This would seem to be the week where winter has decided to really put the boot in… so I’ll take that as a cue to move into some of the New World Beer & Cider Awards Top 30 winning dark beers.
This returning seasonal from Sprig + Fern combines five specialty malts with its principle ingredient chocolate, to create some quite profoundly transformative results.
There’s certainly cocoa and roasted malt in the aroma, but it’s the way they combine and coalesce into something so distinctly dessert-like that makes this one so striking. The nose conjures fresh chocolate mousse, while the dark roasted malt steers the palate closer towards tiramisu before drying into a mild toasty finish. For a beer full of surprises, the last one is that it’s only 5% abv. With similarly-styled dessert stouts/porters often cracking the 10% abv mark, it’s remarkable (and refreshing) to see one performing far lower on the alcohol spectrum.
