Half Pints Stir Stick Stout

Brewed by Half Pints Brewing Co.
Style: Stout
Winnipeg, Canada

Pours very dark brown, almost black with a ridiculous monstrosity of a head. Has a boozy, bitter chocolate and old stale coffee aroma. Tastes quite bitter, and of dark unsweetend bakers chocolate, and more stale coffee. Simple and uninspired, this is about as basic a coffee stout as you can get. I actually find it almost unpleasant to drink. Seeing as how it gets such high ratings i may have just got an off bottle, i’m going to have to try this again, but if its not an off bottle there’s no way i’m paying for it.

Inky/iodine aroma, roast coffee, alcohol and lots of malt, black, pours a small cappuccino head. Flavour is a full on coffee, folllowed up by plenty of rich malt. Medium bodied, well balanced, rich texture quite bitter. Great offering!

Bottle 341 ml
Appearance: thick dark brown look , mid creamy top , slight lacing noted. Good appearance.3+
Nose: dry roasty , organic brown malts , earthy , fried wild mushroom . 6+
Flavor/Palate : Dry dark roast , chocolate with milder follow up/ very clean and drinkable brew. Neat chocolate hinted sout.13+/20

Great Canadian Beer Festival – 2009 – Victoria BC
Dark Malt sweet with a nice chocolate and coffee flavor. This was thick and chewy. Very tasty.

Bottle @ Bar Volo: Beware! I ordered Half Pints Stout and got a half pint of their draught stout. Pays to order by pointing I guess. This one pours very deep brown, some ruby edging, and a nice tan head. Aroma is all roasted malts, espresso, little bit of milk chocolate sweetness in there. The roast keeps coming in the flavour, mild bittering hops and that nice sweet chocolate. The one drawback is the beer has almost no body to speak of, it’s extremely thin. All told, though, another nice domestic Canadian brew!

Tap. King’s Head in Winnipeg. Great beer with hint of dark chocolate. Pours dark. Very enjoyable.

Bottle. Pours inky/oily black with a medium tan head with nice lacing. Nose is big and roasty,coffee and hops come through as well. Palate is nice and thick, creamy and not at all metallic. Flavors of coffee, roast malt, mild bittering hops. Beautifully balanced, but not the most expressive coffee stout I’ve had (it’s no Speedway or Peche Mortel). Good, but it doesn’t quite stir the soul.

Well, finally a coffee-based stout that I really enjoy. This stuff is pretty close to being totally black with a moderate brown bubbly cap on the pour, so-so retention and some spotty lacing. Sure, the aroma revolves around the Ethiopian coffee that has been added but it does not overpower your senses and is combined with some medium roasted malts - a nice appealing aroma. The flavour is a bit milder than other comparable brews but the chewy coffee dominates and is very tasty, more sweet, medium roasted malts that is apparent in the aroma and ends nicely with excellent hops that are not harsh in any way rounding out the taste. Mediumish bodied and seems a bit thin on the mouth but is very smooth with fine, light carbonation. The sweetness, bitter coffee and wonderfully balanced hops leave an interesting blended aftertaste. I would have to say this is the best coffee flavoured brew I’ve had to date (not entirely comparable to the devistating Speedway from AleSmith). Another success from the fine brewery Half Pints.