Sweet Taters - Short's Brewing Company

tectactoe

Michigan

3.8/5  rDev +8.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Thanks to Chris for bringing back this growler and sharing with Jeff and myself. This one pours almost black with a light tan and grey-tinted head that cascades from the bottom of the beer upwards, almost like a nitro-pour. Appears very dark for a "brown ale" - the only brown to be found is at the very top of the beer when held to the light.

Aroma is putting out a huge blanket of malty caramel - very sweet up front. Some smooth, roasted chocolates and cocoa nibs stretch themselves out over the sea of caramel. The molasses comes through more and more with each successive whiff, right along with some light brown sugar. There's a creamy quality to the nose that I can't exactly put my finger on, but it provides a nice smoothness to the aroma that makes it very pleasant. Deeply regressed in this ocean of sweetness, I can smell some mild earthy and dirt notes - hinting at potato. I don't know if I would have guessed potato had I not been told, but I can definitely agree with it here.

The taste is almost in reverse, as the first thing I notice is the strange earthiness and slight dirt/vegetal notes - it's GOTTA be the potatoes. Again, I don't think I would have thought of potatoes on my own volition, but damn, they have a very unique flavor. It isn't long before the malts take everything over - sweet black licorice, brown sugar, caramel. Heavy molasses and thick syrupy notes are everywhere. The earth notes make their way back in somewhere around the end of the sip. Also very near the end, I get hit with a very, very light tartness - apple skins or white grape. It works, but only because this beer is so unprecedented to begin with. I wonder if this was intended? Overall, very sweet and warming, becoming much boozier as it warms up, even though it's only 8.4% ABV. Slick, thick, oily mouth feel, medium-heavy body.

Short's puts out some unique, crazy, and downright strange things. Not sure which category this one belongs in, but it was pretty good overall. Definitely different and hard to decipher, yet enjoyable in the end. Still pretty heavy, though, so my ~8 oz pour was PLENTY. Any more would have been a sugar and starch overload.

Serving type: growler

03-08-2013 22:51:33 | More by tectactoe