Black Toad Distinctive Dark Ale

Brewed by Gordon Biersch Brewing Company
Style: Brown Ale
San Jose, California USA

Serve in Dimpled mug, Shaker

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Thanks to TomGibson. Pours a darker brown with an amber hue and small bubbly off white head. Aroma was nutty, toasty, malty sweatness. Flavor was toasty malts, some stail coffee and kind of watery.

The aroma is very toasted with notes of coffee and grassy hops. The appearance is brown with a small head. The taste is like the aroma. The palate is average. Overall a better than average beer but it seems like a weak porter more than a brown ale.

Pours a light black brown, in line more with a porter than a brown ale, but hey, who cares what style a beer is if it tastes good... not to say this one does or doesn’t. Minimal, though present head. The aroma is weak, like a watery stout, a bit of roast, but mostly empty, with something like pool water presence. The mouthfeel was a little below average, with high fizziness and wateriness on top of not being creamy or mouthfilling. The flavors were the strong point. Robust roast, without much sweetness, though there was a certain light malt flavor. There was also a floral hop note to this one. The flavor was again however, weak. At $4.50 for a sixer, how the hell can I complain?

12 oz bottle single from Trader Joes. Poured a dark brown color with a small sized off white head. Aromas of chocolate, light roast, caramel and light smoke. Tastes of bitter chocolate, coffee and nutty. Thin body

Too dark for a brown ale, close to being black. Aroma of sanitizer (no, it is not my glass). Taste of nuts and coffee. Sweet taste, bubbly on the tongue, and brown sugar finish.

12oz bottle... ugly medium brown, lots of amber edges, a nice light tan rises several fingers quickly, but then its gone to a watery head... weak nose, but heading in the right direction, deep roasted nutty chocolate, a hint of brownie and vanilla, nice... taste is disappointing, really light taste, mouthfeel is off, too watery, some decent brownie and nut notes, some bitter coffee on the back, the finish ends up really sweet, kind of all over the place but decent

Not very distinctive for a "distinctive dark ale". A bit nutty and malty but a bit weak all-around.

Pour is a almost black with a small tan head. Aroma is very small, some roasty malts but not much else. Flavor is again pretty weak. Some malts but again not much else. Cheap but nothing great.

Bottle pourers light brown with red hue, thin off white head. Aroma is thin roast and Carmel malt. Pretty sweet and straight malt flavors of caramel and sweet molasses. Eh.

Bottle. Pours a nice black-brown with a finger and a half of quickly dissolving off-white head. Aroma so faintly of nuts and malt as to be non-existent. Flavor is equally faint. Almost nothing there. Not sure what’s going on with this. Subsequent tastes reveal more dark sweetness and roasty flavor that is actually pretty pleasant. Carbonation keeps it interesting, but still, nothing truly noteworthy here.