Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery Saint Beatnick Sweet Stout at 7.7% ABV (2015 Craft Beer Advent Calendar Day #12, 341 ml, bottle date 24-Jul-2015, reviewed 12-Dec-2015)
Appearance: opaque brown with amber-brown highlights, one finger of dense pillowy light tan head, good retention and patchy lacing. (3/5) Aroma: strong sweet chocolate, dark roasty grain, red berries, light vanilla. (7/10) Taste: moderate-high sweet, moderate bitter. (7/10) Palate: medium-full body, moderate-high carbonation, sticky mild warming finish. (4/5)
Kind of surprising in a couple of ways: surprisingly low sweetness given the blast on the nose, and surprisingly lively carbonation for the style. Now, mind you, when I say the sweetness is surprisingly low, I mean relative to what you smell – it’s still quite sweet and sticky, just not quite as much as you might expect. Which, I guess, isn’t a bad thing. However, I’m not convinced by the carbonation, since it probably helps control the sweetness, but it also acts to lift the body beyond what I would consider optimal for the style. (14/20)
7/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com
