Echigo Stout

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Comes out of the bottle a deep, warm, almost totally opaque sable with a fairly thick and fluffy light tan head. Rich, smoky aroma has notes of molasses, chocolate, licorice, roast malt and quality coffee. Lip-smacking flavor delights the palate with smoky malt, semi-sweet chocolate, coffee, caramel and licorice notes plus hints of molasses and hops. Firm, smooth texture leaves a tingly and slightly sweet finish, demanding one last sweep of the tongue. Half my DNA comes from Japan - and beer like this makes me proud of that half.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Black with small lacing light brown foam head. Aroma is liquorice, candy, some coffee there too. Taste is pleasant, roast, coffee, some light bitter. Smooth feeling in mouth. Aftertaste is turning towards the sweet again. Interesting stout. (Madrid 201405)

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 5

Sampled on 4/23/2011. This stout pours a very dark brown color from a 33cl bottle. Medium to small sized tan head. The aroma is chocolate, sweet and malt. A medium bodied stout. The malts are caramel, slightly roasty, chocolate and sweet. The hops are herbal and earthy. A touch thinner and not as roasty as one would expect from a stout. Seems more like a porter. Decent carbonation. Nice smooth finish. Mouthfeel is a touch thin. The finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

Pours a pretty dark brown, with a prolonged tan head. Aroma is toasty flavor is light toast, but mouth feel is only moderately full to light. A good choice for a meal or by itself.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

Pours with a frothy, initially finger and a half thick, lightly browned, dark tan colored head. The beer is a dark chocolate brown color that shows a brilliantly clear, reddish-black color when held up to the light. The aroma is malt focused with a nice balance of roast malt notes and sweet grain character. Aromas of dark chocolate, lightly burnt toast, a touch of carbonization, lots of toasty grain notes towards the finish (browned soda cracker notes and biscuit aromas) and a touch of roast grain huskiness is all noticeable.

Lightly sweet in the front and middle, but this is offset throughout (though especially in the finish) by a substantial roast character. A fair amount of carbonation adds a peppery bite to the middle of this brew and helps to cut through a light-medium fullness. The beer is definitely quite quaffable, despite the fullness from the caramelized / sweeter malt notes. The finish is dry and bitter from the burnt grain flavors; reminiscent of dark roasted, black coffee in both its burnt acidity and roasted flavors. This beer has flavors of burnt chocolate malt balls, aromatic darkly roasted coffee, darkly toasted bread crust and a burnt, dry, roast grain finish that is surprisingly smooth for all of its character.

Quite a tasty brew, I like how the straight forward & dominant roast notes are offset by caramelized grain notes just a touch. I did not really know what to expect here, but I am definitely pleasantly surprised none-the-less. I like the texture of this brew, it has a certain heft to it, but does not keep it from being quite quaffable. This is certainly not the most flavorful or aromatic of stouts, but the texture is nice and it is thoroughly enjoyable. This brew reminds me that I haven't had a decent regular strength stout in far too long. I definitely need to pick up a few more of those.

Purchased: Plaza Liquors, Tucson AZ