Michelob Foreign Extra Stout (Prototype)

Bottled at FoBAB. Poured dark brown with a short, creamy cap of beige head. The aroma picked up nicely-roasted chocolate notes upfront with charred smoke and woody accents.. well-composed. The flavor found lightly-smoked dark chocolates at the core with touches of caramel and vanilla.. near-burnt chocolate and sweeter oat-like notes at the smoky finish.. very tasty! Nice level of char and a touch grainy on the palate.. felt spot on for the style. I will buy some of this if it’s released.

Sampled at FoBAB 2008. Rating number 100. Back when I was taking notes on this one, I was so far behind that I had no idea it was number 100. But as it stands, my number 100 is a Michelob beer. Pours black with a tan head. Aroma is roasty with a good amount of coffee and some vanilla presence. Coffee remains in the flavor, which is also a bit smoky. Nice vanilla finish. Okay, so maybe it aint that bad for number 100.

FoBAB 2008. Honestly, I was skeptical in trying this beer but honestly, it was pretty decent. Pours to a dark brown body with a thin but coating creamy light brown head. The aroma has a bunch of clean oak and that distinct Foreign Stout character. Vanilla was subtle. The flavor is like a burnt oak chocolate with that Foreign Stout character. Extremely serviceable. Nice decently smooth palate.

FoBAB 2008: (not many notes here, sorry)... Deep brown hue with and very good tan head. The aroma has notes of plum, prune, walnut, chocolate, and earthy yeast esters. The taste starts with malty and ripened fruit tone before a smoky and ashy finish. The mouth feel is tad thin but the oily presence overcomes that. Okay beer considering the source... which means most people will never see or hear of the beer.

Fobab VI. First of all, I was pleasantly surprised. Beer pours a nice deep brown with an off-white head. Nose is very roasty, as is the taste and somehow they didn’t overkill with the vanilla beans. What I found most surprising is the lack of oak and vanilla character, which leads me to believe this wasn’t aged a terribly long time. Overall, it was a decent enough offering, roasty, chocolatey, a touch of oak, but none of the tartness or acrid notes that I’ve come to expect in a Foreign. It was okay.