[Locally Available] Finch's Secret Stache Stout

Alright, alright, I know it's been a while since my last review. College life seems to hit like a ton of bricks, and the last few weeks have been full of exams, lacrosse tournaments, and the GRE. The drinking of beer hasn't stopped, just the writing part. However, here I am, ready to tell you about a beer that's sure to impress.

Finch's Beer Company, out of Chicago, brings a delicious stout to the table with their Secret Stache, a milk stout brewed with vanilla beans. The can has some ridiculous art, with one bird pulling beers out of the gigantic mustache of a second bird. The craft beer world is all about puns, and this one is a doozy.

Style: Milk Stout
ABV: 5.3%
IBUs: Not given, but moderate. Not terribly bitter.
Availability: Year-round, available in MN.

[Quick Notes] This massively black stout is capped with a gorgeous, thick brown head, wafting roast barley, char, smoke, and roast coffee towards the nostrils. To balance this, there are deep caramelized sugars, crispy toffee, peanut brittle, dark chocolate, cacao nibs, a hint of chocolate syrup, and plenty of vanilla throughout. The flavor starts out dry, with the roast, char, and smoke moving into crispy toffee and peanut brittle, dark caramel, dark fruits, and a touch of roasty coffee. The vanilla bean addition just blends throughout the entire flavor in a rich, but not overwhelming way. For a 5.3% beer, the mouthfeel is full and creamy, characteristic of a much bigger beer.

[Appearance] This thing pours a truly motor oil black, with almost no highlights on the edges whatsoever. The head is massive and deep tan to brown, lingering for the duration of the drink and sticking to the glass like crazy. This looks like a much bigger stout than 5.3%.

[Aroma] Whoaaaaaaaaaaa. This thing is big. It jumps at your nose with tons of roast, with burnt wood, roast barley, and a woody smokiness coming off big at the front. It is all big and bold without being too harsh. The sweetness to balance the roast can be found in notes of deep caramels, really dark and heavily caramelized sugars. There's something like a really crispy toffee combined with nuttiness, and it really reminds me of peanut brittle. The vanilla is really present without being overwhelming, sort of riding through the aroma and bolstering other elements of it. There is a little bit of chocolate, mostly dark chocolate and cacao nibs, but a touch of syrupy Hershey's works its way in at the end. The woody smoke, crispy peanut brittle, and sweet vanilla aromas all intersect to give this really unique aroma; picking out each of those characters wasn't easy, as they blend together in a wonderful way.

[Flavor] The flavor follows the aroma really closely, leading off with lots of that dry roasty flavor, woody char, and nice wood smoke. That smokiness seems very natural and woody, not harsh or acrid. The caramels are there too, both the really deep, dark ones, and the crispier toffee/peanut brittle flavors, which include a little nuttiness. A little bit of that roasty coffee comes in as well, but this is not a coffee heavy beer. There is a good amount of dark chocolate and cacao nibs that blend in with the roast elements of the flavor, along with just a faint hint of some dark fruits like figs and dark cherries. As in the aroma, the vanilla element just carries throughout, fading in and out as other flavors come to the forefront, while still remaining noticeable. It is a perfect addition, working well with the other flavors without becoming cloying and overpowering.

[Mouthfeel] This is where this beer really sets itself apart. When I see a 5.3% stout, I tend to expect the mouthfeel to suffer a bit. This beer crushed my expectations. The body is moderately full to full, absolutely creamy and luscious. A touch syrupy, but more velvety than anything, this beer just washes around the mouth like velvet, leaving every taste bud coated in its wonderful flavors. The carbonation is moderately low, but present enough that it doesn't feel flat. This thing has a better mouthfeel than some 10% imperial stouts, which is a damn impressive feat.

[Overall] This beer is a hell of a 5.3% stout. It carries a surprising array of flavors with impressive depth, hitting some notes boldly and some more subtly. The large roast character and smokiness that hits initially is balanced by deep caramels, dark chocolates and an interesting peanut brittle flavor, along with a pervasive vanilla bean character that is absolutely elegant. Not only is the flavor wonderful, but the mouthfeel is, without a doubt, the best I have ever encountered in a stout with this low an ABV. This is a cold night's companion, hitting everything I want in a drinkable stout. At $10.99 for a 4 pack of 16oz cans, this is a beer I will certainly be purchasing often, as a go-to stout.

There you have it folks, something to satiate your cravings for a stout with a bark bigger than its bite-you-in-the-ass-in-the-morning. As far as "sessionable" stouts go, this one absolutely takes the cake in my book. Pick up a 4 pack and see for yourselves!

