25 Jan 2016
17 Nov 2023
The team at adventurous indie bottler The Heart Cut looked to California and its pioneering St. George distillery for this experimental American malt. Celebrating the many parallels between brewing and distilling, this is a hybrid of the two, beginning as a 100% malted coffee stout, distilled and then matured in a new American oak cask. EU regulations mean that this can't be labelled as a whiskey, due to the coffee that was added during the brewing of the beer before distillation, hence the clever Heart Cut crew has coined the term 'Experimental Malt'.
Intriguing notes of pickled gherkins and drying hops join waves of meaty malt and oak char, with flamed orange and hints of coffee cake in tow.
Soft and silky to start, followed by a helping of hoppy bitterness, then rich, creamy waves of dark malt and creamy coffee. Unusual notes of herbaceous spice ride throughout.
A medley of bitter ale, creamy malt, dried hops, and oaken vanilla, with chilli flake heat creeping in at the end.
I stumbled upon this by chance. It's an unusual flavour profile but I absolutely love it. You can certainly detect the coffee in this. I will definitely replace this bottle when it's all gone!
