Wood Pastry Stout by Mountain Culture Beer Co.

For the purposes of this blog, I do try to avoid going back to the same brewery too often.  But, at the same time, sometimes I’ll have a beer that’s just too damn good, and it doesn’t matter if I’ve just written about the brewery or not.  Such is the case with this week’s beer as we head back to the Blue Mountains and Mountain Culture Beer Co.  This time it’s for their fantastic limited release Wood Pastry Stout.

Wood Pastry Stout is apparently a follow up to last year’s Baked Pastry Stout.  Like its predecessor, it’s a collaboration with local Blue Mountains bakery Black Cockatoo.  I have a few friends who live up in the Blue Mountains.  And the mere mention of anything slightly related to baked goods is enough to touch off a torrent of praise for Black Cockatoo’s offerings.  I’ve tried them myself, and they are pretty damn good.

So we’re all in agreement, Black Cockatoo makes excellent baked goods and Mountain Culture makes great beer.  But the question is do they work together?

Yes, they do.

Wood Pastry Stout is a delicious stout.  As with many beers on this blog, this is a massive beer.  It’s clocks in at 9.8% but it’s not overly boozy in flavour.  The initial taste is extremely rich and with a hint of syrupy sweetness.  I’m not sure I necessarily detect the heaps of croissants they claim to have dumped into the brew.  But there is definitely a huge richness and depth of flavour.

Then, just as you go to swallow the beer, the bitterness kicks in.  But it’s not a hoppy bitterness.  It’s a roasty coffee bitterness that Mountain Culture have added this time around.  And it provides a the perfect finish to the beer.

Wood Pastry Stout is a perfect winter beer.  Sipping one of these in front of a fire on a chilly evening while watching the football code of your choice is just about the perfect way to enjoy a beer.  The one slight bummer is that this is a very limited release.  So it may be a bit tricky to track down.  But if you can find one, just get it.  As with most of what Mountain Culture produces, Wood Pastry Stout is brilliant.