Brewed By: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California
Purchased: Single 12oz bottle from the 2014 Beer Camp bought at Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2014 (PKG 05/21/14)
Style/ABV: "Imperial Dark Ale", 8.5%
Reported IBUs: 40Purchased: Single 12oz bottle from the 2014 Beer Camp bought at Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2014 (PKG 05/21/14)
Style/ABV: "Imperial Dark Ale", 8.5%
What is Beer Camp? It is Sierra Nevada's celebration of craft beer and the numerous breweries across America that make that craft beer. For 2014, Sierra Nevada collaborated with 12 different breweries to make 12 different beers. They also have a Beer Camp Across America Beer Festival, which will stop at seven different cities and feature many different breweries and beers.
About Sierra Nevada:
Sierra Nevada are one of the big players in craft brewing, and one of the first craft breweries to arrive on the craft beer scene. If you check out their history page, you will see that founder Ken Grossman began his quest to build a brewery in 1976. In 1980, Ken Grossman and co-founder Paul Camusi brewed their first batch of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. According to Wikipedia, Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale is the second best selling craft beer behind Boston Lager. Sierra Nevada is the sixth largest brewing company in the United States as well, cranking out over 750,000 barrels in 2010. For more info, check out their website.
The Maillard's Odyssey Imperial Dark Ale is a collaboration with Bell's Brewery, Inc., or that one brewery with that drunk guy from that beer documentary. There's no Oberon here. My bottle reads: "Rich, dark, and roasty. That was our shared vision, and Maillard's Odyssey is exactly that, taking its name in part from the fond Maillard reaction - the "browning" of sugars and amino acids - that creates the wonderful caramelized toffee-like and roasted flavors so abundant in this beer."
It's so weird that Chrome doesn't know how to spell "amino." Auto-correct suggestions include "amigo." NEWAY, this one pours with a dark, cola-black body, kicking up two fingers of mocha/tan, root beer float head. Head retention is excellent, with good lacing. The body has brown tones on the edges when held to bright light, but this is opaque like most Stouts.
The aroma here features deep roast, coffee, chocolate, cocoa, and big dark sugars/molasses. That's a pretty generic description, so let me offer that this also has huge woody-coffee-cream notes, with coffee creamer, ash, and milk sugars/lactose. I haven't looked up how Ratebeer and BA are styling this, but my guess is they are calling this a Stout. And frankly, this kind of smells like a Milk Stout kind of Stout. An Imperial Milk Stout. Like 18th Street's Hunter. There's some hops lurking way in the back, with faint citrus/pine elements strictly in play to balance things out. Is this a Black IPA? No. Duh. It's not an American Porter either.
The taste...wow. It's intense, and it tastes like an Imperial Milk Stout. I'm reminded again of the 18th Street Hunter, or Bell's Special Double Cream Stout. ...just massive notes of coffee, cocoa, coffee creamer, lactose sugars, dark chocolate, roast, woody notes, and big citrus/pine hops clocking in on the back end to clean things up.
This is full-bodied and dense, but hides the 8.5% well. Sticky sugars coat your lips. This has awesome palate depth and moderate complexity. I'd call this an Imperial Milk Stout, but that's just me. Up front: lactose, coffee, cocoa, creamer; the mids hit roast, deep sugars, woody coffee-creamer nuttiness and toast; the back end trails with sweetness, sugars, creamer, hints of a hop back bone. Wowza.
Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)
 |
| Maillard's Odyssey Imperial Dark Ale |
It's so weird that Chrome doesn't know how to spell "amino." Auto-correct suggestions include "amigo." NEWAY, this one pours with a dark, cola-black body, kicking up two fingers of mocha/tan, root beer float head. Head retention is excellent, with good lacing. The body has brown tones on the edges when held to bright light, but this is opaque like most Stouts.
The aroma here features deep roast, coffee, chocolate, cocoa, and big dark sugars/molasses. That's a pretty generic description, so let me offer that this also has huge woody-coffee-cream notes, with coffee creamer, ash, and milk sugars/lactose. I haven't looked up how Ratebeer and BA are styling this, but my guess is they are calling this a Stout. And frankly, this kind of smells like a Milk Stout kind of Stout. An Imperial Milk Stout. Like 18th Street's Hunter. There's some hops lurking way in the back, with faint citrus/pine elements strictly in play to balance things out. Is this a Black IPA? No. Duh. It's not an American Porter either.
The taste...wow. It's intense, and it tastes like an Imperial Milk Stout. I'm reminded again of the 18th Street Hunter, or Bell's Special Double Cream Stout. ...just massive notes of coffee, cocoa, coffee creamer, lactose sugars, dark chocolate, roast, woody notes, and big citrus/pine hops clocking in on the back end to clean things up.
This is full-bodied and dense, but hides the 8.5% well. Sticky sugars coat your lips. This has awesome palate depth and moderate complexity. I'd call this an Imperial Milk Stout, but that's just me. Up front: lactose, coffee, cocoa, creamer; the mids hit roast, deep sugars, woody coffee-creamer nuttiness and toast; the back end trails with sweetness, sugars, creamer, hints of a hop back bone. Wowza.
Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)
I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this beer. This is massive and bold. If this was barrel-aged it would be a banger. It's a touch not-complex, and to be fair the style has been done by brewers like 18th Street, Pipeworks, and probably others I'm not thinking of at the moment. Still, this would be a hell of a beer to pair with a cigar, some dry chocolate desserts, or even a greasy and cheesy burger.
No comments:
Post a Comment