Bare Knuckle Stout

This stuff is heinous, I don’t like Guinness and dry stouts are not my favrotie category especially on nitro, but this is absloutely horrid. How can people drink this crap. Acrid burnt chocolate roastiness. Over roasted to the point of being bitter and sour.

This is Guinness lite (and since Guinness is stout lite, I guess that makes this stout lite lite). It has the typical stout appearance - dark, opaque, fairly thick head. It also has the typical stout aromas and flavors, but they are so watered down as to be almost nonexistent, and this also prevents there from being any subtle nuances. There’s a basic, very mild coffee-ish roastiness (we’re talking cheap Folgers here, not a nice custom roast or anything even halfway decent), and a bit of hop bitterness going on, but that’s about it. If you’re in the situation I was in when I tried it (i.e. it’s either this or the typical Miller/Bud choices), then go for it. But if you can get damn near anything else, you’ll be better off.

I am normally partial to stouts and porters, but this is an exception. It looks nice coming out of the keg (had this at the Mensa AG in Denver), dark sable-brown with a decent head. Aroma, however, is rather weak, albeit typical of a stout. Flavor is rather insipid - it tastes like watered-down coffee with just a little bit of an alcohol zing. Texture is smooth but lifeless. Forget this one.

I tried this on tap at the A-B hospitality room at Sea World Orlando. Given my previous experience with A-B products, I was leery of trying this, but since it was free I gave it a shot. I have to say, I was impresses that there is an A-B product I’d have again. The appearance was a nice, solid black with a reasonably impressive head that lasted for most of the glass. The smell seemed to be quite muted -- There wasn’t much happening there besides some mild roasted smells. I was impressed with the flavor, which had some chocolate and coffee taste to it. The beer had a somewhat creamy texture with the head and carbonation, but overall it was a bit light for my tastes. Still, I would rate this as perhaps the best A-B product I’ve tried; maybe an upper middle class of beers I’ve had. If I had the choice, I’d still order a Guinness over this, but I would drink it again.

A very good beer, thick foamy head, very smooth, roasted, and carmel malts, very strong. I’d choose this over guiness