Beer Review: Vanilla Ice Cream Stout (Wild Leap Brew Co.)
It took the Phillies fifteen innings to win last night. Fifteen. Against the Marlins. And people wonder why they didn’t make the playoffs. Sigh. Ugh. At least I had this delicious gem of a beer to keep me company while watching the monotony of the game.
Earlier in the day I had received my second “porch bomb” or “beer mail” package, successfully completing my second beer trade. (I must admit, I am now hooked, its so awesome getting beers from different parts of the country that I most likely won’t be traveling to in the near future in exchange for some locals from my area.)
This trader lived in Aiken South Carolina and had access to several breweries I’ve never been to (or even heard of), and sent me a lovely package that contained beers from South Carolina (SC), North Carolina (NC), and Georgia (GA). Including beers from Edmund’s Oast, Westbrook, and Creature Comforts. So I was very hyped for this box.
As you can see there is some killer beers in that package and I can’t wait to tear into them all and review them here. Also starting Friday I began to house-sit for my parents while they are on their anniversary weekend, celebrating their 38th Anniversary. Original plan for Friday night was to go to D. Scott’s to do our podcast, but he wasn’t fully setup and ready. And I kinda then just chilled at my parents home watching their fish (indoor aquarium and outdoor ponds), watching the Phills, and enjoying a fantastically lovely stout.
Wasn’t sure where to start really on this package, but decided the Vanilla Stout while sitting and watching the Phills would be a good place (and kind of solidified my ‘not going out’ and not dropping the book off at the library like I was supposed to do). A 10% stout will do that to you.
So I started off with the stout from Wild Leap Brew Co. Wild Leap is home to La Grange, Georgia, and is listed as a micro-brewery on Untappd. Their Untappd bio reads: “Formed by friends and innovators, Wild Leap Brew Co. is dedicated to delighting customers with approachable, easy-drinking and handcrafted beverages in an atmosphere that’s always easy-going and enjoyable. You could say, when it comes to beer, we’re raising the bar.” They have 190 unique beers listed and a global rating of 4.02. So definitely not bad right there. Their top beers all for the most part are IPAs, the first being Chance IPA, followed by a series of beers they have running: Alpha Abstraction Vol. 7, Vol. 6, and Vol. 8. (I received the Vol. 8 with my beer package.) Next is a Golden Blonde Ale called “Local Gold Blonde Ale”, and then a few more from the Alpha Abstraction series – Vol. 5, Vol. 4, to be broken up by a creamsicle milkshake IPA called Truck Chaser, before their top list rounds out with another Alpha Abstraction – Vol. 3.
Beer: Vanilla Ice Cream Stout
Brewery: Wild Leap Brew Co.
Style: Stout – Imperial / Double Milk
ABV: 10.5%
IBU: 35
Untappd Write-Up: Vanilla Ice Cream Stout is a thick, sweet n’ creamy milk stout brewed with vanilla and milk sugar.
Appearance is dark black beer, with a lovely light brown creamy foamy head. Bubbles are varied, nothing bad, and just a nice dark black look. A “Razor Ramon hair color” beer.
Aroma is like an ice cream float. Very heavy vanilla, very heavy malt, you can smell the sugar, you can smell the cream, you can smell some chocolate (from the malt) though its much lighter compared to the other aromas.
Taste is very delicious. It has an oily mouthfeel that coats your tongue but slides and goes down, nothing cloying and nothing bad about this. There is some thickness but its not too much. There is a lot of creamyness to this and its delicious. Its like a vanilla float but instead of coke you got a stout, with the ice cream melted and at the bottom of the glass, it just makes you want to chug to get to it all. There is a bit of boozyness to it, which I suppose shouldn’t be too surprising since it is a 10.5% ABV, and there is a slight bitterness that comes with it, perhaps due to the malts used, perhaps due to it having a 35 IBU, perhaps from other characteristics.
My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 4.02 (as of 9.28.19)
Finally, going on 12:30 or so AM, the Phillies finish their marathon 5 hour game against the Marlins, winning at home just to get back to .500, and thanks to two walks (one intentional), and an error on the final play. Thats the Phills for ya.
J. Doncevic is already out with the Rotunda Crew for Kennett Square Brewfest (already checked in to a Chewbacca from Rotunda at 8AM, so looks like his day is going strong already). So if you’re heading out there, stop in there and say hi to him.
Also, it appears, if you are looking for this beer, it is currently listed on Tavour, so you might be able to find it that way if you want it in the Central PA area.
Cheers!
-B. Kline
