The perfect beer pairing with raspberry chocolate almond cake. Delicious!
I am not usually a huge fan of adjunct Imperial Stouts as I find them cloyingly sweet or unbalanced with too much burn from alcohol from the insane amount of base malt used. They have also been brewed to death in the last decade after Bourbon County set the standard for so long. If you don't already know adjuncts are typically considered any ingredient other than malt, hops, water and yeast used in the brewing process. So I was very pleasantly surprised by Hi-Wire's latest beer in their big stout series, Mint Chocolate Cookie 20W-50. I found this pitch black beer very satisfying with prominent notes of cookie crumb and Andes candies peppermint flavors but not overdone. According to the brewery this stout is,"like opening that box of cookies purchased from that troupe outside of your local hardware store." This decadent beer has been made for the peppermint lovers, like me, out there and the rich malt bill and 6 hour boil works in perfect unison with the mint. The long 6-hour boil concentrates all of the chocolate and caramel malt character required to meld perfectly with the mint added post fermentation. The best part is that the brewers did not add milk sugar, or lactose, to thicken and sweeten this beer up and further. I feel that a lactose addition would have taken this beer to an overly sweet place that some breweries have unfortunately embraced lately. I highly recommend this heart string pulling dessert-like imperial stout when visiting Asheville. However these types of stouts are for a limited time and seasonal.
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CHEERS!
Evan Rosenberg
Certified Cicerone®
Asheville, NC
www.beercitybrewerytours.beer
828-677-2337 (BEER)
