Great Lakes Blackout Stout

Bottle at Kookfest 2006. Black/dark brown colour. Bit of tar, bit of vanilla. Beige head. Lots of roasted malts and hops. Lots of choc/roastyness. Just a bit empty in the mouth.

Much thanks to hopdog for this one off my wants list. Pours a deep black with an average creamy dark tan head that laced and sustained. Aroma of chocolate covered hazelnuts, vanilla, roasty malts and some dark fruits. Flavor of roasted malts, coffee, dark chocolate, some roastiness that lingers with a hint of vanilla. Also some sweet caramel type malts coming through and coating the tongue.

Pours a dark brown color with a decent, but fading head. Leaves a little lacing behind though, which is good. Smells pretty roasty, but there’s some sweet chocolate and vanilla scents to the aroma as well. Taste coats the mouth nicely with flavors of both coffee/espresso, and a bit of raisin and dark fruit sweetness as well. Hop bitterness is pronounced, but it fits right in, rather than assaulting the senses. Actually, the hops add their flavor well before the bitterness hits your throat. Good creamy mouthfeel. Very impressive, a great way for me to try Great Lakes Brewery.

12 oz bottle from Pailhead. Pitch black with a quick diminishing brown head. Nose is like chocolate Ovaltine - sweet malt and milk chocolate, touches of smoke. The flavor is pretty much the same as the nose, with the smokiness becoming slightly more apparent. Excellent!

12oz Bottle Pours out a nice pitch black topped with a tan head. Nice rost arom and choco. Very nice thanks Indiana Red

Bottle. Pours dark black, with ruby around the edges and a thin tan/brown head. Aroma is chocolate and coffee. Flavor is slightly hoppy at first, then the chocolate, and coffee come in. The finish is somewhat smoky, and not as warming as I expected. This seems like a great beer to age for a while. Perhaps that is why the barrel aged Blackout is rated higher.

Bottle (Chris o Gathering06): Choco, vanilla nose. Black with a short brown head. Loads of roast in the flavour but not much else. A bit unbalanced.

Bottled. Pours a dark brown with a brown head. Aroma is slightly buttery, dark roasted. Taste is sweet, toasted bread, bitter and roasted.