[Local] Surly SurlyFest

Continuing with my trend of reviewing fall seasonal releases, I'll cover one of the local favorites: SurlyFest from Surly Brewing Company in Brooklyn Center, MN.  When it comes to craft beer in Minnesota, most people I know think of Surly.  Furious has become something of a figurehead for craft beer, and it's something I'll be reviewing soon.  Surly has a way of taking a style and putting their own spin on it, defying typical beer style definitions. In typical style, SurlyFest is actually far from most Oktoberfest lagers, traditional to Munich and the festival they share the name with.  There are many American interpretations with varying degrees of accuracy, but Surly says to hell with it and just brews a tasty, interesting lager.  SurlyFest includes rye in the grain bill, and they only use a single hop variety and even dry hop the beer!

I normally use a tasting glass for reviews, but this begged for a mug!

Style: "Oktoberfest"

ABV: 6.0%

IBUs: 34

Availability: September (released, it might be around through the fall)

[Quick Notes] This gorgeous, slightly hazy amber-orange beer wafts sweet biscuity, bready notes, pastry sweetness, rye spiciness, and plenty of hoppy mandarin, lemon, mango, pineapple, and grapefruit.  The flavor follows well, with the sweet bread notes balancing with zesty, more robust rye.  The hop character is less pronounced than in the aroma, but the tropical and citrus notes come out well, along with a little zesty grassiness.  This beer, true to the lager character, finishes cleanly and crisply, with only moderate dryness in the finish.  This beer goes down really easily, with each sip closely following the last.

[Appearance] I'm not normally one to care much for how beers look, but this one is just downright beautiful. The hazy orange/amber beer lets a radiant hue shine through it, like the diffuse rays of a fall sunset through an amber field of rye. The head is nice and fluffy, an off white to light tan color, and it sticks around pretty well and leaves a bit of lacing. I seriously held this beer up to the light for a good minute, just admiring the color (my friends would argue I do this every DAMN time).

[Aroma] Oh yeah, this definitely isn't your typical Oktoberfest. The aroma has a lot of complexity without being overwhelming, but it is certainly prominent. It leads with wonderful sweetbread and biscuity notes, sort of sweet pastry bread without too much sugar to it. The rye is definitely noticeable, lending a slightly rustic spiciness to the aroma, helping to balance out the sweeter bready aromas. The malt aromas transition into this killer hop kick, with notes of sweet mandarin orange, lemon, mango, pineapple and grapefruit, all a blend of juicy and zesty. It's not a massive, juicy hoppiness, but a drier, crisper character that really makes me think "lager".

[Flavor] This brew cashes the check its aroma writes, as the flavor is just as awesome as the aroma. There's the approachable, biscuity, sweetbread maltiness that lays down a nice base of flavor. It's not a heavy or overly sweet flavor, simply providing something a little more substantial than the typical pale malt. The rye adds some nice complexity in the form of a little sharper, rustic spiciness. Not heat, not really "cinnamon/nutmeg" spiciness, just a rye bread sort of thing. It's a bit tough to describe. Overall, however, the maltiness is relatively soft and round in its character, giving your palate something to chew on a little bit. The hop flavor is a little toned down from the aroma, just a little less of the tropical fruit and a little more grass. There's still plenty of mandarin orange, lemon, grapefruit, and just a little mango and pineapple. The flavors are more dry than juicy and slowly fade into a grassier hoppy note. That's a lot of complexity for one hop variety (which I believe is Sterling). The finish is nice and crisp, but not overly long or dry. The flavor just sort of drops off cleanly, leaving a hint of hoppy aftertaste, but it just makes it really easy to drink.

[Mouthfeel] The body of this beer is moderate and the carbonation is just shy of moderate, making this one go down really easily. Combined with the quick and crisp finish to the flavor, a pint of SurlyFest went away shockingly quickly.

[Overall] This beer really bursts the Oktoberfest style bubble, combining biscuity malts and rye flavor with wonderfully fresh hoppiness in a remarkably drinkable package. Surly manages to take a few characteristics that seem a bit odd at first and meld them into a remarkably balanced and drinkable beer. "Balance" is a word tossed around quite often, but this beer manages to take equally delicious malt and hop profiles and combine them with a very drinkable mouthfeel, all without sacrificing the amplitude of flavor. 

Surly hits this one out of the park with a crazy spin on the Oktoberfest style. This is the best fall seasonal I've had so far this year, and I would certainly recommend picking up a 4-pack if you spy it around you. Surly can be a bit pricy, but if you feel like upgrading to something that costs $2.50 a pint (which is a stellar bar price, when you think about it), this one will certainly hit the spot this fall.

Cheers!