One of the few B.C. brews that can lay claim to legendary status, Hermannator is a once-a-year, limited-run deal that has beer fans across the province scrambling for the liquor store on its release date.
Taking a good three months in total to brew and condition – including cold aging at near freezing temperatures, hence the name of the style – Hermannator is truly a labour of love for Vancouver Island’s brewmaster Ralf Pittroff, and remains pretty unique in Canada.
Those numbers in the header aren’t a mistake. This gold-medal-winning, slow-fermented heavyweight really weighs in near 10 per cent ABV. Happily, its punch is packed in a velvet glove.
2010 tasting notes
Hermannator pours a deep amber brown with a chorus of carbonation that rings out in the glass as if the beer is overjoyed to be liberated. It forms a cappuccino-coloured head that’s thick, rich and lasting.
On the nose are aromas of caramel, polished wood and toasted tobacco, but nothing too outrageously complex.
The taste is a different matter entirely: Rich chocolate and creamy coffee flavours dominate, with an edge of burned caramel and spiced fruit. The subtle, almost salty bitter tang and sweet warmth in the finish are together reminiscent of an Islay single malt. The flavours seem to float in the mouth, intermingling delicately for a few seconds after each swallow.
Altogether, it feels effortlessly smooth and rounded, and is therefore dangerously drinkable – just one bottle and you’ll know you’ve been Hermannated.
This is a B.C. beer to treasure, literally – if you can bring yourself to do it, bury away a bottle or two somewhere consistently cool and dark, and then compare it to next year’s batch.
Act fast, though. Hermannator still appears to be available at many B.C. Liquor Stores, at a steal of a price for a six-pack, but is flying off the shelves.
2010 (aged one year) tasting notes (01/12/2011)
Carbonation appears to have increased. Aroma is striking: strong, tangy caramelized fruitiness.
Flavour, too, is a lot more fruity — raisiny to the point of grape — and more rounded. Dryness is also more developed and sits delicately on the tongue. Port-like sweet richness, or like homemade plum compote mixed with vodka. Scorched caramel and a lingering, chewy, bready aftertaste.
Slightly harsher, perhaps due to that increased carbonation, that hits throat more. Warmth builds more in stomach. Elements of sweet grain spirit distilled from fruit. Could use more time to temper its slight harshness.
2010 (aged two years) tasting notes (06/01/2013)
Massive, deep caramel on the nose. It’s much less fruity than it was last year, despite figs and prunes making an appearance, but there’s more complex oak and a distinct creaminess.
What’s most noteworthy at first is how smooth and lusciously creamy the 2010 has become. Again, the fruit has mellowed into powerful malt flavours, which are reined in by the incredible mouthfeel to create a sumptuous bitter roastiness, and delicious notes of coffee, dark chocolate, toffee and some vanilla.
The balance is superb. The bitterness moves into tongue, building to an incredible richness and leaving cappucino flavours in the aftertaste.
The 2010 seemed wild and even a little harsh a year after its release– but all of that has mellowed into a beautiful beer that, curiously, echoes more what the beer was like upon its original release, albeit incredibly more complex.
I get the feeling this 2010 is the beer Hermannator is supposed to be.
2011 tasting notes (01/12/2011)
Dark, dark chocolate in colour. Effervescent on pouring, with a mocha-coloured head that dissipates quickly.
Rich caramel and some varnish on the nose, like an uncomplicated malt whisky. A little chocolate too, and some breadiness, lacking a little in aroma.
Rich and smooth dark chocolate with an oakyness, a dense breadiness, and slightly toasty. Flavour keeps developing in the mouth, along with a dryness that gives a distinct chewiness. Fruity tones of raisin and steeped prunes. Also shades of dark chocolate salted caramels, or a chocolatey bread pudding soaked in rum. Warmth builds in the throat and stomach.
2011 (aged one year) tasting notes (06/01/2013)
The aroma for this one is sublime. Huge notes of steeped red fruit, plum and fig come to mind, with a sweet but smooth molasses-like base, licorice and dark cherry.
Carbonation has refined over a year of aging, resulting in a more refined, rounded and even slightly creamy mouthfeel.
Flavourwise, the roast has increased, with elements of tobacco and some complex caramel and fudge tones.
However, there’s a distinct loss of body in the middle, and the notes of chocolate, oak, toast, raisin and prunes are largely absent. The body returns slightly toward a distinctly drier finish, where a leatheriness comes through. Sadly, as the carbonation fades, the beer becomes even thinner. Bit of a disappointment.
2012 tasting notes (06/01/2013)
Carbonation is fairly strong, and I found that more flavour came through as the beer settles with time.
Smoooooth aroma. On the nose are rich steeped fruits, even a little cherry, some polished mahogany with a concentrated nut-chocolate base, echoes of ground coffee and a port-like alcohol notes.
Smoothness continues in the mouth, with the beer becoming silky and supple after the carbonation settles.
Bitter-roasted malt undertones of dark chocolate and treacle melds with an espresso-like bitterness, while there are highlights of steeped fruits including plums, figs and raisins. Bitterness hits in quite quickly at sides of the mouth before closing in, then merges with alcohol to create a growing impact of body at the end of each sip, leaving behind a warming memory and gentle aftertaste of slightly bitter dried fruits and some tobacco.
Beer Cat: LOVES
$13.49, 6x 341ml, B.C. Liquor Stores
jzeschky@theprovince.com
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