Aldergrove Empirical Staught

Brewed by Steffans Aldergrove Brewery
Style: Foreign Stout
Marysville, Washington USA

A vigorous pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces a three-finger thick, frothy, deeply browned, tan colored head that sits on top of an almost black, concentrated, dark brown stained beer that is quite opaque. Quite sweet and fruity smelling, in fact it has some similarities to fruit loops somehow. A light mustiness seems to linger just beneath the surface of the aroma too. The more typical and expected roast notes of a stout are hard to pick out underneath the artificial fruitiness, but if you swirl it nice notes of deeply toasted grain, roasted coffee beans and dusty cocoa aromatics become noticeable. A sort of cheesy note comes out during the swirling as well though.

Amply roasted in the flavor, from a burnt acidity, to lots of roast malt character. Finishes with a slight, burnt vegetable note that I find in quite a few heavily roasted beers these days. Dark espresso flavors and burnt caramel malt notes intermingle at the front of each sip, though these are preceded by a nice, rich chocolate flavor. Towards the middle and finish the beer picks up a touch of sourness that seems to be a bit more than just roast grain induced. This beer is thick, rich and chewy feeling with a definite heft that makes this a sipping brew. The mouthfeel helps to keep the tartness from being too distracting, though it definitely intrudes just a bit. A bit of the funk from the nose makes its way into the flavor, though it has a much lighter impact, though does become more noticeable towards the finish of each sip (a bit of moldiness is mainly what is noticeable above the slightly suspect tartness).

A decent beer, that has most definitely been infected prior to or at bottling. Based on this sample I would say this is a beer to be drunk very freshly bottled, which at first blush seems to be the case with most of their bottled products.

Dark brown, with a light brown head. Aroma is roasted malt, smoke, chocolate, and cherries. Flavor is roasted malt, bitter chocolate, coffee, and smoke. Medium body.

12oz bottle pours dark muddy brown with barely any head, swirling up viscous motor oil syrup on the sides of the glass. Nose of smoked black cherries along with motor oil and rich and charred dark chocolate. Flavor is more the charred dark chocolate, but thankfully it’s not astringent or coarse, but it is dry and woody, with a distinct chocolate cocoa flavor. The rich powdered cocoa really shows up when warmer, and it’s actually really nice. Overall a pretty nice stout, for sure.

Bottle courtesy of 5000. Pours dark brown with a thin hint of tan bubbles. Smells of light earthiness, touches of sweet malt, some chocolate. Tastes of fruit (cherries, bananas), some bitter hints, roasted malt, some spice, touches of coffee. Mouthfeel is full with alight spicy finish. The subtle cherry touch really makes this beer shine.

12 oz. bottle from Malt & Vine: Very dark, medium bodied drink. Wonderful roasted malt with a strong wood component. Light fruit notes and some strong licorice and light coffee bean bits. Smooth feel and very dry on the finish.

Bottle. [thank you, after4ever]
Pours pitch black with a wonderful, creamy brown head. Wonderful exotic aroma. Tobacco, dark chocolate, coffee, vanilla, sugar, port and roasted malts. Quite high carbonation, relatively lively. Slightly oily in feel. Flavour is to the sweet side, with a light fruitiness to the roasted malts. Lots of sweet coffee, dark, mild chocolate. Finish is relatively bitter with a great aftertaste of roasted chocolate.

Jet black with a dark brown head. Strong cocoa and roasted malt smell with vanilla. Medium/full body. Taste is malted chocolate and vanilla, with a rich, mildly bitter blackened malt and dark roasted coffee flavor to finish. good stout here. 3257

Glugs out an opaque black with a frothy chocolate milk head that doesnt die quick. Smells of mild molasses, a little chocolate and fig. Tastes of mild chocolate covered cherries, roasty with a minor hop bite at the end. Medium in the mouth, almost feels like a porter. Drinkable but almost a little too heavy and a little too light.