Abbotsford Invalid Stout

Brewed by Carlton & United Breweries (CUB)
Style: Stout
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Serve in English pint

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I’m a beer drinker not a taster, this beer is easy to drink, goes down smooth and has beautiful flavour and aroma. Works well with and without food. I enjoy mine at the the end of the day while watching the idiot box. I love the fact that CUB hasn’t gotten around to modernising the labelling of this beer yet. Gives an impression that your drinking something that hasnt changed much in 40 or 50 years. Good thing that cricketers seem to to stick to Amber Ales.

There is little that you can say wrong about an invalid stout.... although at first sip it ay not win over most lighter brew drinkers. A lovely stout... with a classic old logo that hasn’t changed since it was devloped for invalids during the war..... My favourite stout by far... makes Guiness look a bit watery and weak!

Bootle 375ml. A very pleasant surprise from Carlton. Aroma is roasted malt, coffee, and dark chocolate. Flavour has a sweet start, with bitter and sweet notes at the end, and good duration. The body is light, and feels velvety in the mouth. Colour is black, and it has a thin white head that lasts all of the way.

750ml bottle. Dark reddish color. Low carbonation with big bubbles, almost no head. Good burnt taste. Light coffee notes! Good beer!

375ml bottle. Pours thick and tar like and is the colour of bitumen with an even tan head. Coffee and open fire aromas dominate but are not as strong as expected. Lively in the mouth with a great burnt flavour and nice bitter aftertaste. The best beer in the CUB stable by a long way.

This beer came along at a time when a friend and i were trialing online purchases of rare and seldom seen beer. We had never seen this beer before, so...we thought it qualified. Just after having placed the order, we realised that it wasn’t an exotic UK stout or alike, but instead a dirty little secret of CUB. So, our expectations were a little shaky, but i must say, in my opinion this is a feisty little south paw from the sticks that punches way above it’s weight. Nothing like a mainstream stout, probably more of a hybrid stout/old, but very drinkable nonetheless.

Bottle. Poured very drak brown, almost black with slight tan head. Aroma has a littel fruit, caramel and something vaguely smoky, but pleasant. Medium body and frothy. Light fruity start with little middle to the flavour and a long finish of roast malt and coffee. Overall, a very drinkable beer, although not special.

Pours black with a large tan head. Nose shows milk chocolate, cocoa and roasted malt. Not bad. Flavours are a bit light on but show roasted malt and some cocoa. Could use more carbonation, body seems a little watery. Don’t know why this doesn’t have a higher rating.

<i<Bottled. Black with beige head. Aroma of coffee and dark chocolate. Dry and roasty with light body and a hint of ash and metal. There’s loads of coffee, and a hint of syrupy sweetness rounds it off. Despite all other Carlton beers I’ve tasted being crap I find myself liking this solid beer.

Slightly aromatic aroma, tastes of roasted coffee, toffee with hints of chocolate. Clean crisp palate. More carbonated than say Guiness Draught Stout, but more like Guinness Original.