My friend Joe is in town this week for work, and tonight I decided to take him to Medici in Normal for some good food and craft beers. It probably has the best combination of food and craft beers available in town, and it also happens to be their “Wednesday Warriors,” when they have beers on special. It seems that every time I’ve gone here lately, I end up with either a beer from Central Waters or one from Greenbush (two breweries I haven’t had a lot of beers from). So, tonight, it looks like it’s going to be one from Central Waters.

Location: On tap and served in a tumbler style pint glass at Medici in Normal, IL.

Numbers: 7.5% ABV,~240 Calories

Appearance & Aroma: It was a dark brown color that was almost black, and it had a thin layer of a creamy tan head across the top. There was a light roasty malt aroma with hints of coffee and cocoa.

Taste & Feel: The body is medium and the mouthfeel is fairly smooth and slightly creamy. The flavor up front is slightly caramel-malty sweet with mostly roasty notes with some coffee and smokey hints. In the middle, the roasty bitterness picks up a bit, with some earthiness. In the finish, some cocoa flavors come through with the roastiness and earthiness as the primary flavors. The roasty flavors last for a bit in the aftertaste.

Food Pairing: This beer has a mix of roastiness and sweetness. This wasn’t a very good pairing for the fish tacos I had, but would be a good pairing with a heartier meal, like a steak, burger, or BBQ. I think the bit of sweetness and roast flavors would be best with BBQ or smoked meats.

Overall Impression: This beer had a good amount of complexity, with some caramel sweetness, roastiness, cocoa, and earthiness. Even with all these flavors, it was pretty smooth and drinkable. These flavors are somewhat warm and comforting on chilly evenings like this one. Overall, I appreciated the mix of flavors and enjoyed this beer. I’ve had mostly dark beers from Central Waters, and they’ve all been smooth and drinkable, and I’d like to see how they do with some lighter beers as well.

My Rating:

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