It’s Sunday and I’ve spent most of the day working on computer issues. My computer is to the point I have to reinstall the operating system and basically start over. Therefore, I really needed to crack this open. If you follow the blog, the last time I had a beer from Pollyanna Brewing Co, I was at Beer House Chicago where they were having a special event. I won a growler and a fill. So I finally stopped in a couple weeks ago and got it filled with the biggest beer they had on tap – this one.

Location: Poured into a Sam Adams Perfect Pint glass at my home in Bloomington, IL.

Numbers: 10.1% ABV, 40 SRM, 50 IBU, ~320 Calories

Appearance & Aroma: It’s dark black in color with some dark ruby highlights when held up to the light. It has a big fluffy, brown head with great retention and decent lacing. The aroma is somewhat chocolaty with some farmhouse funkiness.

Taste & Feel: The body is medium and the mouthfeel is lightly crisp and very dry. The flavor up front is chocolatety with a lightly tingly farmhouse flavor. In the middle, the chocolatety flavors grow, but are a bit more dark-chocolate and roasty. In the finish, the roastiness grows a bit, with some hints of bitterness and leathery flavors in the background. The aftertaste was mostly chocolately and roastiness.

Food Pairing: This beer has a good amount of chocolate and roasty flavors, which would pair perfectly with a steak or BBQ dish. I think this would be perfect with a pulled pork or brisket sandwich.

Overall Impression: This beer had a great flavor for a dark beer, with mostly chocolately flavors and smooth roastiness. These types of beers can often come off as coffee-astringent, but this one didn’t. I liked how the leathery flavors from the funkiness were mostly in the background, and found it to be fairly complex. Overall, this was a pretty good beer, and it definitely encourage me to stop by again and try a few more of their unique beers.

My Rating:

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