Bare Knuckle Stout

Brewed by Anheuser-Busch InBev
Style: Dry Stout
St. Louis, Missouri USA

draught. taco mac. very weak almost grainy stout aroma with hints of roast. black with a creamy "white" head(are you kidding?) ok maybe a hint of tan. watery thin palate. flavors are dry and chalky with a some roasty malts but keeps a very macro profile with a large grainy character. almost like they mixed a stout with some bud light.

I WAS FORTUNATE TO TRY ONE PINT FOR FREE AT SEAWORLD ORLANDO. I FOUND THIS TO BE A DECENT REPRESENTATION OF THE STYLE. A BIT THIN AND LIGHT WITH A TOUCH OF A SOY SAUCE MALTY ROASTY SALTY TASTE THAT PERHAPS COULD BE CALLED AN OYSTER STOUT AND THEREBY DO MUCH BETTER IN THE RATINGS!! SADLY I WOULD AGREE WITH ALMOST EVERYONE HERE (AS THE RATINGS SAY) AND CALL THIS PERHAPS AB’S FINEST BREW. WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE PUMPKIN SPICE.

A nice surprise. I ordered this not knowing it was an A-B beer. Good alternative to the Guinness we get in North America.

OMG...I try to be open minded and ordered it with such a mindframe. I should also say I’ve had this at R.F.D. in Wash. D.C. years ago and found it light and lacking body. OK, I’m looking at it right now, and wondering how they can make something so lacking and nasty. Yeah, it’s moderately dark, but a very wrong body with no body or flavor of any style stout. Almost more funky sour tropical fruit rind in flavor and aroma, and not dry in initial taste or finish. There’s no way I could drink more than a quarter pint...this does not stand up and is somewhat of an insult to the style. Sad excuse for a beer.

On tap at Taco Mac in Suwanee GA. Smoky taste. I’m not a big fan of stouts but name appealed to me. Couldn’t finish...if I knew it was made by AB I probably wouldn’t have ordered it.

On tap at Dominica’s, a fine place. Didn’t even know this existed till I saw the cool tap. Pours like a guinness or any other dry stout of quality. However, did not have the big rolling head that is so common with the nitrous dry stouts. $4 per big glass. Not much aroma but what I did smell was certainly stoutlike, hints of roastiness. Except for the head, this rates just like any other dry stout. Barely any carbonation. Slight roasty watery feel, not thick. Not any worse than guinness. I don’t care for some beers in this style, for example, this is just like Guinness Draught, Murphys Irish Stout and Mendocino Black Hawk Stout. However, it lacks the enjoyability of Tröegs Oatmeal Stout or Carlow OHaras Celtic Stout. Overall, AB has done an excellent job of duplicating the attributes of the famous dry stouts. If you like Guinness, better try this one.

Very watered-down version of what is supposed to be a stout. Virtually no head, and the taste is pretty damn poor. Stouts to me are supposed to be robust and full of flavor. This is very weak and the flavors of chocolate and coffee are barely detectable.

Draft at Lucky’s in Hermitage. Let me first say that I like Guinness, regardless of what other beer enthusiants say about it. So I was curious to see what AB could do with the style. I know we have the AB haters here, but I am going to put the name bias aside. This has beautiful cascading nitro pour. Nice creamy tan head that coats the glass all the way down. The body is medium with a creamy texture. After the pour, it pretty much goes rapidly downhill. The aroma is faint. The flavor is dark chocolate and sour milk (a failed attempt at the Guinness tang). Typical AB ultra low hopping rate. Wow, this is bland. This lacks the roastiness and dryness of a Guinness and other typical nitro dry stouts. Why am I comparing it to Guinness? Because this Bare Knuckle is targeting those drinkers. Overall, this is a very poor attempt at the style. AB has the talented brewers to put out something far better than this. Perhaps the AB execs should sacrifice a few points on the margin and put a little more quality into the end product. The bartender tells me that all the patrons have preferred Guinness over this. Plus, Lucky’s is a BMC bar! Back to the drawing board guys. It’s time to earn your salaries and do a better job of test marketing.