Advent Calendar 2023, Day 9. This time an Irish-style Dry Stout from California. I wish they all could be Californian... 🎶 Opaque, medium-black beer is predictable. Carbonation behaves well, no arrogance observed. A velvety, cappuccino-colored head climbs two fingers high and decorates the top for astonishingly long. The airy lacing looks really beautiful as long as five minutes later. Crazy! Tiny dots cling tightly to the glass. My first assessment of the scent is that the supply is rather languid. The slender nuances include roasted malt, dark chocolate and vanilla. Interesting. Roasted yes, but I expected burned. And big. Let me sip and hope beer grows on the tongue. Roasted coffee beans, licorice root, raw cacao powder and a slam of charcoal find their way to my tastebuds. Vanilla isn't exactly absent albeit quite timid. Now the compass at least points in the right direction. The body is light. No surprise at 5.4 %. The end is otherwise pretty similar to the earlier experience but the vanilla hits the road and disappears. Don't do what the aftertaste did; don't live how it lived yeah; don't do what the aftertaste did or you'll be 38 and just starting to live. The mouthfeel is light, roasty, a tad burned, dry but not scorching, as well as moderately drying. Nothing spectacular but decent for the ABV though.

Coffee and a hint of chocolate in the aroma. Possibly some dark fruits hiding in there as well. Coffee, chocolate and vanilla upon the first sip. Yeah, that's the flavor. They all work very well with each other to make this a very well balanced beer. For being only 5.4% abv, the mouthfeel is a pretty legit medium feel. I have to rate this beer high, because for all the flavor I'm getting out of this, the bottle says "water, barley, malt, hops, yeast and that's all." Very well made beer. Glad i picked it up. 4/5