Hockley Stout

Brewed by Hockley Valley Brewing & Malting Company
Style: Dry Stout
Orangeville, Canada

Dark malt character is undermined by strong plastic and vinyl phenols in the nose. Opaque black body is topped by a decent fine bubbled tan head that recedes to a lasting cover with some lacing. Vegetal flavour with plastic phenols that overshadow the dark malts. Honey sweetness in the aftertaste. Medium light body is very dry with pleasant and lasting effervescence. Bacterial infection perhaps? Bottle sampled with Altair, beerbuzzmontreal, Cathschlag, Glouglouburp, Goldorak, MartinT, muzzlehatch and Yowie.

My Bottom Line:
This poor excuse of a Stout is the frail setting for the showdown between plastics and lengthy charred roastiness. The 1-liter swing-top bottle cannot be the only culprit.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-The fizzy carbonation plows through the initially big-bubbled head, which soon disappears.
-This is thin, thin, thin.
-Menthol cigarettes/ashes increase discomfort.
-That roastiness barely possesses any malty sweetness to support it.
-I could not imagine drinking a full pint from this bottle. A nightmarish prospect.

Bottle.

Sampled from growler in Montreal on Glouglouburp’s roof at the tiggmtl-returns/MartinT leaves for Japan party, June 17 2007. What better way to follow up a couple of Top 50 beers than this fine Ontario product? It pours not quite opaque dark brown-black, with a short-lived medium-brown head....nose is plasticene, cleanser, hard minerals, some bare hints of old toasted grains but not much quality here....and similarly, the body is dry, dull, cardboardy, again with a sort of cleanser character, stale....thin, low carbonation, brackish finish. Mmmm didn’t feel bad about wasting almost all of this growler; I’m fairly sure nothing will grow where we poured it, Dani, so I hope you weren’t going to start a rooftop garden....

[313-20070512] 1L (w/ jerc). Malty caramel aroma, lightly roasted with a hint of plastic. Dark dark brown body with a big foamy long-lasting thick light-brown head. Sweet roasted chocolate flavour has hints of coffee malt and candied figs. Full body is fairly smooth. Lovely flavour, quite impressive without an alcohol kick.

Very dark stout, crazy billowing tan head that practically explodes. Sweet, thick malt aroma. Roasted malts, notes of strong black coffee, and a bitter dark chocolate finish. The palat is decent for stout, not syrupy but could be a little more present in the scheme of things. All and all 1L of enjoyment. Would like to see this in smaller swing top bottles.

Coffee scent and roasted malts. Dark black in colour. Thick dark beige head. Thick and smooth. Malty and sweet. Very nice and consistent. Simple and smooth. Quite nice.

Black body topped by a medium tan head. Aroma is anything but stout-ish. Vinyl aroma and even in the taste. Roastiness is minimal, instead I got a dusty dry body with a powdery chemical flavour. Forget about black chocolate or coffee beans. Empty and airy. Could it be the fault of the swing-top bottle or is it just another beer following Ontario’s quality tradition.

Very dark brown-black. Massive creamy/billowy tan head. (4+) The beer has to negotiate with the head to gain passage out of the glass. Dusty malt aroma. Mild yet rich malty caramel is sweet with light notes of wispy espresso and dark chocolate. Vague bit of anise. Flavour is a sweet rich malt with a moderate balancing dryness that increases in the finish. Lingering mild roast in the aftertaste, mocha and dilute notes of chocolate and coffee. (7+) Smooth average palate is not as chewy as I’d like personally but that is just me. Very very good at what it does. Hope they keep this up.