Beer of the Week: Roastbusters

While I love me a West Coast IPA or an authentic Old World ale or lager, there’s a lot to be said for innovation and getting my mouth around something new. As far as I can tell, the style most open to experimentation and providing the new new is the ever so not-the-least-bit-humble imperial stout. This is especially true with the advent of the more saccharine pastry stout, a malleable modern-day riff on the dark high-alcohol progenitor which allows brewers to create beers matching familiar flavor profiles of beloved, obscure or just plain tasty desserts, candies and sweet treats. Doing so involves the use of any number of out-there ingredients such as chocolate, banana, marshmallow or even the new darling (in some parts of the country, but for better or for worse, not San Diego) cheesecake. Yes, really. As weird as it sounds if you’ve never dived head first into the pastry pool, the resultant beers are typically rather delicious and accomplish the mission of coming across on one’s palate like the food item that inspired them. Such is the case with this week’s featured beer, Roastbusters. Collaboratively brewed at Miramar’s Embolden Beer Co. with the aid of the crew from Kearny Mesa’s Hopnonymous Brewing, the beer was built to emulate chocolate-covered graham-cracker cookie and marshmallow sandwich snack, the MoonPie. It is made using, you guessed it, chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallow, all of which are applied to a velvety, overtly alcoholic pastry-stout base. The result is a beer that smells and tastes of milk chocolate and vanilla with a hint of honey-tinged biscuit in the finish. It’s best described as “nummy” and, considering how difficult it can often be to consume more than a few ounces of pastry stout in a sitting, remarkably drinkable. This is a good beer that MoonPie fans will surely enjoy, but beyond that, it’s the type of wide-rangingly pleasing brew that can go a long way to getting non-devotees with a penchant for sweets and nostalgia into the craft-beer medium. Talk about a nice bonus!

When you have an insatiable craving for an ultra-smooth imperial pastry stout, who you gonna’ call? Roastbusters! This epic collaboration between Embolden Beer Co. and our good friends at Hopnonymous Brewing features copious amounts of marshmallow, cocoa, graham cracker and vanilla beans for an incredibly smooth and robust drinking experience. The 12% ABV (alcohol-by-volume) is barely a sidenote as this incredibly drinkable stout is meant for enjoyment with friends and family, and boasts a MoonPie-inspired flavor profile perfect for the winter weather. ‘I’ll call that a big yes!'”

Andrew Kelly, Director of Brewing Operations, Embolden Beer Co. / New Motion Beverages