Stoutmaker.beer

As you know, I am usually not a fan of these “donut stouts” but it’s the first stout I’ve seen in a while.

Its a local brew. Ahnapee Brewing’s Session S’mores Stout. (cant find it on Untappd for some reason yet..)

It is rather dark in here but holding to the light there is ruby all the way thru. That pic makes it look really dark, but i’d say its a very deep brown. Nice looking
Head was ok on pour and did stay around for quite a while. Which is something I didnt expect to happen.

It’s just sitting there infront of me while I was taking notes, but I can already smell graham crackers. So that’s a good sign. (Honestly, if I was making this, I dont know how I would get graham aroma with out using actual graham crackers.)

But with my nose in glass, I get a full on blast of chocolate, milk chocolate to be precise. And more of the graham, and the slightest bit of… burnt marshmallow? That really fits.
Going to assume they didn’t use actual milk chocolate because the head is still there.
The oils of milk chocolate would have killed that right away.

There is a sweet smell i guess supposed to be marshmallow. Nothing for hops nor yeast in the nose, but every aroma is distinct, seperate from each other. Makes me wanna taste this.

Oh damn. I wish it tasted like it smelled.
The taste is not terrible like that might have made it sound,, but it’s nothing like the aroma… At all. It’s not sweet. And there isn’t as much chocolate, and there is a a wierd astringency… Weird. Not bad.

Something of an odd grape juice note happening, that again is wierd, but not bad. Going to assume that a darker crystal or Special B malt.

The roast level is acceptable. More of a chocolate malt roast, which would fit here. But also probably a bit of Black malt for that burnt bit. And it’s definitely not as thick and sticky sweet as the nose made it out to be.

Now there is a very light earthy hop poking through, along with just enough bitterness to notice.

Wow
Truth be told. I was planning to hate this beer. And on just the aromas, I thought that would confirm it.
But it’s just fine. Tamed, subtle (ok subtle might be a stretch) but not the thick, cloying sugar bomb I was expecting. And the name for the most part matches the beer.

I will go a solid 3/5 on this local beer, when it hits Untappd