Monday, June 27, 2011

Yellow Belly Brewery's St. John's Stout

A friend of ours brought Jeff back a 1L swing-top bottle of Yellow Belly Brewery’s St. John’s Stout. Jeff was pretty excited about this one - here’s what he had to say.

My friend, who is from Newfoundland, knew I was a fan of trying new beers and figured I hadn’t had this one before. He was right, I hadn’t even heard of this brewery before.

The beer pours a deep brown, almost black, in colour. What little head there is quickly vanishes and leaves no trace. The beer has very little carbonation - almost flat. I know some people don’t like under-carbonated beer but for me, with some styles, I like it. I’m not sure if this was meant be a real ale - there’s very little information on the brew pub’s website - but I’m going to give the brewmaster the benefit of the doubt that it was intentional. The low carbonation makes it very drinkable.

The aroma is pretty straight forward - a nice roastiness with some vanilla. The taste is strong on coffee. There’s some dark chocolate in there as well to round it out as well. The finish is quite bitter, which I like with my stouts - it makes you want to take another sip to get that initial sweetness. As the beer warmed up, the coffee bitterness decreased somewhat and revealed some nuttiness. Be sure not to drink this beer straight from the fridge; let it warm up a bit.

If I have one complaint, it’s that the beer felt a little thin. I wish there had been just a bit more body to it.

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