#romania

Pastry stout aged on cachaça barrels (a liquor from Brazil very akin to white rum), thanks Craftmember for sharing. I already enjoyed the 'basic' version of this beer so this was one to look forward to. Medium sized, open, mocha-brown ring of foam, dissolving over a jet black robe. Intense aroma of melting fondant chocolate, mocha ice cream, candied dates, coconut or indeed white rum, raisin bread, almond, cappuccino, Irish coffee, marzipan. Dense, sweet onset, candied figs, slight umami accent (tomato concentrate) with brown-sugary sweetness dominating; soft carb, very full and oily body, consisting of layers of hazelnutty, black-chocolatey and mocha-like malt and sugar flavours. A soft coffeeish bitterness appears towards the end but the vanilla is the real star of the show here, kept intact and adding more exoticness to an already exotic stout - the cachaça adding a coconutty effect like white rum would do. Oaky tannins remain soft, but do cooperate with the alcohol to create a slight astringency in the end, if not too annoyingly so. Complex, rich, balanced and powerful pastry stout from one of Romania's leading craft breweries - recommended if you are into this kind of beer.