Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
16 oz can. Well, the draft blueberry cheesecake variant as great, and this is the mere skeleton on which that pastry bomb was built. Pours a deep black color under a thick dark tan head. A note of Guinness sour in the nose, and some of that rye malt, too. Taste has that touch of tartness, and quite a bit of roast malt, again, like a Guinness Foreign Export. Despite, the roast, it's rather easy drinking, with the alcohol staying smooth.
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Draft only variant at the taproom. Deep black with a parfait foam the color of a graham cracker crust. Oddly, Graham cracker is my first smell impression. Then some slightly tasty berry and rye malt, taste is deep and smooth! There's some malt roast here, but it's balanced with a lot of creamy lactose. Raspberry becomes more noticeable further along. Lactose and a bit of tart are actually making me think of cream cheese or yogurt. Of course the draft only version is my favorite!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Hazy orange in plastic cup. Thin layer of foam remains on the entire surface. Light orange smell with a bit of tart zest, but still very subdued. Nice orange and citrus flavor with very little sourness. But yes, a bit of tart that comes with the orange flavor. This is actually understated among Black Horizon's many fruity and pastry beers.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Nice smell of grains and caramel today malt. Brown beer body, tan foam clinging around the edge. Roasty Malt, a bit of caramel sweetness and Ale fruitiness, balanced by some English style hops. Excellent summer beer, even though it is a bit heartier than your average lawnmower.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Taster for Illinois Craft Beer week. Mango is not my specialty, not like dreamsicle, is. Still, I can appreciate the tropical fruit nose and a thin layer of foam that’s still here on my fourth taster. After sampling, I’m still not crazy about mango taste in my beer. But that’s me. And I can tell when mango is present and done nicely. Somehow it invites more involved sipping. Goes down nicely, and yes, it’s an unusual taste to me, but I find myself getting behind it.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Taster during Illinois Craft Beer Week. Sugary for sure, not so much a banana as maybe bananas foster. Taste is pretty sweet, but hopped up enough to counteract. Color is hazy yellow fading to white. A bit of sodium from the water, I think. The final result, kind of like a banana flavored Moon Pie. The vanilla bow s a good job of offsetting any a banana boat bomb.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Taster during Illinois Craft Beer Week. Light head leaves just a bit of legs around the glass. What can I say, the first impression to my nose is kind of like Frankenberry. Taste follows along by being very fruity. I’m getting a bit of lactic milk taste, to be expected considering there’s lactose in every swallow. Only bitterness is in the aftertaste here.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Taster during Illinois Craft Beer Week. Smell is more of a light orange sherbet nose than the expected orange juice. Likely the cloudiest of these cloudy milkshake beers. Taste has some orange candy going for it. Thanks to lactose again. I am a sucker for dreamsicle taste, and this has it in spades, hearts, clubs and diamonds.