Lion Stout

625. Pours deep opaque black with three fingers of thick, surging tan rocky head. Smells mildly chocolatey along with some sour aluminum. Nice attack: medium body with soft carb and restrained flavors. Sweet and chocolatey mid-palate, some light roast and toast in there but nothing domineering. Light finish. Easy drinking, flavorful but still almost refreshing, especially for the abv. Nice stuff.

Great roasty smell but not a lot of roast flavor. It felt a bit thin for a stout but you’d never know it was eight percent. Would definetly buy again.

Bottle -- Pours an impenetrable black with a medium beige head with some retention and good lacing. Aroma is striking: alcohol, earthy smokey maltiness, over-ripe fruit and dark chocolate. Flavour is more of the same with some chocolatey sweetness and a nice bitter edge at the back. Surprisingly little alcohol warmth given the 8%. Palate is quite creamy. A tremendous beer.

Bottle, 330ml, IBS, Perth. No BB date evident.old? Quite rich and very smooth, alcohol is well hidden. Expected at least a touch more roastiness.

330ml bottle. Pours an almost entirely black colour with the typical ruby high-light in the bottom of the glass. Little beige/brown head. Aroma is mocha sweetness, chocolate, and alcohol. Taste is a little smokey up front, then comes the mocha, finishes with the chocolate, and then the alcohol and bitter dark chocolate comprise the after taste. Mouthfeel is oily and a tad rough around the edges, but over-all actually kind of smooth. The smokey malts seem to carry on the whole way through. This is definitely an interesting and complex brew. There’s enough flavour here to mask the 8% alcohol which is for sure a plus. I think I would need more than 330ml in steaming hot weather to really fully appreciate this stout though.

330ml bottle. pours black with a nice lingering head. aromas are esspresso and sweet chocolate. this is an awesome stout. it has a nice amount of sweetness and a great mouthfeel and is unbelievably balanced and drinkable for an 8%. a great stout and this is the reason i love this style.

Bottle. With all of the excellent reviews out there, this surprised me a bit. Poured clear and black with a medium beige head. The aroma was black cherries, roasted malt, and some dark chocolate. The flavor opens with much of the same, but is quickly overtaken by metal. The mouthfeel is a bit thin. I had high hopes for this one and it did not deliver.

After months of teasing ’maybe next week’ promises, Nav finally conjured the sought-after Lion from his cricket bag. And it was worth the wait. Glugs inkily into the snifter an impenetrable pitch, creamily heaped cappuccino suds receding to a slick. A dribble-inducing waft of black cherry, soy, chocolate liqueur, malt whiskey, Marmite, resiny hop spice and charred barrelwood arises. This is a special beer before you’ve even tasted it. Mouth is drinking chocolate-thick, deep, bittersweet and satisfying, with a chocolate complexity that is one moment powdery and sweet, the next packed with 80% cocoa bitterness. Creamily smooth but warmingly boozy. Lingering tobacco, charcoal and Marmite afters. Big, bittersweet, creamy and dangerous. I’m not being greedy but I really need a crate of 625ml bottles to get to the bottom of this beer.