Mountain Town Steam Engine Stout

On tap at Crunchy’s, East Lansing. An interesting, complex stout, sweet, with notes of milk chocolate, molasses, brown sugar, dark fruits (including grapeskin), and roast. I did not detect much alcohol presence, and assumed this was a sweet stout of modest ABV rather than an Imperial Stout. Enjoyable.

MBG Winter Fest 2008. Poured clear dark brown color with an average frothy off-white head that was mostly lasting with good lacing. Moderate roasted coffee and chocolate aroma. Medium body with a smooth texture. Medium roasted coffee bittersweet flavor with a light to medium bittersweet finish of moderate duration. My expectations where met with a soft beer.

Not bad for a small town brew. Nice dark color, cinnamon colored head. Aroma is sweet, slightly alcoholic, roasty. Mouthfeel is thin--I wouldn’t consider this a typical imperial stout. Its watery, but suprisingly the flavor is not unfull. Its roasty, but there is some dimension to it. Some coffee, and the flavor is a little creamy. Overall, its nice, but its ends in a watery-sweet finish that is mono-dimensional and gets a little annoying after a while.

Brown nearing black pour with no head. Very low carb. The nose is filled with fudgey malts and vanilla. The body is a bit watery and lactic. There is more roastiness in the body, but just not enough. Comes off as a stout with a great nose and thin body. Unfortunately the bartender didn’t know the ABV of this one, but I would have a hard time believing it was 8% or higher. Just OK.

In true Stout fashion it was rich and full of flavor. It would of been nice to be dispensed with nitrogen and I was told it may happen soon. We’ll see. Could of been a bit thicker.