Photo courtesy of www.mashing-in.com

As we speed through October, the weather (should) become colder and the days become shorter. The finale of the month is Halloween. You can get into the spirit by decorating your home, dressing in costume or you can find your sweet kicks in seasonal beers that have flavors of peanut butter cups or pumpkin pies. One such spirited beer available is Brewery Ommegang Candi Stout.

The Beer

Candi Stout rings in at 6.7% ABV and is brewed with bittersweet cocoa nibs and candi sugar. Candi sugar is a sticky sweet molasses-like syrup used by Belgian brewers. The malt bill consists of 2-row flanked barley, pale chocolate malts, Special B, Aromatic, midnight wheat and roasted barley. The hop bill is Syrian holding and Saaz fermented on a Belgian abbey ale yeast. Ommegang has perfected the Belgian style since opening in 1997.

The Showcase

A pour at the recommended cellar temperature reveals a deep, dark brown with no light showing through. A mocha head leaves a layer of froth that has great retention. Smells of cocoa, clove, star anise and molasses are strong along with more subtle scents of pecan and walnut. Flavors of dark and milk chocolate show up first followed by clove. The beer is earthy, slightly cloying and slick. There is just enough balance between the dark chocolate and yeast character to keep from being sugary.

Brewery Ommegang’s Candi Stout is perfectly balanced and sneaky at almost 7%. It’s just sweet enough to get taste buds moving and just spicy enough to keep from being “chocolate milk”. If you are on the fence of a purchase, know that this is a genuine example of the sweet and yeasty spice balance that great Belgian style brewers can accomplish.

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