Cannoli Beer

Shebeen Cannoli Beer
Part of Very Generous Tasting, $5, 5% ABV

Purchased at the Brewery, Wolcott

cannoliSo there I was, chilling at Beer’d in Stonington and Aaren brought out his new lemon meringue gose, complete with a freshly whipped and sweet dollop of meringue on top.

No, wait…

So there I was, hangin’ out at WilliBrew when the bartender appeared with their new Wonka Sour, complete with Sour Patch Kids drowning in the amber liquid.

No, wait…

So there I was, enjoying myself down at Thimble Island when my tasting was capped off with their new Marzipan Marzen, complete with a generous schmear of the sweet almond paste on the rim.

No, wait…

So there we were, sipping our way through the tasting at Shebeen when I was finally served their Cannoli Beer, complete with a powdered sugar rimjob and chocolate shavings on the thick white head. (See picture below get the fully visual of that sentence.)

Holy crap, that last one is real? Yes… yes it is. In Wolcott, right across route 69 from Perfection Screw (again, that’s totally true as well), you can get your hands and lips on the infamously famous/famously infamous Cannoli Beer.

As crazy as that sounds, untappd reviewers all pretty much seem to on board with cannoli beer. I’m apparently the outlier here… and I’m okay with that.

Shebeen Says:

The ultimate dessert beer made with vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and special grains from France. Best served with powdered sugar and shaved chocolate. Heaven in a glass.

savarinos-cannoli-nashvilleShebeen owner/brewer Rich Visco and I have very different visions of what heaven would be, but such fictions are certainly not a valid point to argue. I also cannot argue Mr. Visco’s commitment to being THE unique brewer in Connecticut. If you follow the local craft scene, you surely know about the cannoli beer. It’s sort of the flagship of Shebeen in a way, even if it can’t really be replicated anywhere outside of the brewery.

But I do see Shebeen has bottled this thing. So let’s discuss the base beer first. A bunch of sweet spices thrown into an ale. I’ve never had the base beer on its own, so I can’t really speak to it, but if it’s brewed with subtlety, then I suppose it could be okay on a cold winter’s night. And having had a bunch of Shebeen’s wacky offerings which have included pineapple and wasabi and cucumber, I can say that they do put this stuff in with a very light hand.

And that’s a good thing.

But really, the entire point of the cannoli beer is the dessert stuff that they put on top. Powdered sugar and chocolate shavings.

Look, I’m not some old-school German purity law loving beer curmudgeon. I’m just not. I’m all for creativity and hell, in the last two years of this beer adventure, I’ve come to find I really like “weird” beers. I love a good gose or wild ale or hibiscus wit. Really, I do.

But I just can’t go this far. This is just stupid. I like beer – all sorts of beer. So why would I want a beer that tastes (literally) like dessert? I don’t. This is to beer what Boone’s Farm or Bartles and James is to wine. This is like cotton candy vodka, which really exists. This is just not my thing.

Cannoli
“Powdered sugar rimjob and chocolate shavings on the thick white head.” Gettin’ jizzy.

It will be said that I “don’t get it.” That I’m a “hater.” Whatever. If you are the type of person that says, “I could go for a beer – and by the way, do you have powdered sugar and chocolate shavings that I can add to it?” then yeah, I’m a hater.

So be it.

Overall Rating: F
Rating vs. Similar style: n/a, thank goodness

Shebeen Brewing Company
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