Free Bird Caramel Infused Milk Stout
Brouwerij Hoppug in Meerhout, Antwerp, Belgium 🇧🇪
Stout - Milk / Sweet Special Out of Production|
Score
7.01
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(2018 Edition)
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Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8.5
8/I/22 - 33cl bottle from Bierhalle Deconinck (Vichte), shared @ home, BB: III/2022, bottled: III/2019 (2022-56)
Clear dark brown to black beer, big solid creamy beige head, pretty stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: gentle roast, very malty, hay, cow fodder, some chocolate, caramel. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: surprisingly sourish, gentle roast, quite some caramel, malty, cow fodder, grains. Aftertaste: a little bitter, more roast, coffee, bit sourish, lots of semi-sweet caramel, dark chocolate, nice one! Very flavourful for such a low ABV, well done!
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Bottle at home. Opaque dark brown to black color, fizzy brown head that diminishes fairly quickly. Aroma is malts, roasted malts, some coffee and chocolate. Flavor is malts, also roasted malts here, light coffee. More aroma now that it warms up and the chocolate notes indeed now become more of what you'd expect from a milk stout. Dark malt bitters with a sweet milk chocolate note in the background. Unfortunately the fizzy carbonation is annoying and gets in the way of the flavor. Has potential but could use a bit softer carbonation and a bit more viscosity imo.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
33cl bottle (bottled 03/2019) from Prik&Tik Kampenhout. F: huge, tanned, long lasting. C: dark, opaque. A: rich dark malts, caramel, bit coffee, nutty, dark dried fruits. T: medium to full malty base, chocolate, roasted coffee tones, caramel, bit raisins, blackcurrants, cherries, medium carbonation, nice balanced for the style, enjoyed for sure.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Fles thuis geprobeerd met LiekevdV. Het is een diep donkerbruin bier met een beige schuim. Het heeft een aroma van gebrande mout en vanille, caramel en zoethout. De smaak is mout, karamel, vanille en chocolade.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
27 April 2019. At Zythos Bierfestival. Deputy Taster: Anke. Cheers to Ama Deke, Erwin, John & Meeki! Hazy dark brown, lasting, small, frothy, beige head. Aroma of strong butterscotch & caramel sauce, milk chocolate, licorice, raisin, creamy mocha (macchiato). Taste is medium malty sweet, pronounced caramel, chocolate & dark fruits too, somewhat sourish that way, roasted hints of mocha & nuts, slightly herbal . Quite malty, faintly earthy hoppy finish, lingering caramel, toast & chocolate. Medium body, slick-oily texture, fizzy carbonation. Promising aroma, taste could have had more depth.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Newish ‘bierfirma’ in the Kempen region of the province of Antwerp, presenting, among other suspiciously ‘modern’ and non-Belgian style beers, this milk stout flavoured with caramel. Thick and mousy, pale mocha-beige, regular but opening and eventually dissolving head, blackish robe with cloudy ruddy-reddish brown hue. Aroma of ‘Haagse hopjes’, cappuccino, milk powder, raisins, caramel, bayleaf, candied cherries, walnut shells, old chocolate cake, cold peanut oil. Sweet onset with light sourish edge, hinting at ripe blackberries and sweet cherries in a subtle way, soft carb, creamy and smooth, bit glueish, light mouthfeel. Dark-caramelly and hazelnutty maltiness with indeed an ‘added’ sweet caramel aspect on top, developing toasty bitter notes in the end which – in blending with the caramel – result in cappuccino- and Ersatz chocolate-tinged bittersweetness. Fruity sweet notes linger alongside, with a remarkably late, but eventually lingering peppery hop bitter note showing up when the show is over and the curtains have closed, adding a pleasant epilogue I was not quite expecting. Modern, well-crafted interpretation of the old English milk stout, in itself still unusual in Belgium unless of course you add this to the long historical tradition of Belgian ‘table’ stouts – but I think this Free Bird compares much better to the milk stouts made by the global craft beer scene, at least when it restrains itself and doesn’t descend into adjunct-ridden imperial / pastry stout territory. Perhaps Left Hand’s classic example offered some inspiration here?