Arcadia Starboard Stout

Brewed by Arcadia Brewing Company
Style: Sweet Stout
Battle Creek, Michigan USA

Bottle. Nice solid stout. Poured black, with nice tan head and no layering. Malt flavor, a little sweet and and a little roasty at the end. Overall, good solid sweet stout.

Draft sampler at brewpub. Rating #996! Served on nitro here. Gotta love ’em! Brown/black with a thin tan head. Not as silky smooth as a nitro oatmeal, but in the neighborhood except for the extra roastiness. Silky coffee texture, American hop profile for a slight twist, then a creamy finish.

12 oz bottle poured into pint glass. A deep oak, roasted nuts and chocolate aroma comes to the forefront. Includes a deep malt note, some definite sugar candy notes, and a light sprinkling of fruit too. The pour is a deep black color with a huge rocky tan head that seems to linger on forever. Flavor is a deep roasted malts taste with the chocolate coming through in the backing. Nice hop texture including that rather strange fruitiness included in this sweet stout. Palate is sweet, rather short, and overall pleasant. My overall impression is that this is an OK Sweet stout. It’s got some funky flavors but that kind of makes it more exciting. Cheer!!!

Tap at Mugs Ale House. Pitch black beer with a thin white head. Sweet roasty aroma, chocolate and toasted oat aroma. Strong herbal hop flavour over all of the oaty toasty malt flavour. Some blackberry/cherry fruitiness as well. Flavour is much hoppier than I expected with grassy herbal flavour throughout the obvious oatmeal flavour. Very creamy mouthfeel, dark chocolatey malts blend with sweet earthy/herbal hops. Lovely pint.

Draught - these beers are everywhere in NY now; every single beer bar has at least one on tap - anyway, this had a decent look out of the tap; dark brown, nearly opaque, with a thick, creamy head - smelled of black and chocolate malts, with a hint of vanilla and cream - rather smooth mouthfeel, although a tad bit thin - semi-roasty, with a kind of sharp bitterness near the end for the style - moderate sweetness, with some cream and coffee notes - rather uninteresting, but drinkable.

Bottle from Bello Vino, Ann Arbor. Pours a dark ruby-black with a small tan head. Aroma of mild chocolate and sour cherry. Body is thin and prickly. Flavour is dry and tart - definitely something odd going on here. I suspect that the bottle has gone off, and normally I’d be a bit hesitant to rate it, but I see that other raters have made similar comments, so I suspect that this beer must have some common infection issues that deserve to be pointed out.

In the bottle. Thanks to Springslicker. Pours black with an intense cascading beige head. Large open giant bubbles. Tart and vinegary. Harsh acidity. This beer must have gone bad. I suppose that it was just too old, but I suspect a slight contaminant had time and the perfect cellar conditions to overwhelm it. Down the drain! Someday, I’ll re-rate and give a fresh bottle a chance.

Black body with a tiny tan head. The aroma is licorice, chocolate, oats and molases. The flavor is chocolate, oats and a touch of roast, fairly light. Medium/light body, smooth with a touch of bitterness at the end.