Alpine Beer Company Captain Stout

Poured from a 22oz bottle in to a nice dark brown/black body with a 1.5 finger tan head. There is also a slight hint of reddish/rubiness to the color too that is nice. Smells of chocolate and coffee/toffee hints and is pleasant. Sweet chocolate and coffee tones hit the tongue first. The malts kick in later too and it’s a nice balance. It’s fairly smooth overall and goes down easy with a bit of bite too. As some of the other reviews comment, it does get a bit nicer as it warms up too. I’m glad that I got to try this, and I’d recommend it to others but it’s not necessarily my most favorite stout out there.

Thought about giving this one a 5 on appearance but didn’t pour quite as viscous as other beers I’ve tried. Aroma is chocolate, vanilla and smoke. Flavor is burnt marshmellow, chocolate, and espresso. Nothing worthy of an over-the-top rating.

A reasonable pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces a three finger thick, fluffy, cocoa stained, darkish tan colored head that produces some textured surfaces and spotty lacing on the sides of the glass as it slowly subsides. The beer is an opaque black color, that displays some clear, ruby hues around the edges if held up directly to the light. The nose has quite a chocolate note to it that is noticeable as I am pouring the beer. A more direct inspection of the aroma tempers this sweet chocolate note with a touch or roast coffee, a burnt tartness and ample toasted bread aromatics. I definitely like the balance between sweet, yet dark malt notes on the more roast notes; it doesn’t hurt that overly burnt and acidic aromatics from the dark grains are fairly muted either.

Light and creamy up front, but a carbonic bite adds some acidity and sharpness to this brew. A quick swirl of my glass reduces the carbonation (which wasn’t overly brisk to begin with) and softens the carbonic acid note. This still has a sharp acid note to it though that is produced by the ample roast malt character. This is also probably accentuated a bit by the fact that this beer is fairly dry and quite light. The light mouthfeel is nice in that it makes this a more quaffable stout. While somewhat dry, there is still a noticeable, dark-grain influenced sweetness here that accentuates flavors of chocolate.

As the beer warms it becomes a bit smoother, it never quite loses the burnt acidity, but it becomes much more in balance with the rest of the beer. This is a bit more enjoyable than it’s components taken individually; it can be a bit too burnt-grain leaning at times, but for the most part the other flavors and the quaffability help to balance this out.

Purchased: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp?PlaceID=6726>South Bay Drugs Pharmacy, Imperial Beach CA

Sadly, I was really disappointed in this beer. Flavor was a bit metallic and the chocolate and roastyness that was there was nearing sour and a bit ashy, almost like a cigar. I felt it was out of balance and not what was intended. I’ll need to try again just to be sure.

Inky black in color with a small white head. Black malt, chimney aroma. Nice rich and creamy quaff. Flavors of rich dark chocolate, toffee, roast and slight vanilla. A touch of hops makes this a winner for me.