UPDATED: OCT 20, 2020 12 oz bottle, pours opaque black with brief tan head. Full bodied. Chocolate and roasted malt aroma. Licorice, dark fruit and chocolate taste, with cocoa malty finish. Excellent.

UPDATED: MAY 31, 2019 12 ounce bottle into pint glass, best before 11/16/2018. Pours clear nearly opaque dark brown/black color with a 1-2 finger dense and rocky khaki head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Dense soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, molasses, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, and dark bread/crust; with lighter notes of licorice, raisin, prune, fig, date, smoke, charcoal, wood, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. A bit too fruity/yeasty aromas, but not overwhelming. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of roast/bready malts and light-moderate fruity yeast/earthy hop notes; with solid strength. Taste of big dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, molasses, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, and dark bread/crust; with lighter notes of licorice, raisin, prune, fig, date, smoke, charcoal, wood, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Light-moderate herbal, woody, grassy, peppery hops; and roast/charred bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, molasses, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, dark bread/crust, licorice, dark fruit, smoke, charcoal, wood, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Awesome complexity, robustness, and balance of roast/bready malts and light-moderate fruity yeast/earthy hop flavors; with an awesome roast/hop bitter/sweet balance; and no cloying, acrid, astringent flavors after the finish. Fairly crisp finishing. Light-moderate increasing dryness from lingering hop/char bitterness. Medium carbonation and medium-plus body; with a very smooth, creamy/silky/bready, and fairly sticky/chalky mouthfeel that is fantastic. Zero warming alcohol for 6.7%. Overall this is an excellent Irish dry stout. All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of roast/bready malts and light-moderate fruity yeast/earthy hop flavors; very smooth, easy, and fairly crisp to drink with the mellowly bitter/drying finish. Nicely soft and not overly bitter/charred. Awesomely clean/rich English malt complexity, balancing earthy hops, and restrained fruity yeast. Mild residual sweetness from lingering crisp dryness. A really enjoyable offering, and impressive spot on style example.

Bottle pour into shaker pint glass from Total Wine & More, Danvers. Appearance is dark, dark brown with ruby (virtually opaque), with nice sparkle at the edges of the glass, finger-width of fizzy light brown head with poor retention and no lacing. Aroma is rich, roasted malts, coffee, chocolate and whiff of earthy bitterness. Taste is mild anise, roasted malts, earthy bitter, European hops. Palate is light-to-medium bodied with thin, smooth texture, average-to-lively carbonation and dry finish as taste with lingering pleasant earthy and roasted bitterness. Overall, the aroma is killer but the taste doesn't quite measure up and it's a little thin and overcarbonated.

A very good solid stout. Chocolate combined with coffee and there is some vanilla deliver a very smooth tasty stout. Low carbonation. Very nice finish. Well done!

22oz bottle pours out black topped with a tan head. Nose is nice dark chocolate nutty roast malts. Taste is more of the nice dark chocolate dry roast malts some coffee.

Poors black with a small, dense, very dark head. Aroma very good: some anise, coffee, lots of chocolate, creamy even, some alcohol. Tast vey full: light vanilla, creamy, light coffee, more chocolate, some yeast maybe and some fruity hops? Light bitter, grainy aftertaste. Mouthfeel very soft, very dense as if a spoon would float on it. Excellent brew, pure taste.

Bomber poured a clear dark reddish brown with a lasting tan head. Aromas of roasted malt, bakers cocoa, earthiness and light coffee. Palate was light to medium bodied and smooth with a dry finish. Flavors of roasted malt, cocoa and light earthiness with a smooth dry lingering roasty cocoa finish.

From Jul 2008 I got this bottle in a trade with Vermonthiker. Thanks Tom! This pours a pitch black with a 2 finger head of tannish foam. I see some great lacing and the foam does shrink rather quickly but there's still a fine broken layer near the end of my session. The smell is first and foremost of roasted malt followed by coffee, a touch, nah, a good amount of dark chocolate and I can sense some hop presence lurking in the background. The taste is...ahhh. Very very tasty. Big roasted malt followed almost immediately by some dark chocolate, some coffee, some sweet/milk chocolate maybe caramel malt? that gave this Stout an overall sweetish but not too sweet overall flavour, some toffee, some dark fruit when I swish it in my mouth, a slight tartness in the background that I'm guessing comes from the hops. Wow. This baby is complex to the max but...it's so smooth and easy drinking(it's off the charts in my book) that it's scary. I love a good dry Stout and, though this definitely has some sweet notes to it, this one is pleasing me muchly. It's just shy of a full mouthfeel, the carbonation is on the light side but fits it to a tee, and it finishes with *that* dry, roasted malty goodness. What a brew! I can see why it is so highly regarded and sought after. I'm so happy I got a chance to try it so another thank you is in order to Tom!!

12 oz bottle bought in Bar Harbor, Maine. Clear black pour with dark ruby highlights and a beige head with good retention. Spotty lacing. Taste has a little roast, a little dark chocolate and a little coffee with a dry finish. Okay. Nothing memorable. 6.7 ABV is well hidden.

This was billed as a dry stout but it is pretty neutral. Full bodied and tasty it is worth seeking out.