Barclay Vanilla Waves

Vanilla Waves is the second edition to the Waves series. Here we’ve taken our Waves base beer and added a significant amount Mexican and Ugandan Vanilla to it.

This isn’t your sticky sweet overly adjuncted stout. What you’re getting here is a throw back with a modern twist.

Aroma: Semi-sweet dark chocolate, soft-vanilla, hit of toffee, followed by strong coffee roast.
Taste: (Front Palate) Big dry semi-sweet chocolate followed by an oily vanilla spice that gives way to subtle caramel sweetness. (Mid Palate) You get a break here from the chocolate and get a pithy almost charcoal dryness, earthiness, and minerality. (Back Palate) Here the dark bitter bakers chocolate pops followed by a burst of coffee roast. As it settles you get a wave of bourbon and barrel burn that dissipates quickly but leaves a lingering semi-sweet chocolate oak stave.

The body is oily and viscous, really holding all the flavors together but allowing you to spend time with them individually.

This will not hit the pastry bois vanilla requirements. The Ugandan and Mexican Vanilla don’t give you that classic bakers vanilla. You get earthy and spicy flavors that one might not place as vanilla. Ugandan vanilla tends to impart big chocolate tones and that is most definitely the case here. The Mexican vanilla gives you a rye spice quality that buts up against some traditional vanilla but only slightly.