Young's Double Chocolate Stout

Cadbury-esque colours here on what is a pretty easy to find double chocolate stout.

It's a pretty standard sort of setup here - fluffy head, light black colour, nose of dry cocoa, taste pretty much likewise. It's maybe a bit watery, perhaps a bit less lush than you might expect from the moniker 'double'. Indeed there's only really one chocolate I taste in it.

Overall this is kind of like a watered down Choc Hops - or more to the point I suppose Choc Hops is like a geared up, better quality version of this. Still, could be a lot worse. 6.5

Epic Double Stout

Epic take on another highly contested field of war: that of the double stout.

It's labeled as a 'vintage ale' too.. I mean, it's hard to argue.. but still a strange way to put it in the circumstances.

The rest of the label tries to tell us of their brew day. It's that same old story: "let's put in double malt, double hops, double everything!". It seems lucky then to arrive at the advertised abv of 7.77%. It's also a bit of a shame that their prominent website link www.epicbeer.com/doubletrouble also leads to a page error (or at least it has every time I've tried it over the last few weeks). Double fail?

The nose on this is unifaceted and bitter, with a sticky head. Tastewise it's far too hoppy to be honest, a real assault on the senses that comes back to you after the mouthful. It delivers a treacly foreign extra stout sort of flavour behind that which nevertheless comes off a little empty and pale with the bitterness, far from the typical lush pillowy landscape you expect when you buy a double stout.

It does improve slightly as it warms, but we started these two glasses at what is normally a good stout temperature around 12C. I'd say it may be better when aged a bit longer too to mute the hops a little and expose the malts - but then, it's quite low abv for one of these too.

In the end I'd have preferred them to just double the water too and make a balanced, drinkable stout. As it is this is neither enlightening nor a good example of a stout, double or otherwise. It does however shed a little light on why the brew day website link doesn't work - "what happened on brew day was .. oh. An error." 4.5

Rogue Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout

Another Rogue, another delivery of their patented Pacman yeast strain.

This one needed to be sampled again on tap as the original photo was lost, however according to the bottle pictographs I had determined this one goes with "cows' heads" and/or "pies and wine". The container also informs us this is the 'world stout champion', though I'm not sure when or in which competition.

It's a really deep reddish brown pour, not quite on solid black, good for a six percenter. Aroma here is predominately chocolates .. wonder if it's chocolate malts driven, or some sort of addition? In any case it's pretty much the driving force here for both the aroma and flavour profile.

The beer itself definitely sits squarely in the chocolate stout camp but has a lovely round body to it that belies the comparatively low percent. Full flavoured through stages of chocolate, hops, and a burnt dry roastiness that keeps you coming back for more.

This is not a groundbreaking sort of a beer, but at the same time it's hard to complain when you can't think of much they could have done better. Excellent. 8.5

Mikkeller Dry Stout

A hitherto unencountered combination I think - Mikkeller, doing a stout, that's light and sessionable, with no chili or herbs or buffalo or anything added. Curious?

Indeed this is a 4.1% dry stout in the mould of Murphy's or similar. If you're a dark beer nut like I am you might get obsessed with the bigger ones from time to time (phwoar eh) but this style is a tool in the dark arsenal and can be a rather pleasant session drink.

Mikkeller's effort is pretty much right on target - nose of predominately chocolate malt is on the light side, but appealing. The taste too is restrained from being too sweet, speaking more of dry cocoa than melted chocolate, but with a smooth dry lasting finish. Good stuff indeed when you want something to throw back with a bit of chocolate character and no heft whatsoever. Pick it up in growler / squealer format if you can, unless the Mikkeller moniker has ruined the price out of range for the abv.

It's all very light, sure, and you might normally call foul on its watery presence. The difference - this time it's by design. Respect. 7.5

Moon Dog Black Lung II

Another spirit aged stout - this time a revisit of a past brew with new edits and improvements.

