BREWERY: Flying Dog Brewery
STYLE: Stout
ABV: 5.5%
PURCHASE: Draught (pint), $6.50
SERVING: Pint glass. Half-inch head from the tap (closer to 3/4" on the second and third servings). Fairly quick dissipation.
APPEARANCE: Cola brown, almost black. Slightly beige head. Scattery, temporary lacing. Somewhat translucent overall appearance.
BOUQUET: This is supposedly brewed from oysters, but I don't get that or anything else from the ocean. I get roasted coffee and bitter chocolate above all else, complemented by caramel and toasted malt notes. Nice.
PALATE: Middle-of-the-road body with carbonation that is initially docile, but will pack a wallop when held long. Burnt barley is the featured taste, carrying through to the end, where it is met by a subdued, mild hop bitterness. Nicely balanced. Rounded out by, again, seeming notes of roasted coffee and bitter chocolate. No sign of oyster, no sign of any fish. Maybe that was the idea. Roasty aftertaste--in fact, the entire sip is roasty. Roasty entry, roasty finish, ROASTY EVERYTHING!
MUSINGS AND METAPHORS: Yeah, they actually brew beers from oysters. They'll brew from anything, I guess.
Don't take that the wrong way. Oyster stouts have quite the history. Apparently, pubgoers in Victorian times often dined on oysters while sipping stouts and porters. The two seemed to complement each other so well, and brewmasters took notice.
That all said, I didn't taste nor smell any oysters, mollusks, crustaceans, nor any other sea life in this beer. Maybe it's just me. Whatever. As a stout, it's solid. Nothing fishy about that.
GRADE: B+
Check out this article for some background on oyster stouts: http://www.foodrepublic.com/2012/12/27/getting-to-know-oyster-stout-a-beer-made-with-oysters/.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Behave yourselves. Cursing is okay. Harassment is not.