Ridgeway Lump of Coal

Ridgeway
Brewed at Hepworth
Style: Foreign Stout
Reading, England

Serve in English pint, Snifter, Tulip

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500 ml bottle into a tulip glass. The neck reads "F12 279 02:53" which I can only assume is a date code meaning its from October 5th, 2012. Pours a black body with a fingers worth of khaki foam. Looks good. Leaves behind some patches of foam and some nice lacing. Smell is awfully mundane. Sweet milk chocolate, faint vanilla, bitter roasted malts and not much else. Taste follows the nose with the addition of smoke smoke and a plasticy finish. Like a muted rauchbier with some artificial vanilla. Why is it so roasty? The saving grace here is the mouth feel which is full and creamy. Not a big fan of this one. The light smokey thing it has going on is less than welcome in my opinion.

bottled. I got this from Fajri for my thirsty-five b(eer)-day in May 2013. Thank you! Overall a very tasty stout. I am glad we can get this beer here Bratislava/Slovakia, because various stouts except Guiness are not commonly available yet. Although the 8% abv the alcohol is hidden and makes this beer easy to drink, so I must be careful!

Bottle saved from Christmas. Evil dark ale - 8%. Bitter maltiness to taste. Quite nice, but very strong, so could only have 5 or 6 pints in an evening. Goes perfectly with crisps or nuts.

Bottle. Pours dark ruby brown with a medium beige head. The aroma is quite spicy with some dark fruity and roasted malts. The flavor is yeasty and spicy with light roast and dark fruity notes. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Bottle. Roasty, chocolate aroma. Pours very dark brown, but not black like its namesake with a thin white head. Strong chocolate flavor with some caramel notes. Finishes smooth with the chocolate flavor lingering on the aftertaste. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

From notes: Poured clear, deep cola brown with a 1-finger ivory head. Roasty, chocolatey aroma, with some bready yeast underneath. Full body, medium-thick, with a very lightly oily finish. Roasty, chocolatey flavor, with a touch of yeast beneath, and a pleasant cocoa flavor that lingers in the finish.

Freebie from my local craft beer cornerstore. Poured from bottle into a pint tulip. Dark cola color with a half finger caramel head. Aroma is of very high cacao dark chocolate and a bourbon-esk hint in there also. Moderately enjoyable smell. Appearance looks of a flat cola. Not pretty and not as black as I would have hoped. Tastes pretty much how it smells. Dark chocolate and bourbon. Heavy bitterness on the back end and boozy. Starts quite chocolaty. Palate is the weak point. Pretty bad after taste. Chocolate and Bourbon that lasts longer then id like. Overall. Good for free but would not pay the $6 for a bomber ever. After taste and flat cola visual kill it for me.

Bottle. Dark brown colour with a beige head. Aroma is chocolate, roasted malt, hop. Flavour is chocolate, roasted malt, hop, coffee. Full to medium body. OK beer.

Aroma of caramel and coffee. Very dark brown color, still pour. Semi-sweetened chocolate, much like a dark chocolate brownie. Thick, but not overly thick body with just a touch bite. Well executed strong stout; doesn’t have the sugar heaviness of the foreign style.

Poured a black color from the bottle aromas of roast, chocolate and earth. Flavors are the same with a light leather thrown in and an earthy finish. Ok beer overall.