Baxter Phantom Punch Winter Stout

Brewed by Baxter Brewing Co.
Style: Foreign Stout
Lewiston, Maine USA

Serve in English pint, Snifter, Tulip

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

Ar: Raisins, currants, cocoa powder, some mossy hops. Ap: Black, opaque - very large tan head with great retention, and a thick cap of rocky lacing. T: Cocoa and a hint of vanilla up front - some blueberry, and roasted malt - herbal hop flavor - finish is light caramel and ash. P: Medium body with high carbonation - finish is dry. O: Tasty foreign stout - nice restrained use of the cocoa and vanilla.

Decent. Pours black with a fluffy tan head. Aroma is mostly burnt chocolate with a touch of vanilla and coffee. Medium bodied, tastes burnt, slightly metallic. Finishes dry and bitter.

Can at home, extra’d in a trade. Black pour with a big brown head and great lacing. Roast, cocoa, nice vanilla notes, coffee, graham crackers, light coffee, and bread in the aroma. Taste is candi sugar, espresso, sweet vanilla, roast, dark chocolate, spice, and light nutmeg with a light toasty finish. Medium mouthfeel with medium-to-soft carbonation. Pretty tasty, but lacks a bit of depth and body.

Pours opaque black with a slightly brown head. Nose is chocolate. Palate is full bodied with unsweetened chocolate and coffee. Aftertaste is the bitterness oif unsweetened chocolate.

Baxter Brewing Phantom Punch Winter Stout is technically a traditional "Foreign Extra" style stout that happens to be brewed with vanilla beans and cocoa nibs. In that aspect it makes it difficult to grade because it doesn’t taste like your typical FES nor your typical chocolate stout (and you know how much I love those). What it ends up being is a fairly robust stout that’s got plenty of sweetness and bitterness.

I received a 12oz can from friends (thanks Alex & Marissa!). I poured it into a goblet.

Appearance: Dark, opaque black. Forms a large, dark brown, frothy head which retains and laces splendidly.

Smell: Fairly typical sweet stout aroma with hints of milk and vanilla, but not particularly roasty or spicy.

Taste: The head imparts initial bitterness, but it quickly transitions to bittersweet or dark chocolate. Through the middle the bitterness fades and in comes a sweet flow of vanilla and hints of milk chocolate. There’s a strong bitter bite on the finish, though. It’s a mixture of roasted malt, burnt toast and a hint of spicy hop flavor. It’s rather dry and leaves a slightly cloying aftertaste. Still, while it’s in the mouth, Baxter Brewing Phantom Punch Winter Stout is quite tasty and delectable.

I usually prefer a more chocolate-forward stout, but since it’s not meant to be a chocolate stout per se, it works well for what it is. The prominent vanilla is a nice change of pace and accounts for a lighter, milkier flavor component. I found the bitterness to be surprising, interesting, and maybe a tad challenging. All the parts work well together and make for a versatile brew.

Drinkability: While not an imperial stout, Baxter Brewing Phantom Punch Winter Stout is certainly on the full-bodied spectrum. Plenty of flavor and energy from start to finish, yet the mouthfeel is comfortable and a little thinner than you’d expect. It goes down smooth, but it does dry out the tongue. At 6.8% ABV it’s exactly where it should be in terms of weight and body. You could drink two, but one will likely be satisfying enough.

12oz can into a harpoon ipa pint glass. Looks great, with a top heavy deep brown head and black as night color, but also some purple haze. Taste is vanilla, french vanilla at time, coco, coco puffs cereal, dry coco bits, dry chocolate, and coffee. A nice stout no doubt. Love baxter. The head rises and holds a 2 inch glacier over the brew if poured fast enough. Nice. abv is an afterthought as the taste prevails enough to dedicate this classic brew forward. Dryness prevails at each sip, but the status is welcome for the stout. A fluffy aftertaste bounce occurs with the vanilla and the malts mix interchangably and intensely. comesmic wonderings or just a deep good brew? Yeah, love baxter. Keep the good brews coming.
Earlier Rating: 2/9/2013 Total Score: 3.9
12oz can into a harpoon ipa pint glass. Looks great, with a top heavy deep brown head and black as night color, but also some purple haze. Taste is vanilla, french vanilla at time, coco, coco puffs cereal, dry coco bits, dry chocolate, and coffee. A nice stout no doubt. Love baxter. The head rises and holds a 2 inch glacier over the brew if poured fast enough. Nice. abv is an afterthought as the taste prevails enough to dedicate this classic brew forward. Dryness prevails at each sip, but the status is welcome for the stout. A fluffy aftertaste bounce occurs with the vanilla and the malts mix interchangably and intensely. comesmic wonderings or just a deep good brew? Yeah, love baxter. Keep the good brews coming.

Pours black into a snifter. Mocha head with little retention recedes to skim surface leaving spider lacing. Dark chocolate aromas. Dry with sweet chocolate and vanilla upfront turning to licorice before the lasting charred espresso finish.

Can. Pours black tan head. aroma of coco and roast nuts. Taste slight vanilla very thin.

Can. Pour is dark brown with no head. The aroma has a sweetness to it. The taste has some spice to it. A fine brew. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

It pours black with a big foamy lumpy dark brown one inch head. It fades slowly to a half inch leaving spectacular clingy lacing. The smell has a spectacular blend between coffee, chocolate and a little bit of vanilla. Some nice smokey/charred-ness tends to show its face in the smell. The taste takes those smells and makes it fairly sweet with some nice toastiness in the taste. The palate is about a medium with a nice dryness to be expected with the style. I’d say this is fairly drinkable. Overall, a great beer by Baxter for its style and for me. I’d come back to this.