Ale Asylum Big Slick Stout

Brewed by Ale Asylum
Style: Sweet Stout
Madison, Wisconsin USA

On tap at the Ale Asylum Brew Pub. Poured a dark brown, almost black, color with an averaged sized tan head. Aromas of roast, coffee, chocolate, and lactose. Tastes of roast, coffee, vanilla, and light chocolate. Creamy body. Lacing left on the glass.

Pours deep brown and shows a classic coffee nose with the larger burnt flavors on the palate. The oatmeal gives a nice roundness to this stout.

On tap at Angelic in Madison. Brown foamy head,blacker than night. That nice burnt malt taste with hints of coffee on the first couple of sips. A smooth stout for sure. Draw me another.

This is their best beer by far, dark, bitter and smooth overall. Some good flavor notes of light chocolate and coffee.

On tap at the Come Back Inn, downtown Madison. Dark black-brown charcoal body, thin creamy tan head. A rich stout with fair complexity, with big, sweet chocolates, roasted malts, and molasses. Nice slick mouthfeel with good heft. The kind of beer best in relatively small doses, to the tune of one to two pints.

Bold and bitter. In the style of St Ambroise and Lost Coast 8-ball, if I may be so bold. Like a restaurant with a great burger, it will hard for me to order anything else.

Draught sample at the brewery, mid-October 2006. Opaque jet, not a sliver of light (even sunlight) coming through, small lasting creamy dark head....bitter/sweet chocolate and caramel compete with tannic dark vinous notes in the intense nose....body is just a bit too sweet, not quite one-dimensional but definitely a bit unbalanced, "slick" all right veering to syrupy....nice vanilla-chocolate nougat flavors though, and a bit of roastiness and faint woody hops do show up towards the finish. Overall well done but needs a bit more roast and depth I think.

On tap at the Ale Asylum. Poured a very deep brown, almost black, with a light coffee head. Nose was rich with almost burnt milk chocolate and coffee notes.. light herbal and increasing coffee as it warmed up. Moderate coffee and herbal bitterness throughout.. sweet and grainy.. roast worked well in there. Rather well-balanced with a very good milk chocolatey sweetness at the finish.