sweet baby jesus is right

Ahhhhh, an unintentional hiatus due to technological difficulties.  But, now we can get back to it and, oh dear, it’s the end of my Czech beers that I dragged back with me!  Guess I’ll have to revisit in the near future.  I saved the best for last, at least according to my tastes, Sibeeria’s Sweet Baby Jesus.  A milk stout, appropriately.  Sibeeria was one of the more prolific breweries that I encountered, being represented in all the little craft bars.  At Beer Geek they had a good five or six on tap.  They weren’t the only ones, but I think Maly Velky is the only place I didn’t see any Sibeeria, and I could very well be misremembering.  Anyway, on to the grand finale.

Not pure black, but a nice dark chocolate brown and a very slight sweetish aroma.  The flavor is also very lightly sweet, no smoke at all in this stout.  It has kind of a caramel to it, but lighter than actual candy would be, and a touch of salt balances things out.  As it starts out sweet, I'm apprehensive that it will get sticky, but that remains under control to the end.  Although it does thicken up a little bit I wouldn't go so far as to say syrupy.  Also, an undercurrent of something not quite bitter develops and rumbles through on the way to the bottom of the bottle.  Still, the flavor and texture are even and calm with no big changes in the bitter/sweet balance from start to finish, which isn't really a miracle, but it's a damn fine job.

Dear Baby Jesus, send me more stouts for X-mas?