Allagash Black

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

Appropriately funky aroma, with a vaguely lactic leathery roast and coffee tone. Nicely roasted malt flavor with a semi-dry finish. A mild astringent tartness is apparent. Finish is highly roasty and ashy. There’s a slight woodiness to this even though I’m not sure its ever aged on wood. Pretty well built, light and fizzy at the same time with the high carhonation of Belgian style ales, some mild funk and plenty of roasted malt and coffee notes. Pretty dark but shows a tint of brown an red in the light. Produces a medium foamy beige head.

Bottled, brought by NoiZe. Batch #4. Dark color, medium brown head. Aroma of chocolat, coffee, rye. Slight spicy. Bitter chocolat taste. Very nice, especially in its style.

750 bottle from Holiday Wine Cellar: Black in color with a medium, fading, frothy light brown head. Aroma is a little spice, yeast and cocoa. Flavor starts kinda fruity with dark chocolate, belgian spice, a hit of coffee and a touch of smoke Full creamy mouth feel with moderate to lively carbonation.

Dark beer, but not really Black. Foamy tan head that left attractive lace on the glass. Lots of cereal grains in the nose with chocolate notes. Very light mouthfeel like I would expect from the wheat/oats. Nice chocolate, roast grains and burnt toast flavors. Lingering burnt coffee and burnt toast in the finish. Very easy drinking and tastey beer.

Bottle. Thanks to Thaddeus. A dark black color with a big foamy tan head. Tangy with a nice light carbonated feel. Chocolate and candy sugars join in for a smooth finish.

750ml bottle poured into a Sam Adams specialty glass. AB pours dark brown... just shy of black actually. The tan head is large and fluffy. The initial aroma is very metallic but the beer is colder than it should be. I’ll let it warm up first. Even after warming there is a very large metallic aroma that drowns everything else out. This stout is carbonated a tad higher than I expected but it doesn’t detriment to taste or palate. Allagash has created a stout that reminds me a great deal of Lion Stout (Sri Lanka) but a tad sweeter. As they claim there is a hint of roasted coffee and malt. The oats smooth the body out nicely. It’s a tad sweet for my taste but I’m willing to overlook that in light of the exceptional balance, complexity and uniqueness. The finish is oily and lingers long after the beer is finished to ensure you don’t experience post-stout-depression.

Tallahassee, Fl. - Liquor Loft - 750 ml caged corked bottle. Pitch black pour with a quickly fading spritzy khaki colored head. Slightly fruity aroma (plums?) with some chocolate accents. Flavor is on the sweet end of the spectrum with some chocolate, a hint of bitter coffee, some licorice and a finish of marshmallows. Actually, this reminds me more of a Schwarz than a Foreign Stout. Mouthfeel - silky - about right for this type of stout. Not disappointed - just expected a tad more.

Ashy brown, creamy light tan head. Soft cocoa and mild roasted coffee aromas warm to lighter notes of funked dark fruit. Flavor is much the same with roasted cocoa notes and a touch of sour smoke balancing on a sweet dark fruit tone. Just a touch of hops in the end brings this around nicely. Medium bodied, soft carbonation, bittersweet finish. Extremely well made...