Friday, November 15, 2013

Surly Cacao Bender


I've written about Bender, Coffee Bender, and Moe's Bender. Apparently, Cacao Bender is actually different from Moe's Bender, and I don't know how, but they keep saying it is. Vanilla beans and cacao nibs added to coffee bender. Here's one description: "Mahogany hued ale infused with coffee, vanilla beans and cacao nibs. 45 IBUs." Here's how I described it: "Take Surly Bender (oatmeal brown porter) , add Coffee from Guatemala to make Coffee Bender, bring in African vanilla nibs and Guatemalan cacaoa nibs, and that equals utter deliciousness. That's Cacao Bender." I 'm not sure if I didn't use my Moe's Bender brief description, and replace it with Cacao. Anyway, let's drink some….

Deep, dark brown body, creamy head, lovely soft tan colored, long-lasting, lace-leaving.

Aroma: here it is. Coffee first, then cream, vanilla next, and cacao (cocoa?) all the way home. Perfection.

Taste: Lands on the palate all full of flavor. Small but palpable bitterness, gives way to intensive, sweet, but balanced malt. Coffee and chocolate stay on top of the flavors, with vanilla showing itself at the sides. A ton of stuff gong down here, and the caffeine isn't going to interrupt too much with my sleep schedule, I keep telling myself….

Yummy.
Guess what? I like Bender, I like Coffee Bender…I love Cacao Bender. Mmm, mmm good. Beautiful stuff, Surly. It's a tasty treat that can't be beat.

2 comments:

GSoroos said...

Cacao Bender is my favorite Bender. I guess I didn't realize there was coffee in it. I guess the vanilla and cacao really balance it out. I find Coffee Bender a bit overwhelming on the coffee. New Blegium has a coffee beer (Giddy Up) that I like better than Coffee Bender.

Cheers!

Dave Anderson said...

Moe's Bender is aged on cherry wood.