Alameda Black Bear XX Stout

Brewed by Alameda Brewhouse
Style: Foreign Stout
Portland, Oregon USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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Deep red almost black with a thick tan head. Chocolate and spice aroma that warms your mouth for the first sip. Expresso flavor to start then finishes with a bitter and slight alcohol finish. If you like a dark beer, then this is a must try.

GABF 2005: Deep brown hued with amber highlights topped by a good tan head. The aroma is crystal, chocolate and a touch of black patent malt, plum and prune, espresso, grassy and piney hops, and a bit of licorice and anise spice. The taste has a liquid gold character of heavy sweet malts, fleshy fruits, subdued spice, and a nice counterbalance of hop smack of espresso bitterness. The feel is oily and velvety, smooth yet a bit of bite and astrengent finish. WOW, one of the better American made "foreign stouts" I ever had, beergeek worthy!

Very dark brown. Beautiful aroma with nuts, dark chocolate and light espresso. Exceptionally well-balanced character hits all the right notes - light black malt, hint of tartness, rich chocolate, good hop underpinning. I don’t have a whole lot of notes on it, but when we judged this the gold medallist, what I had to say I think sums it up: "I asked to judge this category so I could drink beers like this."

Pour is deep black nice brown head...nice toasty and roasty nose with lots of coffee...taste is well balanced between sweet and coffee bitterness...

Draft. Pitch black, tan head covered, lasting and full. Sweet nose that strikes from its malt pureness that contributes chocolate milk, dark roasted coffee and strong molasses and licorice undertones. The flavours are not original, just textbook and well-focused, yet without the cheap sugary feel that bothers me in the few examples I’ve had. It rather displays vanilla beany hints and rich floury backings. Medium bodied, smooth velvety palate. Impressive beer, I’m generally not a fan of sweet stouts, but this one is what I consider a good foreign stout should thrive for and what better place than Portland for it to come from?

(Draft & Cask: Alameda Brewing Co. in Portland, OR) Not that the beers at Alameda have tickled my fancy so far, but this stout is easily my favorite beer on tap today. I’m sampling both the regular draft version, and a cask version, and I’ll cover the draft version first. Its very roasty, chocolaty, and moderately sweet nose is very enticing. And fortunately, the flavor lives up to the promise. It’s chocolaty and roasty, fairly sweet, moderately bitter, and a modest smokiness emerges in the finish. However, the cask version is sweeter and more woody, showing lots of vanilla. Medium-to-full bodied, coating the palate long into the finish, but I guess for a foreign stout, it could have a bit more body. Black and opaque, with a tan head that just won’t quit. Lacing is average, some patches clinging to the glass. The only beer I’ve sampled at this brewpub that’s worth a second glass, the cask version is easily the trophy winner today, and it’s not even close. This beer is delicious! Highly recommended.

Full ebony proclaims the appearance, not a streak of light seeps through, and a majestic cocoa cap holds guard on top, lush and creamy, an impressive looking stout, at the start. Aroma begins with chocolate, molasses, spice, and bittersweet coffee tones. Earthy, gritty, rich...coffee grounds are now the primary senstation, overall an expansive, and flavorful nose. Immensively full on the palate, at first swallow. Rich, dark, utterly satisfying. Plenty of grit and texture, flavors of syrup, rich chocolate, bitter coffee beans, tangible, and a touch tart behind the bitter. Plump mouthfeel,... long, sticky finish,... viscous is an appropriate qualifier, but not too, this is very approachable for the stout fan. But definitely not a brew for those that shy from the darkness. The rest of us, we’re in high heaven here. A stout lovers wet dream, not too strong, not too thick, but so full in all other respects that it fulfills our every need. Drinkability? Assured. When you’re that tasty, you don’t stand a chance in my glass, pal. A very solid stout. So tired of middling versions, blase’ people pleasers, so glad to find one with serious cojones, yet so simple to slide back the throat.

(RBSG04) Black body with creamy brown head. Aroma is mild sweet, chocolate, some roasty. Medium sweet body, some chocolate, roast, some lactose. Creamy medium-full body. Sorry, but I don’t see what makes this a noteworthy beer.

smooth drinkng, finishes dry, for a stout, this is one that you could hammer down a few.

Black oil like appearence. Creamy brown head and lace. Chocolate, coffe, grapes or raisins, hops and alcohol. More of a roasted character in the flavor, everything else is complimentary to the nose. Finishes bitter and dry. Creamy nitro palate. Nice stout, though I do wish I could try it cask conditioned.