Alameda Black Bear XX Stout

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

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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Mountainous cascade pour out of the bottle yields a rich and dense, light brown head. Aromas of slight char and bitter chocolate. Impenetrable black in color. Luscious and creamy in the mouth, nicely carbonated, then almost milky. Flavorwise, this beer delivers. Blackened malts interplaying with some fine hop bitterness, bittersweet chocolate along for the ride, and a sweet and chewy granola bar just for kicks. Some tang from the rye on the swallow. This is a great beverage. Thanks o Dubbercody for the pleasure.

Comes out of the tap an opaque warm sable with a bubbly tan head like the fizz on freshly-poured cola. Rich aroma has strong molasses and mocha tones, and is somewhat sweet but not too sweet. Superb, smoky flavor has quality coffee, molasses, nutty and chocolate tones, and is very enjoyable. Thick, fairly fizzy texture has a powdery hint and leaves a fizzy, smoky finish.

Poured midnight black. Shiny, viscous with a very beautiful gray-brown head that clued me in that this would be a great beer. Full, smooth mouth feel with sweet, hoppy, yet incredibly well-balanced foreign styled stout. Syrupy, chocolatey, vanilla notes. A perfect desert beer great for baking and pairing.

UPDATED: OCT 21, 2009 22 oz bottle via Hagen. 20 minutes in the freezer for a temp of around 58f...Pours a near black with a large bubbly tan head that leaves quite quickly. Nose is simple roasted grains. Taste is espresso, chocolate, licorice. A very nice smooth roasty flavor with a semi-fry finish. Not chalky of ashy in the least. Body is medium. Perhaps the best foreign stout i have thus tasted.

Pitch black with a big brown nitro head. Thick and smoky flavor, lots of mesquite flavor initially, almost overpowering. Black licorice and burnt wood dominate, with some scotch-like flavors in the finish. VERY thick, could stick a fork in this one... very dry, puckery finish.

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.

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."

Nothing wrong with this Stout at all. It’s strong, comes in a big bottle, and it has a bear on the cover so you know it’s gonna be tough.

Bittersweet chocolate figures prominently in the intensely roasty aroma. Opaque black body with a decent tan-brown, fine bubbled head that recedes to generous cover with some lacing. Strong roastiness is met by very sweet chocolate flavour with quite a strong bitter finish that is again supplanted by a lasting sweetness in the aftertaste that is all powdery cocoa. Dry despite the sweetness, medium bodied and lively in the mouth due to crisp carbonation. Sampled at GABF 2005.

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!