Allagash Black

Brewed by Allagash Brewing Company
Style: Foreign Stout
Portland, Maine USA

Thanks to TheRealBastard for this nice bonus beer. Pours dark brown/black with a fluffy khaki colored head that lasts a long time. Aroma is quite nutty with some butterscotch, raspberry, toast, chocolate, espresso, licorice...this reallly offers a lot on the nose, especially as it warms a bit. Flavor shows a bit more roast and coffee, caramel sweetness, a little licorice, charred wood, and some pleasant "Belgian yeast" style dried fruit. Finishes with a lingering brown sugar sweet taste, coffee bitterness and burnt toast. Vague fruit flavor too. High carbonation, but never irritatingly so, medium bodied and definitely easy to drink. It seems unfair to call this watery; I think it’s about where a 7.5% Belgian beer should be. I think this beer is a LOT better on the warmer side. Otherwise, the flavor is just stark burnt roast. Good beer, but the aroma is the best thing about it.

Bottle. Thanks to Thaddeus. A dark black color with a big foamy tan head. Tangy with a nice light carbonated feel. Chocolate and candy sugars join in for a smooth finish.

@Ginger Man-on tap-pours a rich retaining light tan head and dark brown color with red tint. Aroma is dark malt-licorice/chocolate/anise, roasty. Taste is dark malt-coffee/licorice/chocolate/anise, roasty, some astringency. Not my style.

Roasty stout with the usual Allagashy yeastiness. Smooth as silk, with almost an oatmeal feel to it. Airy head of light tan. Sure it’s smooth, but there’s still a bit of prickly carbonation that tickles as it goes down. Yeasty. Tasty.

DFW Tasting 6/8/08 Thanks to Bu11zeye for sharing! I like the irish stouts so this one was not as good as those, but it was good. The aroma and flavor were the same, light chocolate and coffee with a lot more emphasis on the coffee.

Dark brown to black and clearish with an off white head. Smell is belgian, but malty, roasty, and yeast at the same time. Taste is the same as the smell. Decent.

Strong tan head of fine bubbles. Reducs to a thick sticky sheet of lacing and a rocky topped head. Roasdted grains, chocolate, crusty bread and some oatmeal. Color is a very dark brownish black. Good helping of roasted grains again, dark chocolate, a hint of raisin and some late smoke. Decent biterness with a light hops presence. Finishes creamy and a bit astringent. Very easy drinking. A damn good brew from Allagash.

On tap at Belmont Station in Portland. Pours very dark brown with a soft khaki head. Earthy roasted malt nose, bakers chocolate and a soft oak and clove note. More of a stout then well anything Belgian style, although the palate was lighter, almost airy which i’ll admit doesn’t fit the stout characteristics well for me. It was a good brew, but when I get roastiness I like a little more body behind it, maybe it helps keep the flavor around for me or something. This felt like more of a quick roasty tease then the higher carbonated and dried out palate flushes that away.