.

On the tongue, the almonds clearly emerge. They don't necessarily dominate, but they are clearly there. Overall this isn't sweet like an Almond Joy, but rather a nice blend of roast, chocolate and almonds that make for a nice flavor profile. There's a nice boozy warmth to this beer that lends itself well to sipping slowly over time. Medium to full body that goes down smoothly.

Overall, nice beer.