Tree House Double Shot Vanilla Bean

Last Friday I took a much needed day off from work and used the free afternoon as an excuse to make a long overdue run out to Tree House Brewing Company. Tree House isn’t a horrible ride from my house, under an hour, but I rarely make the trip, my brewery visits are limited with the current chaos in my life and I typically try to avoid waiting in lines for beer. From everything I had heard Tree House had gotten some of the crazy line issues under control, and on weekdays it usually wasn’t too much of a wait. Besides, I am working on a Tree House profile for The Full Pint (coming soon, stay tuned!) and I needed to do a little more research and take some photos. I picked a very poor day to make the journey, Friday before the Super Bowl with a ton of extra beer geeks in town for Extreme Beer Fest, so I did have to wait in a substantial line for the beer. Fortunately the wait was worth it, with 14 beers available for purchase and high limits. I grabbed a mix of everything for myself and an additional mix case for my buddy Mikey who had done similar favors for me in the past. One beer I grabbed was a version of Tree House’s Double Shot coffee stout brewed with vanilla beans. Tree House Double Shot Vanilla Bean is available on a limited basis in 500 mL bottles and on draft at the brewery (when they are open for pours).

Tree House Double Shot Vanilla BeanTree House Double Shot Vanilla Bean pours deep brown with a mild tan head. The aroma features a big whiff of vanilla followed by a little roasted malt. The malts lead the flavor, notes of milk chocolate, toffee and brown sugar. The coffee flavor is present by mild, a nice complement, and there is significant vanilla flavor. This tastes like a mixture of coffee, vanilla and chocolate soft serve. The beer has minimal hop flavor, the malts shine here. Double Shot Vanilla Bean is medium bodied and drinks very easy, but packs a little punch at 8.6% ABV. The finish is rich and slightly sweet with some lingering malt flavor. This is a very tasty coffee stout, I wouldn’t mind slightly less vanilla flavor but that is a personal preference, it is still a high quality beer. Hoppy Boston score: 4.25/5.

Previous Tree House Reviews:

Tree House GreenTree House In Perpetuity and I Have Promises To KeepTree House TornadoTree House JuliusTree House Alter EgoTree House Haze

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