Southern Tier Brewing Company Creme Brulee

**Aroma:** “Pronounced sweetness up front with a touch of roasted malt character. A subtle earthy hops aroma comes through a bit. No fruity esters in the nose. Creamy, roasty, sweet, and dry. Chocolate and hints of coffee.” **Flavor:** “The lactose adds some extra creaminess to the malt sweetness. Lots of coffee in the finish, almost latte-like. A hint of hops spiciness keeps it interesting without overwhelming the lactose. Caramel with a subtle roasted malt character, mostly reminiscent of chocolate. Sweetness is well balanced with enough bitterness from both hops and roast to avoid it becoming cloying.” **Overall:** “A tasty, sweet milk stout that seems to favor hops a bit more than roasted malt character for balancing sweetness. Very tasty and drinkable. This beer manages to keep the focus on the lactose while maintaining a nice complexity.”

**Aroma:** “Notes of chocolate up front, with some creamy milk sweetness. The roast malt dominates on the nose, with a tart black-cherry ester and slight clove. It’s roasty, earthy, and oaky, with tobacco and a campfire smokiness.” **Flavor:** “Burned roast hits up front, and the roasty malt character carries through the sip. Some milk and chocolate sweetness sit behind the roast, with notes of licorice, cherries, plum, and other dark fruits. It’s a very earthy beer with fruity esters potentially from the hops, but for sure from the roast. Notes of oak, pine, and the big hops bitterness leads to a dry finish. The body is a bit thin.” **Overall:** “Overall, it’s a ‘punch you in the mouth’ kind of stout that delivers on a roast-forward presence. The more I drank, the more it grew on me. The roast has a finesse with some evident fruit flavors, in both aroma and flavor, but the burned characteristics really shone through. Reminded me of sitting at a campfire on a cold winter night, with ashes flying and coals burning.”

**Aroma:** “Moderate biscuit and light cit- rusy hop notes (grapefruit, lemon zest, orange, slight grassiness) accompany big caramel and plum, a touch of toffee and cinnamon, and light banana.” **Flavor:** “A very bright orange juice char- acter hits in the front and is very nice. The slightly bready malt sweetness helps to carry the beer through the nish, and it nishes with some caramel, juicy and sweet notes but not too sweet. The alcohol warmth is nice and adds to the beer. Moderately strong hops bitterness, complex malt, and touch of alcohol bite appear in the aftertaste.” **Overall:** “This big malty, juicy barley- wine is in between American and English styles, with the aroma and avor more English and the tail end more American. That being said, the malt character keeps you going back for more. This one is well put together.”