After a few beers at 4 Hands Brewing, and a couple more at the International Tap House (ITAP) in Soulard, Joe and I continued our St. Louis microbrewery tour by heading to Urban Chestnut Brewing Company. I finally got a chance to try this new brewery last summer and really enjoyed it. One of their signature beers I tried last time is their Winged Nut, which is made with milled chestnuts. This beer is what they refer to as their “Winged Nut on Acid – A high ABV, chestnut beer fermented with a Bavarian Weissbier yeast strain.”

Location: Enjoyed a snifter of this in the tasting room at Urban Chestnut Brewing Company in St. Louis, MO.

Numbers: 7.3%, IBUs, 35, OG, 18.0 Plato, ~ 245 Calories

Appearance & Aroma: It was a deep brown/mahogany color with a decent sized, creamy, cream-colored head, which stuck around and left some nice lacing on the glass. The aroma was a nice mix of caramel, nuttiness, and a hint of banana.

Taste & Feel: The body was medium and the mouthfeel was fairly crisp from carbonation. It had a sweet and toasty malt flavor up front with a bit of nuttiness. The nuttiness grew quite a bit in the middle with the sweet toasty malts taking a back seat. Some banana flavors from the yeast came in ner the finish and the aftertaste was malty and nutty.

Food Pairing: This beer was flavorful with a good amount of sweet maltiness and nuttiness. With the banana flavor from the yeast, I think banana bread would be a great pairing with this beer. The flavors would go together perfectly, and the bread would help to cut through the sweetness a bit.

Overall Impression:There was a good amount of flavor in this beer, from the sweet malts, the toasty chestnuts, to the banana esters from the yeast. It had a complex mix of flavors, but the flavors tended to compete with one another. Overall, I thought it was a decent, flavorful beer, but I’d rather stick to the the original Winged Nut.

My Rating:

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