Hakim Stout

Brewed by Harar Beer Factory
Style: Foreign Stout
Harar, Ethiopia

Light brown, thin looking body with a khaki head. smells of raisins, caramel coffee and blood. starts sweet and malty with blood and metal hops, then 10 seconds later, BOOM! -licorice, licorice , powerfully so. Aftertaste is licorice and light coffee malt. Not so badbut definately not a stout. Still, definately the greatest Ethiopian stout you will ever taste!

(Bottle) Pours a deep red body with a thin, almond head. Sweet nose of molasses. Ack! Burnt molasses and caramel flavour. Too sweet to continue…

Clear copper color - too light for a stout- with a small head that quickly disappeared. Doughy, malty aroma. Medium to light body, with a sweet malt taste up front and a cloying finish. Wonder how many Ethiopians drink stouts?

Brown with minimal, tawny head. Smelled and tasted slightly stale and funky to me. Too thin and boring for a stout. 12 oz. bottle.

Poured with essentially no head. Has a sort of interesting aroma, but the flavor is bitter and thin.

I drank an Ethiopian stout...isn't that insane? Well, the aroma knocked me off my feet, I thought for a minute I had come across some jewel in the brush but let's do a little side by side comparison of the aroma and flavor shall we: 1)There was an incredible full aroma of vanilla bean, rum and egg nog, little hints of espresso and a definitive sweetness that was not overpowering or distracting. 2)the vanilla/rum/eggnog goodness in the aroma was completely and utterly gone with the first sip. How the hell did they manage that one? Okay the espresso is there, I'll give them that, but combined with the crippling thin mouthfeel it tasted like iodine. A few minutes after finishing this I think I tasted a smidgeon of vanilla, but hardly enough to compensate. This is probably the most lopsided beer I've ever had.

The aroma on this was nice, lots of vanilla and only slightly astringent. Too bad about the rest of the beer. Not really a stout, more of a dark bitter if that is a style. Dry, crisp, and watery. Weird stuff.

Excellent coffee and spice aroma with a bit of maltiness. Thin off-white head with decent lacing. Cola appearance - very thin. Faint chocolate notes in the flavor with a bit of licorice in the aftertaste. Chicory coffee flavor also adds to this a bit. Very thin mouthfeel though - especially for a stout. Better than expected.