The original Daybreak was one of those heart breaking works of staggering genius that even Dave Eggers would question. At the heart of it, this citrus element screamed Danish intervention and entirely contrary to the other Hill Farmstead canon. The best part was Damon b1 released very close in time and demonstrated how well HF can operate without some interlopers tossing juice into their stouts.

But what happens when some time elapses and some barrel aging goes down and those crafty Vermonteers set to fix the adjunct flaws inherent in past works. Now to be clear, I am assuming Hill farmstead aged this beer in barrels, or Mikkeller just drove them around in their gypsy U-haul; if that is not the case, then fuck this review.

The beer pours thinner and more watery than the rest of the HF canon, but not in a gentle attenuated fashion, just slim Central Waters BB stout thin. Carb is gentle and poetically exits with a tip of the chocolate malt cap. The nose is bright and sharp, a touch of citrus, grand marnier, chocolate fudge and a bakers chocolate sweetness. If you have had some of the Struise barrel treatments you are on board, let’s get the lube and grease them face holes.

The taste is sweet. Dry, cognac stickiness, lingering toastiness that resonates like almond tannins, and a closer that is an oaky dark chocolate.

SO HOW DOES THIS STACK UP AGAINST OTHER MIKKELLER STOUTS? With the exception of Vanilla shake, et al, this is the best.

SO HOW DOES THIS STACK UP AGAINST OTHER HILL FARMSTEAD STOUTS? If we choose to include Jim/Jimmy in the stout canon, this is better. If we do not, then consider this along the bottom rungs. This speaks more to the quality of Hill Farmstead left alone over and above the deficiency of this stout. This beer is pretty gooood (italics) and if we let it kick some Midwest stouts in the dick, sure, it will rough them up. But relative to the Damon and mcx lineage, this is kinda like Dr. Wily, some amazing creations but Mega Man just keeps fucking it all up.

Not sure where that last simile was going but, I am sure you got the Dr Light parallel.

Should you seek this out? Yes, tasty beer.

Should you cancel your daredorm account to pay crazy trade ransoms for it? It depends on how much you love Dare Dorm. I am not here to tell you how to live your life.

Moral of the story: blame interloping officious Mikkeller for everything unless it has the word “vanilla” in it.