Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout

Brewed by Southern Tier Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Lakewood, New York USA

Dessert was a vital and integral part of dinner when I was growing up, and not necessarily limited to just dinner. Any meal had the potential of finishing itself off with a deliciously decadent treat. Many times I would find myself wondering wistfully if there were a way to take some of my favorite deserts and bottle them up so I could enjoy them any time, at home or even on the go. While I don’t think on-the-go would quite work in this instance, one of my top three favorite desserts of all times has been brewed and bottled for my quaffing pleasure. Stout + crème brulee = beer ecstasy.
This brings me to Southern Tier Brewing who has accomplished such a seductively dangerous objective. Their Imperial Crème Brulee Stout. She came to me with her sweet seductive gaze and I was smitten immediately. An almost absolutely black stout, my Imperial Crème Brulee poured into my glass, filling its depths like a black hole as it sucked almost all light out of there. Her nose whispers to me of sweet, almost burnt caramel, much like you’d find on top of a crème brulee, tons of fresh vanilla bean, and fresh cream. If my eyes were closed and someone set this beer in front of me, I would swear on smell alone that a plate of fresh crème brulee had been beset before me. Her body is creamy and smooth like milk with vanilla bean and caramel caress my tastebuds. A bit of a bite right in the finish, as if to express her naughty side. Other than that though, no real presence of hops, just viscous, oily, and tongue coating imperial stout pleasure. A lingering chocolate and vanilla finish balances out this nearly perfectly brewed and bottled creation of a crème brulee.
I’m all for a dessert brew, and the Crème Brulee Stout fits my desires perfectly. I could sit and smell this beer for minutes on end, taking in her mouth-watering aromas before I even touch her body with my lips. Delicious.

2008-09-11. Pitc black body with a modest creamy tan head. Huge aroma, sweet, vanilla and caramel, slight spice note hiding in the back. Similar flavour, sweet prominent vanilla wit caramel touches, mocha notes? More of the light spice, barely there roast. Very smooth rich medium bodied palate, light carbonation suits it. (4+) Really nice, but I’d have a hard time drinking more than a little bit of it in a sitting. Bottle courtesy of swoopjones shared by tuqueboy

Bottle, thanks Harry. Very dark brown, not much of a head. Intense and lovely dessert like vanilla and butterscotch aroma - man, these guys can nail aromas - just as good as the Kuhnhenn I had a couple of years ago. Taste is initially superb - rich vanilla and butterscotch, some coffee bitterness mixed in and extreme heat - not so much in taste initially, but I could feel my ears warm and expand with a few sips. But I just did not find the body hefty enough to hold it all up - it did become cloying quickly (keep this one cold). It made for a lovely post dinner drink with my wife, but it was a challenge to get through half the 650ml. A neat creative effort from one of the more exciting brewers out there - not a home run - somewhere between a triple and a ground rule double (I really should have saved that as a pun for a Belgian rating)..

Thankfully I shared this beer since I poured mine out for being too cloying. This is no fresh Kuhnhenn Crème Brûlée. :( Dark body with a thin light brown head. Sweet chocolate and coffee. Flavor is disappointing and too sweet. Is not balanced like the Kuhnhenn beer. I could not finish this beer, let alone finish a 6.7 oz bottle if one existed.

Bouteille de 22 oz partagée lors d’une dégustation Ratebeer Montréal chez moi. Arôme: Odeur de Bailey’s et de rhum au coconut. Apparence: La couleur est noire opaque. Présence d’un mince col beige mousseux et d’une fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût de coconut, de caramel et de vanille. Durée moyenne de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture légèrement crémeuse. Faible effervescence en bouche. Légère présence de vanille en arrière goût. (Rating #1946)

22 oz – Perfect Pour. Black, tan creamy head. Intense butterscotch and toasted vanilla bean aromas ride huge waves of creamy chocolate coffee and warm sugar cookies. Sweet rich caramel and bready vanilla flavors mingle with deep roasted chocolate and coffee tones throughout. Soft swirls of black currant round this off to near perfection. Full bodied, soft carbonation, bittersweet ending. This masterpiece makes for an incredible dessert beer. Just awesome…

Really what more can be said then the fact that this is a flawless recreation of creme brulee in beer form. A deep brown poor with lightly tinted head showed light bubbleing carbination in my snifter. the smell was grabbing me before I even got my nose close. toffee and buterscotch aroma that deserved a good minute of noseing to itself. And the taste makes this one of the best after dinner beers of all time. I still dont know how they are able to get that burnt sugar taste on the finnish. Beer pureists will hate this since it doesnt really taste like beer but I dont care it is amazeing. Also the palate is light enough for me to have had half a bottle. The 10% ABV just nudges this over the 4.0 mark.

Pours a dark brownish black with a creamy tan head. Aroma is rich with vanilla and slight undertones of chocolate and coffee. Vanilla aroma stays with the beer throughout. Flavor is rich with vanilla and there are some chocolate and coffee flavors. However the vanilla dominates the flavor. The finish on the palate is mouth coating and lingers after the swallow. Overall an enjoyable brew but could have been better balanced.