We took our sweet time getting to this tasting. We’ve actually been sampling our attempt at Steph and Tim’s Tropical Foreign Extra Stout recipe every now and then for a little while. The first bottle screamed very loudly, “Age me, please,” which we obliged to do. And now here we are, several weeks later, and we’re ready to call the stout done. Here are our combined thoughts:

Appearance: Deep, dark, just barely translucent brownish black with red highlights. Huge, foamy, latte colored head that makes the beer sound like Pepsi.

Nose: Floral and roasty with some fruity esters, but nothing really jumps out.

Taste: Very sweet, almost cloying. Banana and vanilla notes. Some roastiness manages to peek out once the sweetness makes it off of the palate.

Mouthfeel: Medium to medium-light bodied, yet creamy. Coats the tongue and lingers on the roof of the mouth, which helps to conceal a late-game alcohol bite. Overcarbonated.

Overall: We’re kind of disappointed with this one. It came out much too sweet, and the fruity esters are out of place. It’s also not as chocolatey as we think it should have been, but the vanilla notes were a nice surprise. What surprises us the most is the fact that the recipe comes out a lot better when Steph and Tim execute it. Perhaps there is some fundamental incompatibility between their recipes and our process. Our fermentation temperature is the first thing that comes to mind — our bathroom tends to be fairly warm, leading to increased ester output by the yeast. I believe the yeast we used was English Ale; using a higher-attenuating Irish yeast instead might help the sweetness and ester problems.

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