Damoclo's Sword Caol Ila Barrel aged
Tall Poppy Brewing Company in Kontich, Antwerp, Belgium 🇧🇪
Stout - Imperial Regular Out of Production|
Score
7.06
|
|
Sign up to add a tick or review
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Peated-whisky stout, deriving its peatiness from ageing on Caol Ila barrels; shared with Meeki. Mousy, medium thick, creamy, yellowish beige, quite stable head on a blackish beer still with hazy mahogany hue. Very strongly peated nose, heavily peated whisky indeed, iodine-like, over fondant chocolate bars, toffee, bladderwort, leather, gin, hard caramel, roasted walnuts, molasses, smokiness from the peat. Sweet onset though nothing cloying, candied dates and figs, softish carb with deliciously full and smooth, oily body; deep toffeeish and dark-chocolatey maltiness with toasted walnut- and molasses-like sides, well-hopped and bitter in the finish but primarily dominated by heavy iodine-like, smoky, spicy peatiness and roasted cappuccino bitterness - softened a bit by the sweet caramelliness of the malts. Vanilla-ish oak wood does pop up in the end, paired with a mild tannic effect, before a glow of heating, very colourfully whisky-like alcohol takes over, carrying onwards this lovely deep bittersweetness. It took me a long time to learn to appreciate these 'peated whisky stouts' when I first encountered a few of those years ago, but I am glad that I mastered the taste, as I hugely enjoyed this one. Tall Poppy, both creative and proliferous, rarely disappoints.
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5
Pours black, small - nearly no - lightly tanned head. Scent is full-on peat, sharp, intense. Taste is medium full, roasty, ashy, peat, sharp (by the peat). Luckely, a great roasty backbone provides some balance. Very mild bitterness. Not my thing, sure, but way more balance than anticipated (especially after the scent).
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Medium, cream to tan, layered head, irregular, over black beer with reddish highlights. Tarred poles, deep Islay malt, peat², phenols, fisherman's wear. Tarr, phenols, and almost unbelievably, a certain sweetness that is uncanny under the smoked onslaught. Vulcanized rubber, burnt chocolate. Almost chewy, slick, chewing gum at its end. Alcoholheat; good carbonation. Tarry... extraordinary. You really need to love your phenols, to like this one. Tad overdone, IMHO, Caol Ila ranks amongst the most severe, and ought to be used with care.