8.5

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9

On tap. Pours black with moderate tan head. As advertised, a stocky luscious and super sweet mix of dark maple syrup, sweet pastry, cinnabon, chocolate syrup, vanilla, coconut and rich roasted malts. A great desert

9

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 9

When Omnipollo and Buxton come together, chances are that a really thick, sweet, hefty, decadent dessert beer comes out of their collaboration as we have seen in the past - and this one is a new elaboration on that theme, which has proven very successful in the past three years. An imperial porter rather than stout in this case, spiked with maple syrup, cocoa nibs, cinnamon, vanilla and lactose... Fun guaranteed. Irregular, deeply brownish beige, dense head, quickly dissolving in the middle (leaving nothing but a flat, irregular, beige 'island') but clinging to the edge as a moussy ring, over a jet black beer with an ochre-ish mahogany hue to it, only visible about a few millimeters off the edge and under bright light. Unsurprisingly very intense, heavily perfumey, very desserty nose, a thick 'cloud' of crème au beurre, vanilla extract, mocha and stracciatella ice cream, chocolate-coated marshmallows, fragrant espresso though apparently coffee has not been used here, maple syrup and a lot of it, melting caramel candy, cappuccino, fried sugared apples with cinnamon sprinkled on them, Belgian chocolates with liquor inside, hot chocolate sauce prepared with cognac, chocolate truffles, nougat, hints of sweet pipe tobacco, brown bread, kahlua, vague nutmeg, blood-like iron, a faint trace of bonfire ashes or incense somewhere deep below and black pepper. Equally unsurprisingly, the flavour kicks off with a huge amount of candied, (brown) sugary sweetness, caramel candy and cocoa powder, candied dates, with a somewhat balancing underlying sourishness to it (abstractly blackberry juice-like), but no umami here - so that the sweetness prevails well above anything else. Carbonation is softly tingling, mouthfeel is immensely thick and syrupy, with 'greasy' edges, weighing heavily on the tongue and filling the mouth cavity with utterly thick, lactose-propelled creaminess. Deep hazelnut butter-, toffee- and crème au beurre-like body, the malts' properties equally strong as those of the lactose and the added flavours, with retronasal vanilla pushing upwards along with a fair amount of spicy, ethereal, even slightly bittering cassia (in other words: ordinary) cinnamon. Maple syrup sweetness accompanies the whole, adding a resiny, subtly smoky, almost piney quality to it, not in the same way as piney hop varieties would do, but in a much more dense, subtle and 'woody' way - coniferol, in other words. The cocoa nibs provide further 'chocolateness' to an already very chocolatey beer, with slight haemoglobin-like iron accents to it. Stings of pepperiness are added in the finish, with a light toasted bitterness from the malts below; this pepperiness, as usual with beers of this particular type, has more to do with the ensuing, brandy- and very kahlua-coloured, heating alcohol than with hops; alcohol which, though very obvious and tangibly going down in the chest, somehow seems to refrain from overly obnoxious wryness. A sticky, caramelly and toasty flavour lingers, with 'pricks' of the added ingredients still lingering about, especially the cinnamon and the maple syrup. This is not the first decadent and 'inflated' dessert beer Omnipollo comes up with of course - Yellow Belly, Noa and Selassie will never be erased from my memory - but again they manage to surprise, with added ingredients that are deeply seeped into this new recipe, lending it a different, individual colour altogether. Not the easiest one to digest, its creamy thickness is so over the top that in normal circumstances, it can only be savoured in small nips, but certainly not a mere reiteration of things done before under Omnipollo's policy of weird but meanwhile familiar dessert beer experiments. It's easy to see how this and other such Omnipollo creations divide opinions, opinions will always be divided over beers with very outspoken personalities, but whether you like their approach or not, fact is that this is a very well-made, delicious beer, of the kind you would serve not with dessert, but as a dessert. In my view, this kind of things should be on every Christmas dinner table. If there was ever a credible and consistent difference between the two, these 'postmodern' imperial porters tend to distinguish themselves from imperial stouts in being sweeter, creamier and significantly less roasted bitter, and if that is to be taken as a criterion of distinction, this is easily the most extreme, richest and creamiest, and in that sense perhaps most 'excessive' but still style-true imperial porter I have tasted so far. Really enjoyed it, but I could never finish more than one of these...

8.3

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9

330 ml bottle at the Hoppy Pub, Thessaloniki. Black color with brown head. Malty aroma, roasted, cocoa, chocolate, coffee, maple, caramel. Sweet and light bitter taste like aroma. Full silky oily body with soft carbonation.

7.5

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

Bottle (thanks martin l). Pours black. Aroma is very sweet, maple, roast, cocoa. Flavor is sweet and bitter, maple, cocoa, roast, berries. Finish is cocoa. Overall: very good culinary experiment.

8

Duzo syropu klonowego, duzo ciasta jakiegos czeko, faktycznie jedno z lepszych slodyczowych piwek. Duzo ciala. Teamslodyczka. Wow

9

backlog

7.8

Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

Svart med lavt lys brunt skum. Lukter lønnesirup, lakris og kaffe. Fyldig. Søt smak, svisker, lønnesirupen er tydelig, brent karamell, espresso og alkohol. Noe portvinfølelse, men den søte lønnesirupen er litt for dominerende.

8.4

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

Score: 9 / 4 / 8 / 4 / 17

330 ml bottle from Etre Gourmet, bb 17 Dec 2022.
Black body, with a small, dense, dissipating, coffee-colored head.
Lovely aroma of maple syrup, hazelnut, chocolate, roast, coffee, cocoa, vanilla, some cinnamon, slight soy sauce, slight liquorice.
Tastes quite similar, with even more maple syrup, some alcohol burn.
Medium, oily mouthfeel, with a moderate carbonation.
Finishes medium roasty, medium sweet, warm, with maple syrup, cinnamon, cocoa, vanilla, some coffee.

Really tasy, rich stuff. Quite sweet, with lovely maple syrup notes throughout, but also with enough roasty notes for a good balance. Alcohol is noticeable, but not too overpowering, providing a comfortable warmth. Not my favourite Omnipollo, but expressive, unique stuff as always.

8.5

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9

Pitch black pour with a short-lived dark espresso head. Tons of maple syrup and vanilla up front, followed by lactose (maybe a bit too much), subtle cinnamon, toasted caramel, cocoa nibs. Exactly as advertised. Thick, viscous, pretty much a liquid dessert. Low carbonation and a very sweet finish. Kinda hard to drink, compared to the other Omnipollo dessert stouts, but very nice overall.