From the Beer Writer: With so many overly-viscous, sticky-sweet pastry stouts around, inadvertent trepidation works its way into me these days when I hear beer descriptors like “caramel.” But thanks to restraint, dryness and a quaffable alcohol-by-volume figure of 6.5%, any such fears were washed away by my first sip of Rollo, a salted-caramel stout from Longship Brewery. Even though the Mira Mesa interest’s brew crew went so far as to create a make-shift caramel sauce in its brew kettle, the beer is very balanced with a salinity that helps even things out instead of introducing palpable saltiness. Served on nitro, it’s a great drinking, lightly creamy beer on its own, but it’s also a fantastic base for an ice-cream beer float. Want proof, Longship will be serving Rollo floats at their tasting room tonight. Get there before they run out of vanilla ice cream!
From the Brewer: “The Rollo is our latest trek into new flavor and technique experimentation. This is one of those beers that was brewed simply because we wanted to try something new. We started the brew by making a caramel sauce in the kettle to give the beer that true caramel aroma and flavor, in addition to a good amount of caramel malts. The beer starts sweet, but is dry enough to not be overwhelming, and has a slight salty aftertaste leaving you wanting for more. Since its release, it has become one of our more popular beers. The name itself is a fun dual reference. First, for the caramel Rolo candy, and secondly, in tribute to the famous Viking, who became the first Duke of Normady. “—Dan Jachimowicz, Owner & Head Brewer, Longship Brewery