Beer – #663 – ParrotDog / Two Birds – Double Stout
In what seems a never ending vein of a beer type I’m back to a ParrotDog / Two Birds Double Stout. Not that I mind, at all.
Big, black and deceivingly smooth
The 330ml bottle of a beer, @ 9.2% ABV and 276 calories a serve size, making this 2.4 standard drink units.
Brewed by ParrotDog in Collaboration with Two Birds Brewing in the style that is an Imperial Stout and they are in Wellington, New Zealand
Big, black and deceivingly smooth.
It might seem like quite an interesting time to launch a DoubleStout given that these past weeks have still felt like summer but we’ve held off for so long now that we even forget it’s in the tank sometimes… After a few pre-release kegs and a number of customer requests, we’ve decided that now is as good a time as any to release our Two Birds collaboration DoubleStout.
Double the things
This beer is a result of some impromptu planning and wanting to brew something bigger than we’d ever brewed before… During ‘The Road to Beervana’ last year in August, we had Jayne over from Two Birds Brewing (in Melbourne) to brew what would be our second collaboration beer with the Birds.
Brewing this beer was quite an interesting time for us, as a lot of the planning for it was done on the day… including a last minute decision to scale it back because the mash tun was about to overflow.
The beer’s been ready for sometime now, hence the pre-release kegs you might have seen pop up at some festivals, however, being a bit of an awkward time of year to launch a stout (summer) we decided to hold onto it for a bit longer.
Well, we didn’t anticipate summer to hang around the way it has been but we did make a decision to release the DoubleStout in autumn and it’s here now
So what could possibly go wrong?
Chocolate nose on opening, and something else I can’t quite guess at.
Slick dark pour, doesn’t seem over carbonated and a small film like head ensues.
Aroma in the glass, I though was of dankness, but it passed, then I got raisins.
Taste initially I thought was really nice and smooth, roasted malt chocolate thing. Then I sipped again and though it was incredibly boozy alcohol astringent forward.
Then it seems to calm down and the chocolate notes came back. the alcohol to the back at the finish where it is sharp and briefly insistent.
A bit of a conundrum then. Double things going on, sometimes this, sometimes that. I’m going to let it warm a bit. Might change things.
I had thought this would be a lot better, for no reason that thought. It isn’t for me far too much alcohol tang, but then it is a higher ABV beer.
The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 7 of its things from the thing. It isn’t between good and better than good but not very good. the pdubyah scale is easy to understand. I thought it might have been more full in the middle notes which would have made it outstanding.
The double dip review
- Am I enjoying it? Not like I want to.
- Would I have another? No, I think it’s a bit peaky and sharp at the end for me.
- Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? No, I think there are other Stouts that are more rounded and better drinking than this.
Music for this – I found a band ” Cold Showers” their album ” Matter of Choice ” on Spotify. I thought they were like Depeche Mode, I’m probably wrong.
IMPERIAL STOUT
Imperial stouts are usually extremely dark brown to black in color with flavors that are intensely malty, deeply roasted and sometimes with accents of dark fruit (raisin, fig) or milk sourness. The bitterness is typically medium and often the low sie of that. Imperial stouts are strong and often exceed 8% by volume.
A life just as ordinary 