System Of A Stout
Beachwood Brewing - Huntington Beach

 

Poured from a 12oz can into a New Glarus snifter. Pours a thick and shiny black with a finger of quick-to-fade dark brown foam head. Rich coffee on the nose but also oak and spice. It gives off notes of barrel-aging from the oak chips but also has a cedar thing going on on the nose too. Taste follows but I get less coffee, although still a pretty good amount of coffee, and more of the spices and wood. It’s good for sure but I think I would prefer it without the spices. I guess I am more of a straight coffee person.

The difference between dreams. What is an actual “thing”? Universal time vs your own that exists. Will you take that martini with a twist? Regret vs sorrow. Sorrow vs regret. Now as I drink this hell of a beer, think of what you can do best… And go with it. No fear. Go with it.

 

I liked this quite a bit better than the vanilla fudge I had the night before. Great coffee flavors, stout, and boozy alcohol. Delicious beer but kind of pricey for not being barrel-aged.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dark, dark brown with a half finger head foam.

More coffee than malt.

Doesn't read immediately as coffee, then I saw the adjuncts. Cardamom definitely gives me something new, an earthy bent that's a tinge floral without being vegetable. I don't really read the molasses or brandy in an obvious way, the mix is unique.

The end isn't all that rough but it's enough to remind you it's not mixed with cold brew.

 

 

 

 

Embracing the exotic in each and every way possible the brewers at Beachwood embrace the weird, the unheard of, the hard to find combinations of Armenian coffee, cardamom and brandy soaked oak for a taste that takes the imperial stout where it has never gone before.

This System of a Stout comes with an extremely dark brown, easily mistaken as black for an appearance of an ominously dark milkshake. Crowned with a stubborn mocha froth, the beer leads with a host of dark and earthy coffee with bold chocolate, walnut and a toasted, slightly smoky spice not far off of cinnamon and menthol. Sweet and chocolaty on the tongue, the taste of tiramisu meets the texture of cake batter.

Deeply caramelized, the sweetness is joined with molasses and buckwheat honey as the ale crosses middle palate, while also giving rise to black walnut, espresso, burnt toast, campfire and bittersweet chocolate. Trending savory, sweet, lavish and velvety on the tongue, a late spice of brandy, kahlua and peppermint intertwine for a broad and friendly balance to the extended sweetness.

Full and decadent, the beer is off chewy and creamy like a fine latte. The earthiness of cardamom hits the throat like cinnamon and allspice once the brandy, oak tannins and coffee grounds disguise its curry like character. A long and savory aftertaste once again evokes a sense of tiramisu but with the spicy bite of exotic additions to the brewing process. If this beer could be a person, it would definitely grow up to be a stripper.