Abbotsford Invalid Stout

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

Serve in English pint

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Initially the coffee aroma is quite promising and the first taste gave me the impression that I might like it, with a similarly strong coffee flavour. However, after a few sips the coffee flavour is but a memory as a sugary sweetness takes over the anaemicly thin body. Has a cheap lager like finish. Not worth the effort.

Bottle. For the AUD price I paid for this certainly far from worth it. Aroma was very faint and subtle coffee. Appearance was near black. Flavour was thin roasted malts and coffee. Pretty weak all around. Not offensive, but not what the style should be.

Bottle. Black body with an average sized light brown head. Aroma-taste: burnt wood, tar, coffee with a dry roast minerally finish. Light bodied.

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.

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!

Bottle. Drank this a bit in the 80s - the label is not retro, it just hasn’t changed. Brownish black with an inch of tan head that fades to a coat and lingers. Aroma has cheap chocolate, roasted malt, prunes, vanilla essence, grass. Thinnish body but slightly creamy. Sweet with brown sugar, mild roast, chocolate, grassy/ weedy bitterness. Drying finish aided by carbonation. Some metal. Perhaps slightly worse than I recalled but really not that bad.

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.

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.

750mL. Pours a clear, fizzy, cola ruby with a massive tan head with good retention and lace. Sort of looks like iridescent river scum or ocean foam. Aroma was at first chocolate and malted milkshake moving to copper piping, iron, dirt. Taste is chalky, metallic, thin, smoky, not really offensive. Palate is soapy, metallic, thin, fizzy, suddy.

Nice black oil colours with little head. Undergrowth in the nose and a big does of char in the taste. Would not pick it as CUB! Why is this not widely sold?

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.