My critique of the first one drew comment from other bloggers at the time, haha. But that's what's great about beer - it's alive, and is affected not only by palate and personal preference, but also by age within batches, and various things between batches too.

I found this second swing to be a bit more successful than the first - whisky more evident initially on the nose along with slight peat, and again that big chocolate. It's sweet up front, but moulds into peaty whisky barrels, and wooden dry spirit notes.

There's a bit more of a roasty edge here this time that I didn't really pick up on in the first, and it helps it to be a bit more easy going and less cloying over time. Evolution, you might say. 7.0

Southwark Old Stout

Old stout, and looks it too.

In fact it kind of put me in mind of another regional stout I had on the road.. though this one has a bit more of a legacy reputation. In fact, looking at ratebeer it's pretty highly regarded indeed.

I found it far better than the aforementioned invalid, but nothing that special. It's a solid black pour supposedly based on an old English Russian Imperial recipe, but seemingly more often regarded as a Foreign Extra Stout and to my mind it fits the second category more naturally.

Aroma is of chocolate, bitter hops and slight alcohol. Mouthfeel is pretty highly carbonated for the style but then it's captaining a phalanx of blasting alcohol that comes at you after an initial dry cocoa introduction. It's complex but better than most and you'd think with a bit of label-work and redistribution via the Lion Nathan empire, could be selling a few bottles elsewhere. I'd like to see it racked over coffee for a while and see what that does..  6.0

Hitachino Espresso Stout

Back to Hitachino, with a bit more optimism here based on their last performance.

Hmm, big nose here, not bad but intimidating. I had thought this to be, well, not quite a gimmick but a beer very strongly based on the 'stout with coffee in it' trope and little else. Instead it's 7.5%, based on a russian imperial stout by the sounds, and definitely not your typical coffee stout. It's a solid RIS body for a start, pure inky black, with a loitering tan head. The nose settles into a coffee sort of mode with depth and complexity once it's had some time.

Tastewise too this is lovely stuff, a fine performance, and the depth of taste belies the abv in a way in that it could be symptomatic of a beer 1-2% higher. This is full on flavour, mostly coffee but with the notes you'd like from an imperial stout also, a beer that really indicates brewers here who know well what they're doing.

Really impressive stuff again. Maybe slightly sour first up, maybe slightly dry aftertaste as well but gee I'm picking faults in what is a very good beer. Recommended. 8.5

Amager Sundby Stout

A solid 6.2% stout here, marketing itself as both a traditional brew and one that challenges convention by dry hopping with floral US hops.

As with all of these beers it’s possible, nay likely this has spent some time in travel and storage so it may not be the freshest, but I did not find the hops all that evident on the nose. This should have given it some time to think about life however and it’s often not bad to let a stout ponder a while before consumption.

The pour is a little lighter than expected, several EBC down on the norm I feel. It’s by no means unattractive though and carries a cappuccino bonce with some aplomb. Flavour is very much ‘extra stout’, dark choc, liquorice and coffee notes evident up front, bit of carbonation present in the midsection before a nice lingering coffee finish.

Rather pleasant overall, but drinking through the bottle I couldn’t shake the image of it being in a way just like Coopers Extra Stout in a suit. No bad thing. 7.5

Nøgne Ø Havrestout

Are you waiting for someone?

Why not drink a stout in the park? At night? By yourself? From the bottle?

.. what do you mean, alcoholic?

I'll have you know I selected this specifically for its low alcohol (4.5%) and to see if those prodigies from Nøgne Ø could succeed in a quest I must admit I found unlikely: to make a full flavoured, easy drinking stout for the masses at a low ABV.

The nose is pleasant but introverted here and to be honest, the beer itself is more of the same. Light coffee, sultana, it's none of it unpleasant but a little fizzy in the mouth. I feel Nøgne have succeeded in producing a stout here that avoids some of that 'empty', watery character that plagues a lot of lighter efforts. In doing so however they've hit up against the reality of the limitations of such a lightweight body and produced a beer that arguably, fails to deliver some of the real pleasures of darker beers.

