Jan 6, 2015

Brooklyn Brewery Cuvee Noire

Brooklyn Brewery already makes a pile of tasty stouts from their annual Black Chocolate Stout to the, uh, covert one… (cough, Black Ops, cough). Anyways, this time around the New York brewery decided to take their house Belgian yeast strain and make themselves a big bad Imperial Stout. Cuvée Noire is that beer and it is amazing.

Starting off with a blend of German, British and American malts (roasted and non), the company then ads sweet orange peel and Mauritius raw sugar to the brew. But that’s not all. This 10.6% ABV beer is then aged in retired bourbon barrels for a length of time. The result is a beer that is decadent, dynamic and one of the best of 2014.

Appearance

Cuvée Noire pours with a solid cap of beige foam resting atop its opaque black self.

Brooklyn Brewery Cuvée Noire photo

Aroma

Loads of orange peel fills the nose immediately while bourbon, wood, cocoa and yeast follow in behind. The beer simply smells spectacular.

Taste

There’s a lot going on with this beer’s black depths — it’s a complex brew, but not one that completely confuses the tastebuds. The orange, stout base, bourbon, cocoa and burnt sugars are all there, but they present themselves smoothly, each grabbing the spotlight briefly before stepping aside graciously for the next component. Cuvée Noire is a rich, layered and dynamic beer with a full body, velvety smoothness and appropriately warming finish.

Brooklyn Brewery Cuvée Noire photo

Overall

Simply put, this is one hell of a beer. The flavors layer and mingle effortlessly, each shining on their one without dominating the others. I only wish the brew were cheaper — my cellar would be full of as much as I could grab!

Rating: 4.5/5

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