Vanilla Cream Ale
Missouri River Brewing Company

I love MRBC..some of their beers are my all-time favorites. Not this one!

Fake vanilla taste with an amazingly strange sweet and sour aftertaste.

12oz can courtesy of my wife's boss
Poured into a Crux willi becher

P pours a brilliant copper w/ ruby hues; 1-2f-worth of light khaki head; looks nice
N sharp grassy [almost herbal] notes in the nose; light malt sweetness
T quite the tasty blend of semi-sweet grassy notes and vanilla over lightly bready malt; cohesive profile; the vanilla is well-incorporated
Mf full-bodied w/ med to med-high carb; satisfying
O really solid and unique cream ale; super drinkable; would definitely have again

Review date: 09.01.24
Can date: not captured

 

whats up with these darker cream ales in montana? this one is almost amber colored, lacking the drinkability and refreshment value i like in the style, although i dont hate the taste of the extra malt with the vanilla in here, it gives it a little richness beyond just the flavor, and its not too terribly sweet, so there is some cool depth to this, but i pretty much always want them lighter than this. some unrefined looking haziness to it too, although it has a nice inch of thick and lacy off white head. the nose here is really vanilla forward, almost nothing from the yeast and no hops in the mix at all, some nuttiness from the grain is real compatible, an almond note and a toasted warmth, more of an autumnal profile here than i am used to from a cream ale, and thats true in the flavor too. the vanilla has sweetness to it yes, but it also seems natural enough, fairly high quality, a little candied thing going on with the malt, but it tastes nice. fuller feeling and sweeter than it needs to be though overall, especially for a cream ale, maybe overdone a little bit on the flavoring, and less carbonated than it seems to want to be. could use some cleaning up and honing in, but definitely something different for one of these...