East End Black Strap Stout

Brewed by East End Brewing Company
Style: Stout
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA

Sample at East End. Got to try this at Barley’s RAF in 2006 and remember liking it, so I’m geeked to try it again. Pitch black pour with a big brown chocolate milk head. Roasty aroma with chocolate and coffee characteristics. Chocolate flavor up front with roasty and bitter coffee on the back end and a lasting finish. I haven’t tried many non-imperial stouts in my time that are this full-flavored, so I’m impressed. Sorry to make comparisons, but sorta reminiscent of Bell’s Kalamazoo.

Had this on tap in Bloomfield. A really great full bodied stout, with huge oily syrupy smack and hops to boot. Puts Guiness to shame

Pours very nice and dark with an extremely resilliant brown head. This bastard lasted throughout the drink. Smells of coffee, chocolate, roasted malts. Very appetizing. I was spoiled by the Homewood Reserve version of this. Taste is excellent, a lot stronger than I had expected. East End really knows how to do a stout. Nice roasty coffee taste with a mildly bitter finish. Very nicely balanced. Mouthfeel is light to medium and a tad too carbonated. I would prefer a thicker body. NOTE: Carbonation settles greatly as the drink warms, I would recommend letting this sit a few minutes before drinking. Drinkability is great. I will absolutely get another fill next time I get out to EEBC, and I won’t have any trouble finishing this growler.

From a growler served in a shaker glass. Shared by the oh so generous TheCaptain. Thanks Mark. This was a really interesting beer, it had an imperial stout-lite kind of vibe to it. It poured like used motor oil with a brown head. It even left a brown oily looking residue on the inside of the growler. It had all of the character of an imperial stout, just not as in-your-face as most RIS. The smell/taste was chocolate, coffee, tobacco, and a light charred character. Very nice.

Comes out of the tap a deep sable, just a red tomcat whisker above black; tan head is fairly thick but not too persistent. Aroma is strong, smoky, malty, with a dominating overtone of molasses - fairly sweet but not cloying. Flavor is rich and smoky with a strong molasses tone, somewhat but not too sweet. Texture is quite thick and not very fizzy. A good beer to finish a drinking session.

Good stout. Very pretty black pour with a big long lasting head. Flavor is smoky malt with a very dry finish.

Poured black with tan head. Aroma of chocolate and roasted malt. Nice roasted malt flavor with chocolate hints throughout. Finished kind of boozy.

Tap @ Bocktown in Pittsburgh. Comes to me completely black, it is thick looking. Aroma is a prune-y thick and some mineral qualities. Taste has a little bit of light chocolate and the mineral part is stronger. There is a little bit of that light watery prune in there as well. Basic comment, it was a very mineral type of stout.