Scientifically, people are animals and, like many of our furred friends, we become unduly lethargic in the winter months. Some people combat the natural order with caffeine, exercise, and anything else that might induce alertness but one thinks it’s best to go with the flow; if it’s time to hibernate, hibernate. Fill one’s belly with a hearty pint of Hibernal Vinifera Stout (8% ABV) from Ska Brewing, slip into a partial coma, and sleep the cold weather away.
Color: Vinifera Stout’s core is black as an 8-ball but tinted with mahogany along the edges. It’s crowned with tan, chocolate milk-like foam.
Aroma: This beer wafts aromas of creamy mocha with a moderate roast.
Taste: Initially, Vinifera Stout tastes of roasted malts but it is in the aftertaste where this stout takes a turn for the unique. Brewed with Malbec grape juice, this beer finishes with a flavor of slightly tart and tingly grapes. Intermingled with the grapes is a woody taste and bitterness derived from the roasted malts. As Vinifera Stout warms, the grape flavors become more apparent.
Mouthfeel: For a stout, this beer is actually pretty dry and snappy. There is some peripheral wetness but it’s hardly anything to write home about.
It’s time to crawl in your cave and sleep till spring, beer geeks. Vinifera Stout, available throughout the Denver area, is just the beer to put you into that slumber. Just be sure to buy some soon, it is a seasonal beer.
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