Bloomington Big Stone Stout

Brewed by Bloomington Brewing Co.
Style: Dry Stout
Bloomington, Indiana USA

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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Tap at source: Black with a strong, dark brown head. Scent is heavy..sweet chocolate and coffee. Taste is bold, sweet chocolate. Very smooth and creamy. A nice stout....good heavy feel to it...smoky towards the end. A pleasure.

tap at the brewpub - Pours very dark brown and has a roast malt and chocolate aroma. It tastes of that roast malt with some hints of coffee and chocolate. It’s medium bodied. Solid stout.

Tap. Smoky chocolate malt aroma. Dark brown color with moderate head. Lightly sweet and smoky chocolate malt and mildly bitter herbal hops flavor. Light body. Very nice.

On tap at brewpub
My final beer of the afternoon was this decent stout. Much better than the porter it is at least worth a revisit when I am not in the mood to tick off something new. Especially at happy hour pricing this is probably one of the better local options without driving south to New Albany or up to Indianapolis.

Aroma / Appearance - Reddish black with dark brown edges this beer has a mysterious glow. Loose and fluid it moves around the glass like the final drops of coffee from the bottom of the pot. Anise, plum, and pieces of bacon eat at the air. If you left malts to cool over a pile of cinders it might smell something like this.

Flavor / Palate - Black coffee, anise, smoke, and a fluid texture are the hallmarks of this reasonably complex beer. Without trying to overwhelm the senses it throws wave after wave of depth at the senses. Bittersweet chocolate leads to a warm finish of smoky ash. If this is actually close to the 6% ABV on the board it is well done indeed.

On tap at the brewpub. Fond memories of this one aren’t especially borne out by this latest taste. Oily looking black pour with a medium tan head, but very little lacing and so forth is suspicious to me. Alas, turns out that this session stout isn’t particularly bold in mouthfeel or dry on palate, two things I certainly look for in a dry stout. Nose is fragrant enough, with appropriate bitters and roasts, and the taste is a bit minerally along with mild sweetness and bitter chocolate. But it wasn’t what I’d hoped for.

On tap at Lennies / Bloomington Brewing Co on 14 March 2010. No ABV stated. Very dark - almost black. Thin tan collar of foam. Quite roasty with a hint of smoke. Dry with cocoa powder chocolate. Rather light mouthfeel.

UPDATED: FEB 2, 2013 Aroma of slightly bitter chocolate with some light smoke and resin. Appearance is black with tan head. Flavor matches the nose; palate is medium, creamy and soft. A well done stout.

Black with a tan head. Big roasty nutty smoked malt aroma. Medium body. Rich, roasty blackened malt flavor with a hint of smoke is on the dry side. BBC’s best brew that i have tried so far.

Indiana Microbrewers Festival: Opaque with small lasting head. The aroma has notes of charred (smoke and ash) malts, chocolate, prune, herbal hops, and a hint of espresso. The taste follow suit with an ashy and chocolaty malt overtone supported by mild noble bitterness and some coffee character. The mouth feel was smooth and drinkable. A solid stout.

My 400th rating from the US. Draught at the brewpub. Nose is sweetish chocolate with a surprisingly high amount of roast for this type of establishment. Opaque black pour with a tanned head and good lacing. Thin body, almost water, is overcome by light toasty roast. Sweetish with a touch of balancing bitterness. Slightly burned and woody, but certainly not smoky.