AleSmith Speedway Stout

Brewed by AleSmith Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
San Diego, California USA

750ml bottle, poured into a snifter. Pours jet black with small foamy brown head. Aroma heavily of coffee, roasted malt, and chocolate. Taste is of roast coffee, bitter hops, and chocolate. Medium mouthfeel. Very good, but not blown away.

Color dead on black with a tight brown head. Aroma is a deep roasted almost burnt scent. Taste is deep and burnt. Starting with full body it goes down sharp with a burnt taste. Finish is rich with deep roasted flavors that give just a hint of sweetness and a bit of coffee. After taste is a mellow sweetness that fads leaving behind a lingering bitter burnt taste. This is a very good brew but leans a bit too much on the burnt character.

Bottle thanks to Brandon Pours a good deep black with a creamy brown head. The head lasts well. The lacing is perfect. Has a wonderful aroma of good alcohol, roast, coofee, chocolate, and some spices. Has a light carbonation. A tewrrific mouthfeel. The flavor is real good. Alcohol is well hidden. The balance is real good. The flavor is wonderful. Not too heavy and very smooth. Has a thick texture. Has a full body. The finish is nothing short of super. A great lasting aftertaste. This is a flat out awesome beer. I would drink this anytime any place.

Poured from bottle, sampled at last. Color is a viscous, menacingly dark, and with a rocky brown head. Aroma is heavy with flowery hops, vinous red grape essence, roasts, and creamy coffee. Flavor starts with definite hoppiness, then moving dramatically towards coffee and cream crossed with a fine red wine. Sounds weird, but these flavors move harmoniously together, intensifying as the beer warms. Once you let this baby sit, this beer has more flavor than you can shake a finger at. Very, very satisfying. A rich palate, perfect carbonation, and a smooth finish cap it off. Lastly, this tasted great, but young. I bet it could improve with age, which is scary . . .

"Sample courtesy of beercronic who cellared this fine beer for two long years in his beerium. Me and beercronic first drank this two years ago with a fresh bottle (what I never reviewed for some reason) and saved this second bottle for now two long years later. Extremely opaque dark brown with zero light penetration the thick dark brown cap that sits on top had phenomenal staying power. Aroma was very nice it was a good balance of coffee and chocolate with the chocolate coming out stronger, alcohol was noticeable but barely along with some Christmas style spices. Where is the 12% you can hardly notice it maybe all this delicious coffee and chocolate are hiding it in the taste. There is for sure a burnt quality to the flavor and a very weak raspberry taste, the after taste was short lived and mildly bitter. This a great brew and I would give beercronics left nut to get more however if memory serves correctly I believe I enjoyed the fresh bottle better."

Bottle, freshly arrived on the east coast. Pours a jet black body with a tight deep dark brown head that has awesome resilience. Nose is full of espresso beans, chalky dark chocolate and sweet sweet dark malts. Amazing balance of flavor. The hops really shine bright amid the thick roasty malts and dry coffee notes. The chalky dry chocolate smell drinks like creamy rich indulgence and the finish is clean, strong and begs you to go back for more. No alcohol presence at all, nice full mouthfeel, truly inspiring beer.

Got a bottle of this at Bailey’s Taproom in Portland, OR. Colour... Black as night with essentially no head. Nose... burnt brown sugar, treacle, turbinado, chocolate, coffee and bourbon vanilla. Palate... again with the chocolate, "tangy" coffee, light molasses, toffee and a delightfully long and velvety finish.Mmmmmmm....!

On tap at the AleSmith tap room in San Diego. Pours a jet black body with a finger-width, creamy, brown head that dissipates slowly and leaves lots of sexy, layered lacing. Gorgeous. Aroma is huge. Lots of roasted coffees, cocoa beans and dark chocolate, bright piney hops, and a touch of licorice. Flavor is more of the same with lots of coffee and lots of dark chocolate. Some more of a vanilla taste and chocolate covered cherries come in before a bold and bright, piney finish. Lots of rich chocolates and quality coffees in the aftertaste. Palate is full, but silky with a slow, drying finish. Overall, a wonderful imp stout with lots of bold flavors. The freshness of having this on tap at the brewery really made everything jump out and kept the coffee in submission, despite being at the forefront. Wonderful stuff!