This is one of the last beers from a mix-a-six I made at Friar Tuck's Beverage in Savoy (incredible selection there). It was originally a six pack to try to educate my roommate about various types of beers, but he didn't like the stout or the IPA I gave him, so he let me have the other stout and IPA in the pack. I'm drinking it as I write.
This is a very dark stout (almost black) with a unique sort of flavor. It poured with almost no head (but that might be my fault). It also seems slightly heavy on the carbonation and a bit biting in addition to the usual stout creaminess, which in my limited experience is not what I'd typically expect from a stout. The flavor is also unusual of most stouts I've tried. The chocolatey/roasted flavor from the dark malts is pretty far in the back, and the primary taste is an bitter and slightly acidic alcohol bite. Other reviewers say they taste notes of licorice and mint, but I'm not getting that. It's more of a very dark bitter chocolate, typical roasted malts, and a bit of hop flavor to me. Other reviewers also have given this beer a pretty high rating, but I don't really think it's that outstanding. Then again, the lack of head and extra acidity I tasted might indicate that the bottle is past its prime. I wouldn't be all that surprised if Friar Tuck simply put the last of any given batch of beers in the mix-a-six section, so it's possible that it had been sitting there a long time.
1 comment:
It's funny that you review this beer today, because I just had a bottle from Friar Tuck's no more than one hour ago.
I too was less than impressed. It was good, and much better than some cheap beer, but something just wasn't right. The bite in the beginning was not to my taste. I started to like it more as I continued to drink, but I think that's generally true with all beers. The head disappeared almost immediately after pouring.An Imperial Stout on that rack was marked with a February date, and the label told the consumer not to drink it past that month. FT's is stocking some seriously old beer on those racks. It's pretty suspect.
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