Cosmos - Enlightenment Ales

hreb

Washington

4.33/5  rDev +4.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 5

As a long time regular of Ben Howe's at CBC I was very excited to finally try my first Enlightenment ale. This is a 750mL bottle (capped only) of their beer #3, batch #1. I'm serving it in a wide-mouthed wine glass, chilled. It pours a dark, murky brown and forms a totally opaque solution in the glass, with a pleasing chestnut head. Oh, and the aroma attacks the senses from the instant you open the bottle: coffee with some slightly funky notes, and a little bit fruity/grapey. Pretty heady aroma.

Initially the flavor is rich like the smell, roasty with coffee flavors. Through the middle it's much milder, more like a porter, very well balanced, and with a relatively light mouthfeel. Carbonation is present but well controlled. Then comes a few more layers of flavor: there's an extremely subtle sweetness, treacle maybe, followed by a mild fruit sourness. I want to say grapefruit peel. And in the aftertaste there's just enough dryness/bitterness. There's no overpowering oakiness from the port barrels purportedly (from the website) used for this beer, either. I love oaked beers but I'm often wary of anything aged in wine barrels as the wine barrel flavors tend to dominate. But there's no such problem here.

The net result is that this beer keeps bringing you back for another sip. I realize beeradvocate recently rolled out a new rating system, but I'm going to go oldschool on this one: this beer gets a 5.0 for *drinkability*. Even though the flavor is very good but not amazing, it's really, really enjoyable, and the ABV doesn't get in the way at all.

Serving type: bottle

01-11-2013 04:29:33 | More by hreb

Apathetiq

Massachusetts

4.5/5  rDev +8.7%

05-16-2013 23:31:44 | More by Apathetiq

kaelingirl

Massachusetts

4.25/5  rDev +2.7%

05-08-2013 01:52:53 | More by kaelingirl

trevorpost

Massachusetts

4/5  rDev -3.4%

04-14-2013 01:42:33 | More by trevorpost

AlexFields

Tennessee

4.11/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Thanks to Dope for sending me this!

Pours jet black, huge thick chocolate colored head leaves substantial lacing. Spot on.

Smells of slightly bitter roast, blueberries and other dark lightly tart fruit, some nuts, some unsweetened cocoa...pretty bitter overall and very nice.

Taste is fairly bitter chocolate, blueberry/fruit again...fudgy, light nuttiness, maybe a hint of coffee or hint of vanilla. Fairly dry/bitter overall. No extreme flavors but very well balanced and very tasty.

Mouthfeel is wonderful, super thick and fudgy, great carbonation, still good drinkability though.

Wonderful stout overall, excellent mouthfeel, very well balanced flavor, very well crafted.

8.4/10

Serving type: bottle

04-10-2013 02:14:40 | More by AlexFields

jaasen64

Massachusetts

3.75/5  rDev -9.4%

04-09-2013 17:54:37 | More by jaasen64

Bladezone

District of Columbia

3.5/5  rDev -15.5%

04-07-2013 18:21:10 | More by Bladezone

aorloski

Massachusetts

4.5/5  rDev +8.7%

04-07-2013 16:22:43 | More by aorloski

Colosdog

Massachusetts

3.75/5  rDev -9.4%

04-06-2013 14:20:05 | More by Colosdog

PEIhop

Massachusetts

4/5  rDev -3.4%

03-24-2013 21:08:18 | More by PEIhop

Dope

Massachusetts

4.09/5  rDev -1.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Very fresh bottle, just hit the shelves. Batch #3.

A: Pours a dark brown, not quite black. Huge and foamy dense light brown head. Head fades away very slowly, leaving an island of foam. Great retention. Nice thin but widespread lacing too.

S: Nice char with some toasty notes - very pretzel-like in fact. Maybe some caramel in there? Sometimes I feel like there's coffee in there but I think it's mainly char. Simple but pleasant.

T: Again, roasty char up front but with some really nice dark fruit notes. Grape, maybe even cherry? Fruit softens up the char nicely along with some caramel sweetness. Middle is char and that toasty element again. Again, kinda like burnt toast or pretzels. Almost like burnt oatmeal now that I think of it. Char turns a bit bitter and acrid in the finish. No overly so but the sweetness has dropped away by this point. Lingering burnt toast/pretzel in the aftertaste which is a touch drying.

M: Good carbonation, medium mouthfeel. Pretty smooth body, borderline creamy. A little drying in the finish.

O: Huh, a very interesting FES. Heavy on the char, it would be too much but the soft dark fruitiness really mellows it out and integrates well. Definitely a well attenuated beer, little sweetness with a dry finish. Goes down very easily with a smooth and almost creamy mouthfeel.

Serving type: bottle

03-07-2013 05:44:34 | More by Dope

AdamP

Massachusetts

4.25/5  rDev +2.7%

03-02-2013 03:20:12 | More by AdamP

pveilleux

Massachusetts

4.5/5  rDev +8.7%

02-16-2013 03:56:50 | More by pveilleux

DBosco

Massachusetts

4/5  rDev -3.4%

01-26-2013 05:37:11 | More by DBosco

DonFrap

Massachusetts

3.75/5  rDev -9.4%

01-14-2013 20:34:01 | More by DonFrap

DelicateDelirium

Massachusetts

3.75/5  rDev -9.4%

01-13-2013 07:06:59 | More by DelicateDelirium

parris

Massachusetts

4.5/5  rDev +8.7%

01-12-2013 00:32:32 | More by parris

rab53

Massachusetts

4.25/5  rDev +2.7%

01-11-2013 03:34:25 | More by rab53

danafr4

Massachusetts

4.8/5  rDev +15.9%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5

How do you put numbers on a beer?

A good, stouty-looking beer. Black, but with ruby highlights. Clear - no sediment or haze.

The aroma has a bit of roast, but hardly overwhelming. A bit of fruit in the nose as well.

This thing tastes unlike anything I've had. Not stouty in the any traditional sense, but a good, somewhat subtle roast followed by a fruitiness that blends perfectly with the roast... you really have to try it.

Good mouthfeel. a little belgian in that it's not syrupy thick, but a bit more thin. Plenty of carbonation.

Love it. Unlike any beer I've had, though it stands outside it's technical guidelines just a bit - though who's counting?

Serving type: bottle

01-05-2013 21:51:16 | More by danafr4