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John C. Tull's picture

Judge's Review: 72 Rating - Branded & Barreled Banana, Chocolate, Peanut Butter by Belching Beaver Brewery

June, 2022

Branded & Barreled Banana, Chocolate, Peanut Butter

Branded & Barreled Banana, Chocolate, Peanut Butter

California
United States
Branded & Barreled Banana, Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Belching Beaver Brewery
Description 

This big stout was aged in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels for 18 months and flavored with chocolate malt, banana puree and peanut butter flavoring. This beer tastes like banana bread hot out of the oven.

Beverage Profile
ABV: 
13.8
IBUs: 
70
Malts: 
Maris Otter, Two Row, Pale Chocolate, Malted Oats, Flaked Oats, Dextrose, Brown Coffee Malt, Munich, Chocolate Malt
Hops: 
Nugget

 

 


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Judges Rating: 
72
Aroma: 
19 / 24
Appearance: 
3 / 6
Flavor: 
30 / 40
Mouthfeel: 
7 / 10
Overall Impression: 
13 / 20

Branded & Barreled Banana, Chocolate, Peanut Butter by Belching Beaver Brewery was judged as Mixed-Style Beer (34B BJCP 2021) with a base styles of Specialty Wood-aged Beer (33B), Imperial Stout (20C) and Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer (30A). You could probably throw Fruit Beer in there too for completeness. Suffice it to say, there is a lot going on here. Where to start? Banana, peanut butter and chocolate all come through strongly in the nose. This really rings the bell on a number of my childhood quality memories. I mean, who doesn’t like all of those things? (Well, probably those with peanut allergies …) That said, it is a bit peculiar to have all of this in a beer. The beer is black, has no head, and has an oily and particle-laced film on the surface. The flavor is rich with a strong flavor like eating a banana split, or at least chocolate covered bananas. The peanut butter flavor is there as well, but it plays more of a supporting role. A cherry-fruit flavor is also notable, perhaps from the imperial stout base beer style. All of this gives it a very dessert-like quality. The mouthfeel is very full and a bit warm from the alcohol. There is an almost viscous mouthfeel either from residual sugars or intense body. Overall, I find this to be too much at once for a beer. If this were served to me as a dessert, I would be impressed, though. In fact, it might serve as an excellent topper for a variety of desserts like ice cream, cake, treacle tart, etc.