Thunder in a Can

Brewer- Butternuts Beer & Ale

Beer- Moo Thunder Stout

Style- Milk/Sweet Stout

ABV- 4.90%

Description- Butternuts Moo Thunder Stout pours a thick black almost oil-like color with a tall cocoa colored head that really sticks around.  Strong aromas of roasted coffee, chocolate, lactose and a slight hint of herbal hops coming through, truly wonderful!  The taste is just as wonderful.  The sip starts off with the roasted malts hitting the taste buds giving you a slight bitterness and then transitions into a wonderful sweetness from the lactose, and finishes with a delicious milk chocolate flavor.  The body is very creamy and surprisingly thin, which resembles more of a porter than a stout, but does not take away from this beer.  The other feature that caught me a bit off guard was the amount of carbonation, a bit high for a stout, but again does not detract from this wonderful beer, and actually helps this beer to finish dry, as a great stout should!  This is a truly wonderful stout which is made all the better as it is available in cans, which makes it a great beer to take for a nice outing.

Food pairing – Upon my first sniff of this beer all I could think was “This would be perfect with desserts!”  You can just dream of the many desserts to pair with this one from decadent chocolate cakes to cream filled puffs to simple chocolate chip cookies.  The best pairings will be those that have a creamy texture to them, something along the lines of a nice crème brûlée.  This is also a wonderful beer to make into a nice beer float for a real treat after dinner.  Whichever you decide just enjoy your treat slowly and let the flavors and textures play off of one another for the full impact of this amazing beer.

Is it worth trying? – How could I say no? This is such a fantastically well balanced sweet stout that anyone can quickly fall in love.  Funny name aside, Butternuts has been making some fantastic beers for a few years now and has been quietly gaining quite the reputation.  Another great thing about this beer is that it is easy to get fresh. How you ask? Well take a road trip to the brewery! The brewery is located in Garrattsville, NY which is right outside of Cooperstown, NY.  So while you are visiting Butternuts and getting some fresh Moo Thunder Stout, you can also swing by the Baseball Hall of Fame and Brewery Ommegang!  So stop reading, and go get a can or two, even if you have been turned off by stouts in the past, Moo Thunder may just be the stout to bring you back to the dark side!

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