This beer may be an OK gateway introduction to those unaccustomed to the world of stout, but personally I think it's more the stigma attached to dark beers, rather than their alcohol content that really puts people off. 6.5

Storm Iron Stout

I'm just going to come right out and say it - best beer in Bali, hands down.

Storm have delibered a very respectable effort with this one mark my words. It's a 5.2% light stout, on the watery side of the spectrum but again justifiably so. Where this delivers is in producing a nice round experience in both the aroma and flavours, which speak of a pleasant valley stocked with roast coffee, bitter hops, and balanced toasty chocolate.

Sometimes lighter beers from this field can go overboard in trying to hide the emptiness and come out feeling artificial, but this comes across as balanced and not overly sweet.

It even looks better in person than in the photo .. perhaps it's camera shy? Regardless, make sure you pick this one up if encountered on your Balinese travels. It will both soothe your lager-ravaged palate, and support a brewer clearly doing some good things. 7.0

Panther Ginseng Stout

Now here's a name that fires up the imagination.

What self-respecting man (or indeed lady) among us doesn't want to fire up on stout and ginseng at once, those undisputed twin towers of pantherdom?

This has the characters for 人参 on the label which means 'carrot' in Japanese. We'll take their word for it being 'ginseng'. Flavour wise you probably wouldn't pick it, although there is a slightly mineral sort of edge in there amongst the light coffee roast flavours that could be a mark of its influence.

There's not a lot more to say about this. Far from ripping us a proverbial new one, it goes down without so much as a mew. 2.5

Guiness Foreign Extra Stout (Indo edition)

The well known classic.

 How embarassing then when it's probably the least drinkable stout encountered in the whole trip?

This edition is brewed under licence at the Bintang premises by the looks and I suppose the water condition and any number of other factors may influence the result. But on the flip side it's tempting to think that brewers brewing under licence in these circumstances probably deserve to be judged on the fruits of these labours.

Regardless, this plonks into a glass with little ceremony and a flat meniscus of off-white head. It's got a strange fruity sort of quality going on in both the nose and the taste delivery and that plus a burnt dark sugar treacle gambit is about the extent of what this has to say.

None of it is too appealing to be honest. There aren't too many outright bad notes, but it's tempting to compare to a less than impressive homebrew and I would like a lot more character in taste to make up for the lack of round body.  3.0

Anker Stout

Bali edition continues with this, a canned stout seemingly brewed by a contractor of San Miguel.

Pours OK as you can see, a little watery out of the can but nice solid colour. Head is accomplished enough but, as is so often the case, disappointingly ephemeral.

The aroma here is reasonable - bit of chocolate and not a lot else. Taste follows the pattern established thus far delivering a pretty thin experience, but no real off note as such. Slight chocolate character is the main currency but there's a little bit of vanilla present in what is quite a dry and dusty finish.

 

Much like with the first Balinese contender, I've had far worse beers in the class than this. It's watery but there's enough there if you search and hey, its better than the lagers by a stretch. One could even argue it's a stout built to slake the thirst in these humid conditions, and kicking back by the pool you'd be a fool to argue. 4.5

Bootleg Oatmeal Stout

As previously noted, I haven't been too impressed with Bootleg brewing of late - could a beer in one of my favourite styles turn things around?

In short - not quite. This beer pours thin and headless, not a good start although the hue is nicely opaque. The aroma similarly is a step or two short of truly enjoyable beer, showing a bit of spikiness and slighly clumsy notes in there somewhere. There's aniseed and licorice in the nose, which may be nice in a more rounded beer but here it comes off as slightly unbalanced and almost unintentional.

