Allagash Black

Brewed by Allagash Brewing Company
Style: Foreign Stout
Portland, Maine USA

750ml bottle: Pours to an opaque black colored body with a medium sized light tan colored head that lasts. The aroma shows bits of cocoa, bitter coffee, and some light molasses. Taste is milder than expected: dry cocoa, milk chocolate, not very sweet, with hints of caramel and a dry yeast. Medium bodied, lively carbonation, finishes with a mild dry cocoa flavor. To be honest, I don’t know a whole lot about this particular style, but in my opinion the body could have been more full and the flavors could have been less one dimensional. At times it even felt a bit watery.

Draft at Rupununi’s. Sweet to start with a bitter, dry finish. Easy to drink because nothing is overpowering. Dark black flat body with ruby highlights. Average, creamy head that slowly diminishes. The aroma presents notes of roast and smoky peat with hints of coffee, molasses, nuts and grass. Bittersweet chocolate floats in the background. The flavor is moderately sweet, moderately bitter and moderately acidic. The finish is bitter with a very slight dry, metalic taste. Medium body, creamy texture. Solid, balanced and very good.

This was a strange beer. Black pour with a thin tan head. Roasted malt aroma. Flavor is mildly chocolaty with some coffee notes. tastes great up front, but then it almost disappears. It doesn’t really have a finish at all. Odd. Still, not bad.

Bottle thanks to bu11zeye. poured black with a beige fading head. aroma of chocolate and dark roasts. flavor was dark roasts, chocolate, and hops. light body and high carbonation.

(750 ml bottle from Downeast Beverage, cellared for 1 yr. after purchase) Pours very dark tobacco brown with less than a finger of tan head. Aroma of sour fruit, chocolate and yeast - not particularly inviting. Mouthfeel lightly fizzy, a touch chalky, medium-full. Nice, light rings of lacing melt away rather quickly. Flavor of light baker’s chocolate with a tinge of fruity sourness and yeast. A bit nicer as it warms. Some bitterness builds toward finish. Lingering unsweetened chocolate aftertaste with a bit of bitterness. An interesting, nice quality beer but at the same time a bit of a letdown from Allagash. Seems a little confused.

Poured dark brown with an off-white head. Aroma of coriander, dark wine grapes, some orange peel and perhaps a bit of toffee. I didn’t detect much of the roastiness one would expect from a "stout". Flavor follows with notes of spiciness of cinnamon, coriander, and nutmeg with a bit of alcohol dryness. If I were to close my eyes, this would strike me simply as a strong dark Belgian ale. However, I must confess that I’m not missing the stout qualities I had thought were going to be present. Rich soft body pulls everything together. Considering Allagash didn’t really have much in the way of "dark" offerings before, I hope they keep this one on as a nice compliment to their lineup.

Sampled at Bockyhorsey’s Bocky Bash on 7-5-08. Dark brown pour with a ring of foamy tan head. Aroma of roasted coffee and malt, with some chocolate and caramel sweetness. Flavor is all of that, with a sour fruitiness hiding in the background. A little lighter than I was expecting in the flavor and on the palate, but really a great brew.

Poured a dark brown, opaque, with a medium off-white head, non-lasting. A sweet yeast with coffee aroma. Taste is of bitter chocolate, yeast, but the aftertaste is too sweet for me. Not bad but not memorable either.