Hockley Valley Dark with Vanilla Bean

Brewed by Hockley Valley Brewing & Malting Company
Style: Brown Ale
Orangeville, Canada

Cask @ Volo Cask Days 2007: Poured lighter than the regular Dark, almost a ruby/copper sort of deal, with average head. Aroma matches the profile I found in the Dark of roasted caramel malts with hints of toffee, but you can pull that vanilla out already. The flavour is actually quite nice, still fairly simplistic, but providing a good dose of roasted malts, toffee, and in this case, vanilla beans! Actually preferable to the regular, good work.

[773-20071020] Cask @ Volo Cask Days 2007 (Toronto, ON). Chocolate milk and vanilla bean aroma with some floral notes. Hazy, dark brown orange body with a quick creamy off-white head. Very nice vanilla dark roast chocolate flavour. Smooth vanilla medium body without the bitterness. Nice and smooth.

Cask days 2007. Cloudy medium-dark brown, thin head. Nose is caramel, vanilla, baking cookies. Flavor is slightly sour malt, vanilla, lighter cherry, sweetish vanilla finish.

Had this at Volo Cask Days 2007.I REALLY liked this beer. The vanilla flavor is delicious. Just the right amount of vanilla flavor, not too much not too little. But I still tasted a great dark beer behind the vanilla. Good stuff!

Cask. At Volo Casks Days ’07. I wasn’t sure I had this, but I found my slightly blurry scribbled notes, so here goes. Oddly light brick red pour, small head - isn’t this normally darker? Dry roast aroma somewhat dominated by strong vanilla - but at least it’s not bourbon! The taste seemed a little better balanced, the normal Hockley dark roast malt, mild plum and dry herbal hops balanced and perked up nicely by fresh sweet vanilla - average body and so on, medium finish - a nice change, still a solid beer.

Cask Days 2007. This was awesome, I drank a lot of this at the festival. Dark Roasty yastes balanced by vanilla. A match made in heaven.

At Cask Days 2007. This was a surprise for me, I was really looking forward to trying the excellent Dark on cask for the first time, but kudos to Hockley for adding something a little different! The same malty nose is there only this time nice accentuated with Vanilla - not overpowering like the recent Taps Vanilla Wheat. Taste is also a nice mix - sweet dark brown mixed with a good dose on Vanilla. Maybe not quite as flavourful as I expected all together, but really nice overall.

Cask @ Volo Cask Days 2007. Dark brown body with a small beige head. (3+) Good vanilla aroma, light malt, muted roast. (6+) Similar flavour, mild roast and malt throughout. Average palate. Very nice.