CB's Xinnam
CB Craft Brewers

 

 

This beer was served on tap at Tap and Mallet in Rochester, NY. It arrived in a Founders Stout Season pint glass, glowing a golden honey brown. It held a one finger head of white bubbles, showing decent retention, and thick lacing down the sides of the glass. No haze or sediment was noted, and carbonation appeared average. The aroma gave harsh metallics, vanilla creaminess, untoasted brown and pale malts, bittered baker’s yeast, corny adjuncts, and chalky flour. Our first impression was that there was a strange vanilla twang and cream to the flavoring, with big tinny metallics at every turn through the sip. The flavoring opened with those big tinny metals, buttercream frosting sugariness, and bittered brown malts. The peak came with bitterly drying yeast, and more sourness to the same even brown malts. The final wash was with more of those overpowering metallics, bittered Belgian yeast, and grassy hop pop. The aftertaste breathed of light nuttiness, vanilla frosting, flour, coin, and grassy hops. The body was light to medium, and the carbonation was high. There was nice crisp pop and smack on the edge of the sip, but little cream or slurp. Dryness followed an initial cooling and creamy coating, as it bubbled off quickly. The abv was easy, and the beer drank okay.

Overall, what we liked best about this beer was the crispness to the sip. This gave a refreshing component to each sip, and kept it fresh on the back end, even when the flavors started to fall off. The nose and flavoring were on the cheap side, with big adjuncts and drying flour bite to the malts. We also missed any sweetness to cut, in any form, as the bitterness took center stage. The hops were also almost too subtle, and were missed throughout. Ultimately this is an okay representation of the style, but it certainly needs a bit more umpff.