French Toasted
Blue Point Brewing Company

Blue Point Brewing Co. "French Toasted"
16 fl. oz. can with a "BEST BY DATE" of "BB23FEB22 BP1155". Sampled on 25JAN22.
$4.99 @ Total Wine & More, Cherry Hill, NJ

Notes via stream of consciousness: So what do we have here? A double brown ale? I'm not even sure what that is. Brewed wtih natural flavors... coffee, cinnamon, maple syrup. I'll assume those are actual ingredients, and that the natural flavors are something else. 9.3% ABV!!! Wow. A very rough pour has brought up a three finger thick head of tan foam that's pulling together quickly. The body is a clear deep-mahogany brown with limited highlights of ruby-orange. OK, with the rest of the beer added to my glass I have a beautiful looking pint with an inch of head on top. The aroma is sweetish with toffee, maple syrup, and oily coffee beans. The flavor brings in the coffee in a big way and there's also a lot of cinnamon there too. The maple syrup is basically lost until the swallow where it lingers, although there's some cinnamon and a bit of coffee there as well. It's caramelish, nutty, and obviously toffee-like. It's sweet but not too sweet, and I think this could work as a dessert beer. It could even be used as an ingredient, perhaps replacing the coffee in tiramisu. Yeah, they've done a great job of balancing this - I don't get the bitterness but I know it's there, and the same thing goes for the alcohol. It definitely does not seem like 9.3%. The head has dropped by this point, and unfortunately it hasn't left a whole lot in the way of lacing. In the mouth it's mediu bodied and smooth with a soft, moderate carbonation. Nicely done.
Review #7,731

16oz can poured into a snifter

A- pours brown in color with a one finger foamy khaki head that reduces to a film on top

S- cinnamon and maple syrup lead the aroma, with a smoky herbal coffee note that follows. Undertones of a nutty Brown marks and bread crust

T- big dose of cinnamon up front is followed by a sweet hit of maple syrup. Mid-palate gives some brown malts that gives notes of bread crust, caramel and nuts. The finish gives herbal and roasted coffee notes, with a linger if cinnamon and maple

M- medium body with medium carbonation leads to a foamy mouthfeel that continues into the finish

Four pack copped from Total Wine and More in West Orange. Pours a deep dark brown hue with ample head and frothing. Pungent aroma replete with notes of caramel and butterscotch. Similar overall flavor profile. Not bad.

 

It seems like this should be more of a desert beer than a breakfast beer, but to try it will be to know. Ending up in a clear Imperial pint glass, it's now obvious this is a brown ale and not a stout, nor porter. The color is brown, dark brown, but not close to black. There are lighter highlights at the fringes. It is opaque, but not murky. An off-white modest head was short-lived. The aroma is more of cinnamon and vanilla than any normal beer smell. This is nicely rich and smooth. Cinnamon is the first dominant note, but somehow this manages to capture all of the delights of the food itself. Hints of eggs, bread, maple and butter all seem to be included. Good or bad according to personal taste, this really is like drinking French Taste. Like many desert beers, this is a one and done and only once in a while. However, it's so much better at delivering its promised taste than most, that has to be considered for its ratings. Lastly, no glass lacing and very little intrusion by the 9.3% ABV.

 

Picked this up recently at the Bottle King as this seemed interesting and not like Blue Point's usual fare. Yeah, I was one of those imbibers that loved the Hoptical Illusion years ago and indeed that was the case with this as it wasn't even a typical American Brown Ale. The flavor profile's here but this was quite stronger and more nuanced than I was accustomed to, as the end result was a beer worthy of being something for breakfast or dessert!

No surprise that this had a brown hue to it was it was quite dark but had a brilliantly luminous mahogany hue to it around the edges when held up to the light. Lots of tan head topped it off as a bit of the foam overflowed over the top of my pint glass although the lacing left behind was a bit sparse aside from a sprawled-out ring near the top. Lots of cinnamon and maple syrup in the nose with some brown malt, almond, spice, and warming booze in the nose as this got better as it warmed up. Nutty, sticky, and full on the palate, there was a lot going on here as everything meshed nicely together while the spice was *not* overdone like an Octoberfest beer...

Lots of heft in this although there wasn't any heat as I applauded the rare feat. Lots of spongy bread was on my palate and in the aftertaste which only added to the appeal and made this beer's moniker true to form. With a coffee-like slickness and underlying fresh-brewed aftertaste, this was a nicely-rounded brew that came complete with powdered sugar to complement the cinnamon. With a "Best Before" date of 2/23 of *next* year on the bottom of the can, it was hard to tell how old this was although it was plenty fresh for me. Easily the best beer from Blue Point that I've ever had, this pushed the limits of was a Brown Ale could be and had me ready for a second helping-er, can...

A better beer than I initially thought - as the beer warmed the flavors presented better - not stronger necessarily, but better - some of the sugars seem to slip away and it became a milder sipper - and - of course, it's a 9.3% abv beer so I'm liking everything more halfway through lol - anyways, yeah - all the flavors, coffee, cinnamon (mild, not like "heat," but like, "spice") - and maple syrup present well... Way more (maple) syrupy and sweet initially; as it warmed took on more of a rich brown ale character, with a great spice element... The coffee and malts melded smoothly and present nicely... Very enjoyable...

Pour is dark but nice ruby brown at the base. Head was nice frothy mocha but dissipated quickly to a mild soap ring. Smell is decently sweet I can detect brown malts coffee chocolate and maple syrup. Wow much more bitter and spices than I expected! Does deliver in the coffee which attributes to the bitterness and maple still shines with every sip. Flavors round out a bit once warmed with a mild bitter spiced twang in the finish.

Overall I haven't had too many brown ales so this was very unexpected. Still quite a treat and I would recommend it!

 

Really solid maple, coffee, cinnamon stout. Thick but not heavy for the near 10% ABV. Spiced finish. This is exactly as advertised, and quite good at that.