Here's an ale you probably won't too easily find in Spokane, but is well worth tracking down if you have the chance. Yazoo is a Nashville brewery, and if Sue, a porter that received an almost unheard of perfect score from the Beer Advocate Bros, is anything to go by, you might just as well book some tickets down to Tennessee right now.
It pours a color reminiscent of tar -- there's black and then there's this. The head is darker than tan, standing about a finger and half tall. You get the idea of how heavy it is just from the looks of it in other words.
The nose somewhat literally kicks you in the face with a heavy smokiness. As you get over the initial shock, you'll find a more subdued maltiness and coffee toward the back. But really, judging by the nose alone, this is the beer version of the Smoke Monster.
That might be why the flavor is so surprising. There's a lot of stuff going on here, and even though the smokiness sits pretty heavy, the sheer creaminess of the body might be the initial attention grabber. Smack through it, and you'll find a world of wonderfulness opening up for you. The coffee plays alongside chocolate, and a cherry like sweetness contrasts the aforementioned smokiness. There's even a bit of hopiness to it, which is surprising for this style of beer.
Keep tasting through it, and more will reveal itself, be it hints of coffee or fruitiness. Didn't Willy Wonka come up with a gum that kept changing flavors? That's what this beer is like.
I had expected a crazy smoke fest here, and in a sense I got that. Yet there's so much more to this beer, and that's what makes it great. The Sue really is brewed to a high standard. Who'd have thought something like this would come out of Nashville?