Taste-wise the mouthfeel is too watery to really score points, and the taste carries a little too much licorice for my liking. There's none of that delicious silky character or rounded taste that oatmeal typically adds, and I can't say it's a particularly good example of the style.

I wanted this to be good, but I find myself really not liking it a great deal - it strikes me as a beginner sort of effort and just not quite up there in terms of quality. It would be great to see Bootleg build on this and produce a top quality beer in this style in future. 4.5

Sierra Nevada Stout

Another one from the Sierra Nevada beya.

Pours moderately, quite a black hue but a bit light on the head, doesn't quite have the body of some more accomplished stouts. The aroma I felt was on the verge of something nice but at the same time had just that bit of nastiness lurking around the edges.

Taste-wise you get reasonably bitey stout flavours up first, front of the mouth is bitter with evident earthy green hops before a nice wave of milk chocolate washes in and sweeps you away to quite a pleasant conclusion.

This is not my favourite stout, it doesn't quite satisfy me with the mouthfeel or flavour profile, and the appearance isn't wonderful either. It is however a solid enough drop worth picking up if there's nothing else on offer. 6.0

McAuslan Brewing St-Ambroise Oatmeal Stout

Had trialled this once before as part of a tasting but it now deserves its own article.

It seems this beer is rather well received in the community, and I can see why. It's an oatmeal stout through and through, and pours beautifully with a thick mocha head that bubbles pudding-like atop a dark brown / black body. There's an aroma of grain and coffee, with roasty notes throughout.

The heavy, smooth mouthfeel fits the style nicely and brings smooth malt coupled with long lasting dark chocolate and coffee bitterness. It's not a very sweet beer on the whole - instead you get the impression of significant hopping - but it exudes quality if not perfect balance. Good stuff. 8.0

Nørrebro La Granja Stout

The first challenger from Nørrebro, and a coffee stout at that.

This indeed smells of coffee, but interestingly more of cast off coffee grounds than a full blown cup of espresso.

The pour is really quite amazingly watery, with little to no head. At this stage I'm gearing up for another euro blasting. But the taste is in fact rather pleasant. It's not a long lasting or incredibly involved progression but there are notes of milk chocolate, coffee, chicory and roasty flavours that carry you through. Easy drinking due to the light mouthfeel.

Not my favourite stout but a fine effort in its own way and very approachable. 7.5

Mildura Brewery Choc Hops

Have to wonder if this was supposed to be out in Woolies in time for Easter?

Regardless, it pours blacker than expected, though the insubstantial chocolate coloured head is soon gone. Slightly fizzy character to this with hops evident early, slightly empty middle, bit of vanilla character to back up the expected cocoa.

Having now tried this on a number of occasions I find it a pretty pleasing drop on the whole, successfully crafting pretty much everything you want in a chocolate porter. Well worth a go at its price range when you've got the craving for something a bit sweet. Underrated, and recommended. 7.5

Cascade Stout

Yes, it's from Cascade, of Tasmanian fame.

But to cut to the chase, it's really not a bad beer for the price and availability. There's no indication on opening the bottle that the beer is even alive - no pop, no response from the liquid, nothing. I like that. 5.8% not a bad mark for the ABV either.

On pouring it's a pretty one note but pleasant enough choc nose, and the taste is pretty likewise. It's a little watery as is common with these, and finishes with that odd note strangely common to macros.. just not quite as smooth as it could or should be.

Overall though and much like its cousin from the Coopers stable, this is a good choice in circumstances when you don't have access to much else. 5.5

North Coast Old No. 38 Stout

North Coast, of Rasputin Imperial fame.

Hmm.. pours pretty watery, with no head. Taste is a little watery too, not quite as full as it could be. At least the flavours are good - roasty, with slight choc, tannin waxiness, typical stout profile.

Not overly complicated or worldbending in a world of much competition but fine for a drinking stout. Don't know that I'll be knocking myself out for more North Coast though despite the typically glowing reviews elsewhere.  7.0