Emerson’s Brewers Reserve May Day Stout

Formerly brewed at Emerson’s Brewing Company (Lion Breweries - NZ (Lion Nathan Co.)
Style: Stout
Dunedin, New Zealand

Serve in English pint, Shaker, Snifter

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Draught but this rating a bottle cellared for 18 mths. Dark with thin tan head. This is all about the roast barley. Really dark and dry. Puckering. parching dryness. Flavours are strong coffee grounds with dark burnt vogals toast. Light body weight helps and the carbonation is still spot on after all this time. Enjoyed.

Tasted 17/05/2008. 1.25L rigger from Regional Wines (filled 24 hrs earlier). From memory. Tasted while brewing my own Cascade-rish American-style Porter. Pours a very dark chestnut brown with a diminishing tan head. Very nice combination of roast barley, a little malt sweetness and orangey-tropical hops on the clean nose. More of the same in the mouth, with a lightly caramel good sweetness up front (more sweet than dry stout), a lovely orange-like hop character and fruity espresso note in the middle, a firmly roasted second half and more yummy moreish fruity hops in the mildly bitter finish. Medium bodied, medium-low carbonation. My first taste, two nights before, was drunk a couple of hours after filling the rigger and had a drying carbonic note that - mixed with the roast barley and bitterness - detracted from the overall experience slightly. Fill one the day before and enjoy it in its "softened state" - my second impression wass certainly a good one.