The BEER BLENDER! series by the Auckland-based Urbanaut Brewing gives its drinkers the choice to drink and enjoy a curated pair of beers on their own or as a blend. For this pair, we reviewed the Black Forest Stout and the Espresso Scotch Ale individually and then concocted a fifty-fifty blend to try it out.
Referring to the 2015 style guidelines of the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP), the closest styles for the Black Forest Stout and the Espresso Scotch Ale appear to be the Sweet Stout and the Wee Heavy, respectively. If the latter was brewed with coffee, then the Spice, Herb, or Vegetable (SHV) Beer with Wee Heavy as the base style could be a more detailed benchmark.
Black Forest Stout
Name: Black Forest Stout
Brewer: Urbanaut Brewing (New Zealand)
Style: Sweet Stout
ABV: 6.5%
Review Year: 2020
STYLE GUIDELINES
This beer is being evaluated as a Sweet Stout (16A) 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
Clear deep brown with a foamy tan head. Fragrant Skittles-like (cherry and raspberry) and soft caramel brownies aromas on the nose. Medium-bodied and moderately-low carbonated with the flavors being generally light and harmonious. Think of chocolate cake topped with raspberries and cherries with roasty coffee on the side. Moderately-high dark roasty and malty bitterness akin to dark chocolate; modest sweetness with a slight creaminess. Very good.
Espresso Scotch Ale
Name: Espresso Scotch Ale
Brewer: Urbanaut Brewing (New Zealand)
Style: Wee Heavy
ABV: 6.5%
Review Year: 2020
STYLE GUIDELINES
This beer is being evaluated as a Wee Heavy (17C) 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
Clear medium amber; foamy tan head. Earthy-spicy coffee aromas meld with brown sugar. Others noted additional licorice and cherry. The palate suggests a beer that is medium-bodied and has a moderately-low carbonation level. Subtle flavors of caramel combine with coffee of the same profile noted earlier; light astringency. The coffee intensity gives an impression of an Americano rather than an espresso. Light coffee and maltiness linger in the aftertaste. No alcohol warmth.
THE VERDICT
To blend or not to blend? That is the question.
A wonder these experimental packaging formats bring is giving its drinkers a choice– to drink individually and/ or blend together. The Black Forest Stout was our pick between the two. It is one of those stouts you could pair easily with thick and rich chocolate cakes, but we think a slightly fuller body would make this more enjoyable.
Meanwhile, while the Espresso Scotch Ale had pleasant coffee-driven characters, we find the malt flavors and complexity a bit lacking. Like the first beer, a more fortified body could make this beer even more enticing. For this combination, we prefer not to blend the beers. The blended concoction, we felt, lacked balance and harmony as some flavors canceled each other out.
Do not let us stop you from enjoying the blending experience. If you had the chance to try this pair out, let us know! Now we look forward to the other BEER BLENDER! beers from the Auckland-based brewery.
ADDENDUM:
With no further information on the adjuncts used, we simply benchmarked these beers with the closest base styles, e.g., Sweet Stout and Wee Heavy. We can only infer that the Sweet Stout was brewed with cherries, while the Wee Heavy had coffee among others.
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