 fredandboboflo (440), East Setauket, New York, USA
Jan 14, 2008 Updated: Aug 17, 2008
Bottle. Pours a somewhat murky brown with small tan head. Aroma a nice mix of piney hops and toffee from the malt. Flavor has more of the same, along with vanilla, some fruit and nuts, but for me most noticeably lots of luscious chocolate. Very well-rounded with all these flavors considering the still-strong hop background common for Stone. Mouthfeel was at times as creamy as an American strong ale can be due to the chocolate notes, but again, the hops still remain. Excellent brew.
Another go at this brew reveals an aroma still heavy with the chocolate and increasingly strong notes of dark fruits with a hint of coffee bean. Flavor follows suit and remarkable still has some hop bitterness, although certainly the dark fruits are about to override that completely. Came over to me as a mix between Arrogant Bastard and Southern Tier Choklat, as those chocolate notes are still something to marvel at. If I were to rerate this numerically, it would probably drop from 4.1 since I preferred the slightly hoppier, less malt bomb/dark fruit result of about a year ago, but I just don’t want to.
travita (707), Lewisville, Texas, USA
Aug 18, 2008 On tap at the brewery. Red to brown in color and cloudy muddy like look to it. Decent light tan colored head. Aromas of some hops, spices, malts, and some oak. Taste has a nice balance, smooth, some bitternes and a good malty to toasty flavor.
LilBeerDoctor (441), East Setauket, New York, USA
Aug 15, 2008 Bottle courtesy of adrian910ss. Pours a murky red/brown with a small tan head. Aroma of raisin, dark fruit, with a slight hint of chocolate and roast. Flavor is lots of tootsie roll and chocolate malt, also raisin and cinnamon. Quite tasty! Only slightly past its prime, as the hops have faded.
Praetorian (42), Los Angeles, California, USA
Aug 13, 2008 Red-brown with a small head with very little lacing. The aroma is woody with a note of chocolate. The flavor is of bitter hops with notes of chocolate and oak. Bitter throughout. Creamy in texture. A good strong aggressive beer: I LOVE IT!
BMan1113VR (762), Los Angeles (and Dallas, TX), California, USA
Aug 13, 2008 On tap. Interesting beer. Pours with a long lasting, off-white head covering a hazy brown body. Aroma of chocolate, molasses, cinnamon, some wood and a touch of hops. Taste is oxidation, wood, caramel and chocolate malts. Had no idea that this was supose to be a beefed up mild, but it makes sense. Creamy mouthfeel with lively bubbles.
doubleo (714), San Diego, California, USA
Aug 10, 2008 On-tap at Stone the day after RBSG. Pours haxy brown amber with a thin, whispy, white head. Smells slightly roasty malty with some nice malty sweetness and a hint of hops. Tastes slightly malty roasty, sweet, with some smoke and some faint chocolate. Medium body with good/vibrant carbonation.
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