Name: Not Farmer’s Union
Brewer: Half Baked Brewing Collective (Philippines)
Style: Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer (Base Style: Sweet Stout)
ABV: 5.5%
Review Year: 2020
Luke of the Half Baked Brewing Collective, a three-man group based in the Philippines, previously launched the very delectable Not Farmer’s Union, a “Coffee Milk Stout” at 5.5% ABV.
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STYLE GUIDELINESThis beer is being evaluated as a Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer (30A) with the Sweet Stout (16A) as the base style in the context of the 2015 Beer Style Guidelines of the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP). The most current version of the guidelines can be found on the BJCP website.
TASTING NOTES
Not Farmer’s Union pours dark brown approaching black with a tan-colored head. The nose explodes with very delightful lactose- and malt-driven aromas of milk chocolate bar, chocolate chips, and supportive cereal-like tones. Hop aromas are almost nonexistent.
This “Coffee Milk Stout” is medium-bodied with low carbonation. The flavor mirrors the aromatics with moderate chocolate maltiness and sweetness up front, as well as some flavors of full-cream milk and dark roast impressions. At the backend, cacao maltiness and faint wine-like acidity surface. The aftertaste is slightly lingering, of bitter and sweet chocolate powder.
THE VERDICT
Not Farmer’s Union is probably one of the best locally-brewed dark beers we have tried this year. The nose is superbly fragrant, while the flavor and palate profiles contribute to an irresistibly delicious and drinkable beer. This Sweet Stout is one of those beers you could easily finish two servings of in one go.
The presence of lactose was enough to be recognized and most likely had manifested as chocolate-like flavors. The malt backbone was sufficient to keep the sweetness in check. However, the coffee did not surface as explicitly as we expected, which may suggest that it may have manifested as the dark roast and/or chocolate impressions, or was simply overshadowed by the other aspects of this beer.
The next iterations could explore coffee types of various origins or blends and/or roast profiles to find the right profile that would strike the balance between coffee and “milk.” Maybe a body slightly above medium could also be something to consider in future versions.
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