Friday, March 8, 2013

REVIEW: Sixpoint 3Beans


You guys know I couldn't let a new Sixpoint beer pass by the wayside without taking a look at it. I love these guys and their fabulous beers. Their newest ale, 3Beans is brewed with coffee beans, cacao beans, and romano beans, hence the name. A beer brewed with coffee and chocolate is old hat around these parts. But romano beans, which are similar to green beans? That one seems a bit odd. Turns out that brewers in medieval Europe, in many Baltic countries, didn't have access to traditional brewing ingredients. So they often had to turn down different avenues for fermentable sugars. They used, you guessed it, beans. Sounds intriguing to me! As always, with any new Sixpoint beer youtube is required viewing. This video chronicles the creation of and tribulations involved in getting the beer into my grubby little hands. If you can watch that video and don't come though on the other side excited about beer you're nobody I want to be friends with. So, we've got a 10% ABV, 85 IBU imperial stout brewed with Mast Brothers chocolate, Stumptown cold pressed coffee, and romano beans. Three Brooklyn companies, three beans, one beer. Sounds good to me! To the beer!

3Beans pours what appears to be a dark, silky black. Upon closer inspection though it seems to be a deep, rich dark brown with tiny ruby red glimmers when held to light. It's topped by two fingers of frothy, loosely bubbled tan head that leaves some spectacular lacing.

Unsurprisingly, the aromas here are made up predominantly of coffee and chocolate. Iced roasty coffee notes and robust, sweet chocolate. Complexity is gained by powdery, milky hints of both bitter dark chocolate and creamy milk chocolate. There's a bit of a boozy kick in there as well.

3Beans is quite full bodied, exceptionally creamy and silky smooth thanks to, what seems like, a rather robust carbonation. Like on the nose, the flavors here are a brilliant melding of chocolate and coffee. Both ingredients are there, but neither outshines the other, nor do they throw off the balance of the beer. The chocolatey, creamy, sweet flavors are balanced by notes of bitter roasty coffee and a fruity bitterness. Dark fruit notes of prune, date, fig, and berry add some lovely complexity. Even with the boozy heat from the 10% ABV, this remains quite a drinkable beer.

Yeah, you probably saw this coming, knowing how I usually feel about Sipoint's beers. 3Beans is great. Complex, hearty, full bodied, intensely flavorful, masterfully balanced. And not only balanced in terms of sweetness and bitterness, but balanced in terms of the chocolate and coffee. No one flavor overshadows the whole. This one is worth seeking out.

HD

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