BEER REVIEW: Chasing Shadows from FOLKSBIER (in collaboration with Timber Ales)

My search for the best beer in New York continues….

SADLY, FOLKSBIER IS NOW CLOSED.

Yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day. I’m not Irish and I rarely celebrate it, but I’m usually more aware of it. This year it totally snuck up on me. I think I blame that whole quarantine thing.

The one thing I did to sort of celebrate is to crack open a stout that I had been sitting on for a little while.

This was a surprising beer I discovered. It was a design I didn’t recognize but saw the name of a local Brooklyn brewery that I do not usually see on my local beer store shelf.

Turns out this is a collaboration with Folksbier, the local spot, and Timber Ales, a brewery in Connecticut. The beer was brewed in Connecticut but since it had the Folksbier name on it, I’m writing about it as if it is a local creation (it half is, anyway).

This poured as black as night with a very tight tan head on the top. It had a very bold aroma with creamy toasty coffee notes on the nose and a whiff of alcohol.

It’s listed as 12% ABV so I was a bit scared, but I must say it sipped rather smoothly. There was some pleasant heat at the end as it went down, but overall it was pretty easy to drink. Vanilla and chocolate were both very present with some bright roast mingled in there. It also had the mouthfeel of a milkshake so there was no way to drink more than one. At least not for me.

I don’t think it is terribly Irish to age an imperial stout on vanilla beans and cacao beans, but this was a warming sweet ale to take the edge off coming on to the year anniversary of the pandemic.

Is Folksbier’s Chasing Shadows the best beer in NY? Even though it’s technically made in Connecticut, I must say this was a bold and beautiful stout with lots of warming and sweet flavors earning it an  8 out of 10..