A Sweater for an Octopus
Breakside Brewery in Milwaukie, Oregon, United States 🇺🇸
Stout - Imperial Rotating|
Score
7.31
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A Sweater for an Octopus, our fifth blended barrel-aged stout release of the year and one of our two Black Friday debuts, veers into some uncharted territory for us. It’s the first time we have used tea as an adjunct for one of our barrel-aged stouts. We came by the tea addition honestly: we had settled on a 12 cask blend that we found cohesive and very pleasant, but we feit that the beer needed something more. We wanted to play up some of the jammy, blackberry notes that we found especially unique in the blend, and we also wanted to bring in a little more structure, like tannin or oak or bitterness or roast, to the finish.
The challenge was that we couldn’t find another cask to accomplish that for us without altering the overall character of the blend too much. That’s when we turned to the idea of tea. Rooibos would accentuate the berry notes, and a skosh of black tea would add a little depth of earthiness and tannin to the beer. After a few rounds of benchtop trials with different teas, we settled on two single-origin teas from Smith Teamaker.
As always, the adjunct ingredients– the tea, that is– dovetail with the rest of the beer rather than dominate it. Enjoy this beer, and seek out the unique attributes that those teas are adding. Frankly, we hope that finding where the barrel and beer flavors end and the tea begins makes for a good challenge.
The challenge was that we couldn’t find another cask to accomplish that for us without altering the overall character of the blend too much. That’s when we turned to the idea of tea. Rooibos would accentuate the berry notes, and a skosh of black tea would add a little depth of earthiness and tannin to the beer. After a few rounds of benchtop trials with different teas, we settled on two single-origin teas from Smith Teamaker.
As always, the adjunct ingredients– the tea, that is– dovetail with the rest of the beer rather than dominate it. Enjoy this beer, and seek out the unique attributes that those teas are adding. Frankly, we hope that finding where the barrel and beer flavors end and the tea begins makes for a good challenge.
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8.1/10
—
Appearance 7
Aroma 8
Flavor 8.5
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
From Good Times Oakland, 2024 Vintage.
It pours black, foam I had to get with a hard pour. Tan it is, foam shrunk quickly leaving some lacing behind.
The smell is roasted malt, Bourbon, dark chocolate, toffee, tea(yes), vanilla. Very complex.
The taste is roasted malt, Bourbon, dark chocolate and vanilla, tannins from the tea, and the alcohol is not shy. Explosion of flavours.
Full bodied with good carbonation, wow. I would drink this again.
It pours black, foam I had to get with a hard pour. Tan it is, foam shrunk quickly leaving some lacing behind.
The smell is roasted malt, Bourbon, dark chocolate, toffee, tea(yes), vanilla. Very complex.
The taste is roasted malt, Bourbon, dark chocolate and vanilla, tannins from the tea, and the alcohol is not shy. Explosion of flavours.
Full bodied with good carbonation, wow. I would drink this again.
Tried
from Bottle
on 14 Sep 2025
at 13:56
8.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8.5
Texture 8
Overall 9
22 oz. bottle, pours black with a small brown head. Aroma has a real nice blend of bourbon barrels and tea, vanilla beans, and some molasses. Flavour is complex and rich, with a wonderful expression of bourbon barrels, black tea, and vanilla beans. Really strong base beer that is expressed beautifully by the barrels and accentuated tastefully by the tea.
Tried
from Bottle
at
Breakside Brewery - NW Slabtown
on 13 Apr 2025
at 04:00