Rock Bottom Seattle Flying Salmon Stout

Fantastic seafood is easy to find in Seattle, and Rock Bottom has a few awesome salmon dishes on their menu I tried the Alder Wood Smoked Salmon Fillet and I must say it was a wise choice. I cannot think of a beer I would rather match with it, than their delicious Flying Salmon Stout. Stout and seafood are naturals together, and the dark, roasty, and dry flavors of this beer, was a perfect compliment to the smoky, robust, meaty flavors of PNW wild salmon. Flying Salmon Stout is a year round brew, and this version is particularly well done. It has lots of good dark malt, coffee and roasty aromas and flavors, and seeing this is the PNW, it seems to have a bit more of hop aroma, flavor, and bitterness than other versions of this core stout I have tried. Flying Salmon Stout pours to a beautiful, deep ebony color with a thick tan head and a moderate amount of carbonation. The nose is packed with piney aromas of hops, some dark chocolate aroma, and some roasted malt aroma. The palate is firm on the tongue with lots of good dark malt, coffee, and roasty flavors. This beer has some good malt heft, but isn’t so beefy that it would lay heavy. Flying Salmon Stout finishes with lots of good malt and coffee flavors up front, then ends with some roast and hop bitterness that lingers, and lets you know you just had one flavorful beer. This is an excellent stout with plenty of character that will stand up the hearty dishes on the Rock Bottom menu. If you ever find yourself in Seattle, this one is well worth a try, and well worth matching with the fresh, locally caught salmon smoked to perfection over alder wood.

Dark brown body. Thick, slightly rocky light brown head. Aroma leads with a fair bit of roast and dark chocolate, with light woody hops underneath. I bought it because it’s made with whey...this shows mainly in a slightly creamy body. That creaminess balances off a fair roastiness. A solid outing.

Dark brown almost black. Roasted dark malts, a touch of sweet lactic aspects in the flavors and aroma. A little bit of dry roast in the finish.

On tap at Rock Bottom Seattle. Color was dark brown to black in color. Aroma of roasted malt, vanilla with a hint of oats. Flavor was of roasted malt, oats with hints of caramel, vanilla and chocolate. A solid beer.

Draft at the Seattle location. Pours a translucent blackish brown with a thin tan head. The aroma is slight, but has some coffee and chocolate notes. Lots of coffee and some roasty malt in the taste. Dry pine, burnt toast and espresso finish. Probably not the ideal accompaniment to nachos, but holds it’s own against the jalapenos.

From the Jug at the GABF, Colorado Convention Center 13/10/2007 Some roast aroma. Dark coloured strong in alcohol hoppy and fruity with a crisp and slightly dry roast finish.

cream ale with unfermented whey, black with a white soapy head. dark cocoa malts on the nose and a bitterish coffee finish on the taste. not bad, not great, some good qualities, but overall unspectacular.

On tap at Rock Bottom, Seattle. Black with brown edges, beige head. Has all the requisite components of choc/coffee malts, bit of sour liquorice. Has some complexity, still feels as though it is not fully brewed out.