Enlightenmint (Twisted Manzanita Brewing)

Enlightenmint is a mint chocolate stout from twisted manzanita brewery out of San Diego, California. The brewery has been open since 2010 and is aggressively expanding into distilling liquor.

I've have been very curious about this beer since we started selling it in Northern Virginia last week. Stouts are currently my favorite style almost to a fault. I have only had one mint stout, 17 from perennial artisanal, which was very good. I was cautious about purchasing this beer because there is little information about it and this style could go horribly wrong. I had concerns that it would be too candy like for my palette. The 17 that I had was borderline candy, and very sweet. One upside to taking a chance on Enlightenmint is the price is very affordable at $9.99 vs. the $18plus for the other.

I buy quite a number of warm large format bottles from the local bottle shop. I often bring them home and speed chill them in this watering bucket with a combination of ice, water, and salt. I spin the bottle in the bucket frequently and it chills a stout in about 20 minutes. I have seen a device that clamps to the bottle and spins it for you, but I have not been gifted nor tried that device.

Well, the beer was a nice change of pace. At first glance the head was a nice color, indicative of chocolate. The aroma was mint chocolate. The flavor and alcohol were well balanced, and the finish was like fresh mint. I could even feel the herb on my breath between sips. It even passed the wife test, who enjoyed a tiny glass. She would have loved to have more but had plans for an early bedtime. This is definitely a beer that if embraced and sampled would do very well as a seasonal release. I have no clue the plans for future releases of this product. I noticed on untapped there are less than 500 total check ins for this beer. I suppose this beer could have not gone over well with the west coast home town crowd, but I sure am on board. We sold through the few cases we go pretty quickly. If it comes back look for it again next winter. I may try to get this label off. It's so steam punk with the Edison bulb.