B-Rads Banana Stout
Kuhnhenn Brewing Company in Warren, Michigan, United States 🇺🇸
Stout - Pastry / Flavoured Regular|
Score
7.05
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Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
On draft @ Kuhnhenn. Pours black with creamy tan head. Banana aroma with sweeter malts in the back. Interesting. Big banana hit up front. Then creamy roasted, burnt and hints of chocolate malts follow up behind. Then in the finish the banana ends up on top of the flavor. A bit too much banana.
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Batch #1 brewed Spring 2004. Sampled this while it was still cold conditioning at the brewery. Pours a lazy, hazy yellow, quite thick and syrupy looking with a firm white head. Smells of lightly sweet bananas, some hints of vanilla and almonds and honey and plenty of malt. Caramelized bananas are definitely not out of the question here. What a strange beer to be sure, like a white stout, with generally more lighter sweeter flavors and less harsh, oily dark, bitter ones. Sweet, but not too much so, bananas on the verge of being too much but they seem to go well with the chocolate mousse like tones, and mix in with the bananas foster effect, so it maintains its drinkability, if only so much that you accept it as a theme beer. Gets a little dry and hints at some dark chocolate/caramel tones as it finishes. Strong carbonation, medium to medium full body. Enjoyable and unique.
Batch #2 brewed late 2004 Had a new sample, this time from the new batch (2nd batch), that was cold conditioning December 2004, poured by non other than, you guessed it, Brad himself. True to Kuhnhenn’s committment to improving upon their existing styles, this beer was even better than the first batch. This new batch used whole bananas cut up by Brad himself, as opposed to the banana puree used in the first batch. Much more even flavor, a smooth silky body, with warming vanilla and alcohol undertones, rich and malty with a wonderful banana flavor. I needn’t even mention that this is not overdone with bananas, Kuhnhenn is practically synonymous with balanced fruit beers. Fantastic stuff and I’m sorry I probably won’t be around to try more of it.