American Stout Tasting

Winter is coming. Actually, it's here. The temperature outside right now is 19F, with lows tonight around 6F. It's not so cold that my tastebuds can be warmed up enough to taste the American Stout I brewed a few weeks ago using the recipe from Brewing Classic Styles. I let this one sit in the primary fermenter a little longer than usual to let some of the potentially acrid tastes mellow out so that the beer doesn't taste too much like burnt coffee and so that any dusty pieces of roast grain that might have gotten into the fermenter have a chance to settle out.

Appearance: Opaque black in color with a dark tan head that lingers pretty well. Some carbonation bubbles stick to the side of the glass as I pour.

Aroma: An interesting mix of roasty notes with piney hops smell. These notes seem to be about equally balanced or maybe slightly tilted toward the hoppy smell, at least to my nose.

Taste: Again a pretty strong roast taste, but with a noticeable bit of resinous hops, especially in the aftertaste. Some hints of chocolate and an almost smokey quality. A firm bitterness. A bit of sweetness is in there as well so that it doesn't taste acrid.

Mouthfeel: Thick body but not cloying. Low to moderate carbonation. Hop bitterness and a bit of sweetness linger in the aftertaste.

Overall: The dark roast and hoppy quality dominate.  I like it quite a bit although to me the hoppiness could be dialed down a little bit so that the roastiness comes out a bit more. I'm pretty happy with it.