Day three of Beer52's advent calendar has seen me being a very productive boy indeed. I've hung wallpaper, walked the dog, done the grocery shopping, cleaned my kitchen and all sorts of other grown up and wholesome activities. Being wholesome is all well and good, but in my experience it doesn't half get a thirst building.
Thankfully the advent season is upon us, so there is a little debauchery waiting for me at the end of the day. Is today's offering going to hit the spot, let's find out.
Certain Facts
Style - Stout
Brewer - Wiper and True
Adjuncts - Cardamom
ABV - 5%
The beer
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a beer drinker in possession of an advent calendar, must be in want of a stout. Well, I have been in want of a stout anyhow.
Beer geeks, beer lovers and seasoned imbibers love a good stout, but the operative phrase there is a good stout. There is nothing worse than a thin, bland stout (I mean there are a lot of things that are worse, Ebola springs to mind) when you've got the craving for a rich, warming, dark beer. Too often have I been suckered in by adjunct-laden experimental stouts that offer a lot and deliver little (the dessert in a can series being a prime culprit). I am hoping against hope that Certain Facts by Wiper and True has a good stout as its foundation because the prospect of cardamom as an adjunct intrigues me greatly. I love cardamom, I'm not sure everyone does, but to me it makes perfect sense to stick it in a stout, it's smoky, sweet perfume should marry well with the chocolatey notes of the roasted malt.
Certain Facts pours a little thinner than I was hoping, but then again this isn't an 11% barrel-aged Imperial, this is a 5 percenter, so a little slimness is to be expected. But hey, I like a little heft about my stouts.
If the pour has left me slightly underwhelmed, the nose on this is more than making up for it. You can really get a big ol' olfactory whack of cardamom which mingles with the toasted notes. This might sound weird but the whole sensation is akin to smelling a lover's hair (yeah that's weird, but I'm going to leave that in).
In the mouth this is almost as pleasing as it is on the nose. Yep it's not the thickest, but nor is it thin and soda-like as some lower ABV stouts can be. There's enough body to let the flavours linger on the tongue, but not so much body that the cardamom overstays its welcome. Really this beer tastes like it smells (well, it doesn't taste like hair, so it's not an exact match). There are nice chocolate notes, a touch of bitterness and then glorious cardamom zinging over the top of it all, giving a bit of a citrus note, a bit of smoke and a hell of a lot of perfume.
I said on day one of the advent calendar that I hoped Beer52 were constructing their calendar like a great mix tape. Well if they are, they have certainly stuck a chart topper in at number three.
Score - 4.5/5
Cardamom in a stout?
Absolutely!
Hell no!
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