“Elsie is made by combining unfermentable lactose with a malt bill so complex the brewers refer to it as their ‘kitchen sink beer’. The result is a beer that’s sweet and smooth and dark and roasty, with gentle touches of chocolate, coffee and cream. Served on nitrogen at the bar, but conditioned for the bottle, allowing yeast to naturally carbonate the stout for an incredibly thick and smooth texture. She’s so tasty, you’ll believe cows really can jump over the moon!”Appearance: Black with a thumb of well retained foam. It’s actually quite hard to see through this layer of micro bubble that has stuck to the glass and gives it this frosty look.
Aroma: Rather sweet and creamy, full of lactose, vanilla and milk sugars but nicely countered by a hearty roasted character. An abundance of dark chocolate, coffee, licorice, toffee and roasted almonds. Some subtle dark fruit sweetness creeping through too. Solid!
Flavour: A big step down from the aroma. It’s weak, watery and lacking penetration. We taste light creamy vanilla, lactose, chocolate and roasted malt but it’s too delicate and develops quite late in the piece. The finish is the most flavoursome part!
Mouthfeel: Same issue as the flavour profile – thin and watery with no body whatsoever. It just falls apart in the mouth. Disappointing.
Overall: We hate to say it but this is typical from Batch. We’re still waiting to try that beer that blows us away. You’d hope it’s better on nitro from the taproom as the flavour and texture experience is underwhelming to say the least.