Alchemist Knuckle Dragger

Brewed by Alchemist Pub and Brewery
Style: Foreign Stout
Waterbury, Vermont USA

Tap at the Blind Tiger. Sweaty walnut and wintergreen in the aroma, light coffee with milk. Some very off/vegetal chem flavors that thankfully fade as the beer warms and breathes. Flavor is sweetish milk tart with a nice, rich body. Very milky but not lactic at all. Interesting.

Deep black beer. Initially thick head that fades quickly. Aroma is quite cocoaish and a little bit spicy. Lightly fruity with a bit of spiciness. Earthy and a little bit chewy. Cocoa, chewy malts and a touch of berryish character through the middle. Full bodied beer. Pretty solid if a bit too sweet for my tastes.

Tap at Blind Tiger. Aroma of sweet, roasted malt, black currants, coffee. Flavor again has really nice sweet, roasted malt, great balance between the two. Full-bodied despite the sweeter characteristics, silky and milky feel. Great stuff.

Draft at brewpub- Deep brown color with a tight bubble tan head, malty/raisin aroma. This is a milk stout. The taste was of a very deep roast with a complex fruitiness. This was a great beer.

Draft at the brewpub - Poured a very black/brown with a medium tan head . Aroma was thick with dark roasted malts and a hint of dark fruit. Flavor was also mostly dark roasted malt, but much more of the fruitiness showed through... prunes, fig, cherries... really nice. An excellent brew...

Robe noire surmontée d’une mousse brune qui persiste. Arômes de café et de sucre. Saveurs de café, de malt chocolat, de sucre et de houblon amérisant.

Black body with a medium tan head. Smell of roasted malt and coffee. Taste is surprisingly fruity (prunes, figs) with some cacao and a medium bitterness. Obviously more yeasty than standard stouts. In a blind test without seeing the color I’m not sure I would have even called it a stout. Original and very drinkable. At the Vermont Brewers Fest 2006 they called it a Belgian Style Stout. Very good to accompany a Mexican Style Sushi.

Vermont Brewer’s Fest 2006, 2 draught samples. My first beer of the evening, and my last; it poured a very rich deep brown black with endlessly lasting dark head -- at first I thought nitro, but nope. Impressive. The first thing you notice in the aroma is fruit, lots of it....fresh slightly underripe cherries and blueberries at first, with dried fruits (fig) coming in later, all underlaid with a very lively fresh Belgian yeast, no mustiness here just fluffy fresh sourdough, chocolate coming through as well as vanilla.....the flavor is even more impressive, an insanely drinkable and luscious milk chocolate, caramel nougat, faint yeast and at the end just the right touch of robust, roasty coffee bitterness to keep things interesting....raisiny/vinous aspects are muted but elegantly entwined with the candy character....stupendous, amongst the two or three best yet from this fine brewer.