Nepenthe Ales The Shire Stout

Brewed by Candia Road Brewing Company
Style: Stout
Manchester, New Hampshire USA

Serve in English pint, Shaker, Snifter

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In short: A nourishing roasted fluffy stout that is easy to drink. Good beer.
How: Bottle 22oz, consumed approximately 4 months after I bought it from a NH store close to the brewery.
The look: Black body topped by a medium tan head with good retention.
In long: Nose is roasty, black coffee & burnt toasts, a bit of herbal hops. Taste is charred cereals, oily black bread, burnt oat sensation, notes of rich creamy bakery chocolate, yeast, notes of raisin bread, herbal bittering hops. Full body on the fluffy/creamy side and with a generous carbonation. Well made beer, nourishing yet easy to drink. Another bomber, I drink too much, apparently I’m an alcoholic and people like me cannot simply cut down on our beer drinking, if I want to regain control on my life I need to stop drinking cold turkey, but I don’t wanna stop drinking cold turkey, I want to start doing it, it sounds delicious.

Bottle. Chocolate malt, plum, and alcohol aroma. Dark brown with small head. Light chocolate malt, ash and herbal hops flavor. Tastes okay but minimal body.

Bottle courtesy of AirForceHops. Earthy roasty chocolate malt and light mocha aroma, a little alcohol as it warms. Black with a large tan head, creamy lacing. Dark chocolate and ash flavor with a light bitter hop finish. Light body, moderate carbonation. Highly drinkable, very nice.

22oz bottle. Pours dark brown with a tan head. Somewhat thin palate but mighty tasty plus I love the name and the label. Bonus is that learned a new word today, so drinking can be educational. Will definitely try to get my hands on more of these next time I am in Manchester.

22 oz. bottle $6.33 @ Gary’s, Portsmouth, NH. Typical color in my English pint. Nice thick tan head with moderate lace and retention. Nice eye appeal. This was sampled at basement temperature. Nose is chocolate, roasted malt and ash. Taste is much as it smells with a mild, bittering hop. Body is on the thin side but not a negative. It makes it easier to drain the glass. Mouthfeel again has ash or a charred texture. It does have an Old World feel to it. I’m happy to see another new brewery in my state. Let’s raise our glass and say cheers to New Hamp “Shire”. A military buddy of mine would say the phrase, “I’m returning to the Shire”, as a way to say “ I’m coming home.” The title of this brew puts a smile on my face! A stout I will buy some more of.

22 ounce bottle thanks to Mike. Yes, I had to look up nepenthe. It’s from the Odyssey and essentially means a cure for sorrow. Cool stuff. Pours a wonderful jet black hue with only a rim of brown head. A low level of carbonation with suits this beer well. A nice nose of roast, char, bitter chocolate and oak. The flavor is similarly dominated by somewhat earthy char and roast, a bit of chocolate, bitter roast at times, hops mix with that flavor to accentuate it, very mellow. Now, anyone who looks at my ratings can see my love for stouts of this nature and ABV (which is not on the label but I’m guessing 5-7 percent). Having the Shire in the name rocks in some interesting ways. For many of us, Tolkien especially, the Shire was indeed a nepenthe.

22oz bottle-pours black with a big brown head. Aroma is roasty dark malt-chocolate/cocoa. Taste is roasty dark malt-chocolate/cocoa, earthy hop backbone with a drying finish.

22 oz bottle from The Beer Store. Pours black with a full 2 finger mocha colored head. Not much lace. Aroma is roasted malt, chocolate and earthy hops. Flavor profile follows the nose. Malt, chocolate with an underlayment of earthy/grassy hops. Moderate in body with a bitter finish.

This has a wonderful looking rich black pour with a huge, silky, delicate dark brown head that lingers all the way through. The aroma is full of dark roasted malts, chocolate, and a poignant earthy and crispy hop note. The body is thinner than most stouts and more akin to a dark ale with its medium texture. The taste is more bitter than sweet and has a slight acidic quality to it. It is a very nice beer.

Dark, thin laced head. A deep roasted flavor permeates. My expectations for this brew were low considering it is among one of three freshman offerings from an upstart brewery. I was blown away by this beer. A fine example of a stout, made just down the road from my house. I will most definitely be picking up another and reccommend it highly to others.