100 Beers, 100 Days: Day #36
This thick, black ale is supposed to be fermented with ripe elderberries and therefore have some of the flavor of them. However, neither Sarah nor I could get any elderberry flavor from this beer. The reason for this is that one of the primary malts in the beer is roasted barley, which produces a very roasted, nutty, burnt flavor in the beer. This is normal for a stout or even a lot of porters. However, the strong flavor of that malt does make it hard to tell what else could be going on.
I mentioned it was a thicker beer, and sure enough the website mentions it uses oats. Oats contribute quite a bit to the body which is why they’re used in things like oatmeal stout. In addition, the website says there’s wheat involved, which helps out with the body a little bit too. I guess if I were to characterize this beer, I’d call it a robust porter. However I don’t think I can find nearly enough of the berries in here to call it a spiced beer. That seems like more of a novelty to me. Maybe I just can’t tell.
In summary: Tasted good, would drink again.