Turk wrote:Had some time to kill between shuttling young Turks the other day, so I popped into our local beergeek place the other night. I do not have the vocabulary down pat, but I tripped over this really weird beer and thought I'd have a go at writing it up...
Southern Tier crème brûlée Imperial Milk Stout
You see that on the chalkboard, channel your inner McEnroe disbelief and try not to exclaim, "You cannot be serious!!" The beer lady is indeed serious, and as she pours, it looks like an ordinary black stout with thin tan head, served in a goblet. As she's halfway down the bar bringing the beer, you catch a whiff of vanilla and warmed butterscotch, you think to yourself, "What an interesting perfume..." And then when she goes back to the other end of the bar and the fragrance is still there, you then think to yourself, "Self, it's the beer that smells like that, not her!!" [emit Tim Allen "puzzled" grunt and scratch head]. (And you may ask yourself, "Am I right, or am I wrong?" And you may say to yourself, "My God, what have I done?") You poke at the glass with a perplexed pinkie, sniff at it one more time, confirm this is not a joke, and take a sip or two. Front flavor is classic stout, hint of coffee, but then the finish is all sugar and custard, and you consider asking the beer lady for a spoon to see if it will stand up by itself if you put it in the glass. The finish is pucker-your-mouth sweet, caramel and vanilla, and in what is possibly a Turk first for something this tasty, I only drank one... I would have this at the end of a special-occasion meal, maybe with a small slice of plain cheesecake, or some strawberries or similar fruit. And philistine that I am, I would consider dumping the beverage into a soda glass and plopping a big ol scoop of vanilla ice cream in there. If you were going to make a real beer float, this would be the beer to use. (And I also think I could talk Mrs. Turk into one or two, her sweet tooth overriding her disdain for anything darker than Corona... ooooh baby, we gotta go now...)
Stats from the website: 9.6% abv • 195º L • 25º plato • 22 oz / 1/6 keg
2-row pale malt / dark caramel malt / vanilla bean / lactose sugar / kettle hops: columbus / aroma hops: horizon
Turk, that's about as clever and well-written as just about anything in this thread. Great stuff. You gotta visit this thread more often. I have read the description of that brew from the Southern Tier web site but they do not distribute much down here. Yet. I have seen two of their offerings in Total Wine. Ever. And that has only been in the last couple months. Their concoctions sound adventurous and marvelous and I really enjoy trying new and different brews. The beer float is a great idea and the only brew I have ever used (all of twice) is the Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout. Many other stouts and/or porters should make a nice base for a beer float, too. I'd suggest only using about 6 ounces of beer because if you plop that scoop of vanilla (or butter pecan or toffee) ice cream into a full pint glass of stout, Mrs. Turk is not gonna be happy about the ensuing mess and clean up from the beer foam that covers your counter tops and her fine wash cloths and towels. Speaking from experience .
Let's make a deal. You find a buncha odd Southern Tier brews and bring them to a Brunchgate in the fall and we'll feed and entertain you and a Turklet or two. Whaddaya say?