The Event Horizon: Spectrum 3 (2018)
Olde Hickory Brewery

 

 

Bottle @ Brouwerij de Molen (volunteers gathering), thanks for sharing John & Petra! Pours a black colour and a brown head with short retention. Aroma's: sweet, honey-ish, bourbon, oak, vanilla. Retronasal it's sweet with vanilla and light red fruit, not particularly recognizable as cherries to me. Flavour is rather sweet with some fruitiness. Medium bodied.

So right off the bat I will say it is sweet, definitely a dessert beer, but it never cloys. If anything the body is slightly chalky amongst the smooth malts, and bourbon warmth, kind of like a cocoa drink. The taste is cherry and milk chocolate up front, then warm bourbon joins in, then a bright and sweet rush of the vanilla and honey brings it all to a crescendo, with some smoke and molasses hiding beneath the sweet surface. Smell is cherry, honey, vanilla and bourbon to the face, smell is way more boozy than taste. Drinks really smooth, matches the appearance in that way. Excited to try the other spectrum variants

 

 

 

 

 

Appearance: Arrives dark as the event horizon, with a one inch head of beige foam; good retention and a few shards of lace

Smell: Chocolate and vanilla, with cherry and Bourbon tones

Taste: The chocolate and cherry flavors launch with the Bourbon tones developing in the middle; after the swallow, the vanilla comes on strong

Mouthfeel: Full bodied with moderate carbonation; warmth in the gullet

Overall: While I liked the cherry and choclate combination quite a bit, the vanilla tones are a bit strong here