Vietnamese Speedway Stout

If only there was a rating system...

 

Getting this thread back on track... Having Speedway for the first time is a good experience- it's a very robust imperial stout w/ coffee. It's good, but not mind-blowing.

Having Vietnamese Speedway for the first time is a little bit mind-blowing. I truly think the lactose addition plus the coffee varietal helps complete the beer in a way the normal Ryan Bros. roast doesn't (I think they're still using Ryan Bros. for regular Speedway?) in short- Speedway was meant to have Vietnamese coffee in it.

 

Have a bottle at home and this thread has inspired me to crack it open.

 

I have regular, viet, JBM, and BA I need to do a tasting of!

can't wait for some better stout weather here in nor-cal.

 

Having had regular Speedway many times over many years, I still find it to be one of my favorite imperial stouts.

The Vietnamese version improves upon what is already a world class imperial stout.

If you like Speedway, you are probably going to like the Vietnamese version even more.

 

I preferred JBM to Viet, but both take an already awesome base to a whole new level. I haven't had Kopi, so I can't speak to that.

As far as in comparison to other non-BA coffee stouts, Sump is better in my opinion, but that's because I love its coffee acidity compared to the roastier chocolate/coffee notes of Speedway. Central Waters Brewhouse Coffee is about on par with regular Speedway. All of these are better than FBS in my opinion, but that beer is still incredible.

 

I only tried this and the regular Speedway Stout. VSS was 10x better than the regular version. So so good. I swear I thought it was barrel-aged, but it wasn't!

 

I just had one the other night. Think it was aged a year. Turned out really nice and thought the coffee wasn't going to handle father time that well. The Kopi Luwak is even better though.

 

The VSS is In my top 5 of favorite stouts, it is rich, sweet, and has a very creamy feel to it, awesome stuff! I have only had a howler sent to me though, don't know if there is a difference with bottles.

 

Damn reading this really makes me want to crack into my bottle along with JBM and BA...

 

JBM is my favorite non-BA version so far

 

Missed this one at 2013 GABF. Still regretting it.

 

I've got all three right here in Colorado though....

 

A lot sweeter, more chocolate and less coffee notes.

 

It's much better from the tap than from the bottle.

 

There is substantial variation between the batches. I've rated the beer a 5/5 and thought it was barrel-aged the first time I had it. The next couple of times, it wasn't quite on par with their regular Speedway IMO. Of course, the regular is a world-class, heavy-hitter in a league of its own.

 

Yes. My first Viet was a cask @ Alesmith. Liquid coffee infused chocolate. Regular draft was just a half step behind. Haven't tried bottle yet, but have 2 in the fridge.