Garrison Martello Stout

Garrison Martello Stout is a thick, black and surly blending of bitter espresso, dark chocolate, and roasted malt.  Medium tan head lasts forever with nice lacing, while the beer itself is a murky black.  Aroma is of chocolate and coffee.

The Bottom Line:  On the dry and bitter side, but still good.

The Rating:  Not Bad.

Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout

This beer is an indescribable experience like no other.  It's a cool summer midnight in your glass, rich and dark and alive and yet understated and refined.

It pours an oily black with a rich khaki head.  Aroma is a complicated palate of yeast, chocolate, bread, raisin, and light caramel.  Fruit and yeast greet your tastebuds, followed quietly by chocolate that isn't sweet, roasted coffee and malt, and a mild burst of alcohol.  There's a depth of flavor here that is both mysterious and comforting, strange and yet so hauntingly familiar.  It finishes bitter and a little dry and slightly sour, but refreshingly and invitingly so.

This was my first imperial, so it may be that I don't yet know what I'm talking about... but.  If this beer really is an example of the imperial style, then I am, without a doubt, an Empire man.

The Bottom Line: I think I've got something in my eye... *Sniffle*

The Rating: Legendary.

Desnoes and Geddes Dragon Stout

Dragon Stout by Jamaican brewer Desnoes and Geddes comes in a teeny-tiny bottle (only 300ML) but packs a wallop with the 7.5% alcohol content.

It pours murky and dark with a vague reddish hue and a finger of dense tan head.  Aroma is of alcohol, toffee,  coffee, light hops, and baker's chocolate.

The taste is sweet, but then it would have to be to cover up all of the alcohol.  It hints of licorice and spice, almost like some sort of rum.  Notes of espresso lurk in the background, but chocolate takes center stage.  The finish is bittersweet and alcoholic.

The Bottom Line:  Good, but a bit sweet and chocolatey for my tastes.

The Rating:  Not Bad.

Half Pints Stir Stick Stout

This is my second tasting of this great stout by Half Pints, a local Winnipeg brewery.  It's the only one of Half Pint's brews that I've tried so far, but it has me very excited to try the rest of their line.

Stir Stick Stout pours a very rich black with a short tan head that doesn't hang around.  Chocolaty on the nose, it also hints of slight smokiness that almost borders on acridness.  There's a richness to the aroma, though, which I'm thinking may be the malt.

This beer is perhaps a little on the dry side, but is remarkably smooth.  It tastes exactly like it smells: rich, malty, and a tad smoky, and with strong black coffee bitterness in the middle.  The bitter dark chocolate kicks in at the end with a slightly sour sweetness.  The sweetness may be a bit of a problem for some, and, as Half Pints suggests, this brew may be better suited to play escort to a rich dessert or as an after dinner treat than with a meal.

The Bottom Line:  Perhaps a little sweet, but otherwise very drinkable and full of rich, dark flavors.

The Rating:  Good Stuff.

O'Hara's Irish Stout

My mother warned me of this.  Dark, strange mistresses of seduction who would intoxicate me with their sheer beauty and charm.  Little did I know she was talking about beer.

I'd been wanting to try a stout (other than Guinness, of course), since I tend to enjoy dark lager.  I was hoping for an imperial stout, but when I noticed this Irish stout by Carlow Brewing Company on the MLCC shelf, it practically jumped into my arms.

Thus began my love affair with this O'Hara's stout.  It poured inky black with a two-finger tan head.  I'm given to understand that the tan head is indicative of having been brewed with coffee, and the aroma quietly agrees.  The aroma was a sweet blend of chocolate and coffee.  Holding the glass up to the light, I wasn't able to see anything penetrating the murky darkness, except for some reddish hues around the edges.  I've read about this sort of thing in books, but I've never seen it for myself until last night.

The beer is creamy and perfectly smooth, comparable in mouthfeel to Guinness but considerably less dry. It's rich with flavor: coffee, cream, chocolate, an understated sweetness, and a burnt smokiness.  The finish is mildly bitter, but in the best possible way.

This beer also introduced me to an afterglow effect that I've never before experienced.  It's the morning after, and I'm still sighing contentedly to myself.  I never knew beer could be so satisfying, but this one absolutely was.

The Bottom line:  I wanted to make love to this beer.

The Rating: Good Stuff.