Aspen Meadow Vanilla Cream Stout

Brewed by Cold Spring Brewery
Style: Sweet Stout
Cold Spring, Minnesota USA

This beer, while not having the "heft" befitting of a stout, is reasonably enjoyable. Popping the cap on the bottle leads to an interesting aroma of vanilla. The brew pours a medium brownish red with a quickly disappearing head. Wow, I can see right through it. The taste is instant vanilla with some subtle malty overtones. I wish they had labelled it as a vanilla ale or something; it's too "light" to be called a stout in my book. But nonetheless, it's fairly decent.

Poured light brown with head that disappeared quickly. Seemed thin. Some vanilla, but also the strange taste of sweet yams.

Dark brown with a slight frothy head. Did not pour like I would like to see for a stout. Too thin. Strong vanilla aroma and sweet roasted maltiness. I love the smell and taste of vanilla. That fortunetly prevades in this beer because I don't think there is any good stout flavors at all. I could have just had some vanilla out of the cupboard, but that may not have been as sociable.

I drank this beer at the Bodega in downtown LaCrosse, Wisconsin, my hometown. Nice bar serving some so-so beers. This reeks of vanilla but not in a good way. I'll pass on this next time.

I voted this as the worst beer at a bad beer party I went to. This stuff just clung to my tongue and left a bad taste in my mouth just like after you vomit. Vanilla and porters work, vanilla and stout sucks.

Vanilla was there both in flavor and in aroma, but where was the cream? Or, for that matter, the stout? Thin, watery and unimpressive.

I love the taste of vanilla, but maybe not in beer. I couldn’t finish this.

The only stout I’ve ever had that I could see through. This looked more like a barleywine than a stout. Vanilla comes blasting into the nose. The mouthfeel is ok, perhaps a bit thin. The flavor is acceptable. Not as sweet as I remember it being the first time. Nothing to rush out for.