Nashoba Valley Summer Stout

Brewed by Nashoba Valley Winery
Style: Sweet Stout
Bolton, Massachusetts USA

Serve in English pint

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We were quite surprised to see a Summer stout. The typical summer beer is light and fizzy. The Summer Stout settled to a black murky body with a light brown medium size, frothy head. It had average lacing and a mostly diminishing head. It was not very strong and powerful, but the malty sent contained hints of toasted malts. Amber enjoyed the malty aroma. The initial moderately bitter taste quickly settled to light bitter with hints of burnt coffee for an average duration. Light to medium in body with soft carbonation and a watery texture. The summer stout was good, but wasn’t as complete as we imagined. Not a bad stout, but not a great stout because it was watery. Reviewed in November, 2006.

Brewed in the USA..... Courtesy of the Capt, thanks Mark. Pours a dark brown color with thin tan head. The aroma is just like a Doppelbock, caramel, nuts and malts. Taste is much of the same with a hint of vanilla. Overall, this was kind of boring and i don’t like the fact that they called this a stout !!!

Another sample from the winery- Dark pour with a light ruddy brown head. A touch of roasted-nuttiness, malts. Well it was a muddled mix in the middle and end, light and a little weak for a stout-oily. Needs some work.

Courtesy of Boboski. Thanks. Jason. <P> Aroma ha sa sort of molasses, coffee, raisin syrup aroma with mild sulphur/smoke notes and some sugary dark fruit accents...reminds me a lot of some of the Danish stouts I’ve had recently. The body is a flat black and the head is oofily large...three fingers thick...and bubbly, but with a nice tan/mocha color. Mildly plastic tinged, smokey/sweet fore. Tobacco, cigarette ash and rubber throught the middle. The mouthfeel is tingly with carbonation and thin and the finish is sweetish with mild chocolate notes and more plastic/rubber. Tastes amateurish.

Pours a dark black clear in appearance with no light breaking through. It leaves a thick tan head that breaks up quickly. The nose is chocolate, smokey, espresso, vanilla, and some spicy undertones. The taste starts with a tart roasted espresso bitterness on the palate. It then moves to a suttle earthy hop profile that beings to sweeten. The finish leaves you with a tannic tart smack. This is a good brew, a little less "summer" then I expected too much espresso in the body needed more sweetness to balance to truly make this a summer brew IMO. Hence the lower rating but a solid offering.

on tap-pours a light brown head with black color. Aroma is coffee. Taste is coffee, oatmeal. Medium body, good carbonation.

2005 bottle sampled on 9/13/2005. Big, dark beige-cappucino colored head. Deep black colored body with fair head retention. Moderate filtration with slight, slight sediment on the bottom. Light coffee and some light citric hops in the nose. Aroma is extremely weak. Straining, I get a little anise, vanilla and light chocolate as well. Flavor has a big ashiness up front. Cigars/cigarettes, burnt rubber and a high acidity. Foamy texture with huge bubbles doesnt give a thick or even smooth texture. Oily, astringent, buttery. Probably a slight infection. Dry flavor with only a faint toffeeish malt. Lots of peanut brittle, very nutty. Some lightly fruity hops are mildly pleasant.

How about instead of this they make a dark IPA. Leave out the roast that clashes with the citrus and I don’t even know where they were going with this half-assed body and terrible consistency. There’s a huge difference between a session stout and a watery stout.

Bottle, from the Winery. Ok nose, roasty sweet. Chocolate, cardboard, little fruit cherry, plum, viney. Dark brownish black color, small to no head. Bitter flavors, like aroma, Viney leads the way, with a little of a red wine/grape flavor, maybe some lemon too. Thin body, lite creamy mouthfeel, bitter sweet finish. Easy to drink stout.
Earlier Rating: 3/14/2004 Total Score: 3.4
Draft @ J's restraunt. Ok nose typical coffee/ chocolate roasted aromas, a little cream/ dairy too. Nice brownish black color, though light in restraunt wasn't best for judging. Nice roasted flavor. Starbucks frappachino(wifes comments) baking chocolate, coffee, little seltzer. Thin body dry finish. Good stout, got better as it warmed up, Nice beer with the Kangaroo steak I had for dinner.

Pours coal-black with a small head. Overwhelming honey and raisin taste, very sweet stout. There is little balance to this - the sweet taste overwhelms.

Pours with a five-finger light tan head that leaves traces of lace. Black color. Light-medium bodied and light carbonation. Nose is sweet coffee/chocolate. Starts on the sweet side finishes as roasted coffee, seems thinner than other stouts. The abv from their site is 4.45%. $1.45 for a 12oz bottle from Colonial Spirits Acton, Ma.