Berkshire Shabadoo Black and Tan Ale

Brewed by Berkshire Brewing Co.
Style: Porter
South Deerfield, Massachusetts USA

Bottle. Dark brown with a tan head. Nose: pipe tobacco, piney hops, citrus hops and chocolate. Taste is unexpectedly light, with caramel malt in the foreground. The hops are there but they take a backseat. Another beer that smells better than it tastes.

Berry-like fruity esters surrounded by a deep chocolate porter/stout-like aroma is not what I was expecting. Clear ruby coloured body with tan head that recedes slowly to cover. Fairly roasty flavour has notes of chocolate and balances a strong, sweet malt. Notable fruity esters and a pleasant balancing bitterness in the finish. Smooth and creamy in the mouth with low carbonation. It certainly does seem to capture characteristics of both the porter and the pale ale. Bottle enjoyed with friends to celebrate Solstice.

Bomber Bottle. As advertised, a mix of stout and pale ale characteristics. Pours a nice, stoutlike creamy head. Odor is stoutish, too, but with the fruity characteristic of a pale ale. Taste predominates with stout notes; roasty and smoky. But the pale ale side contributes fruity esters, and some sherry and cherry notes. Its description would suggest a porter, but it's not quite one of those. Perhaps needs to be a style of its own.

Blech. Pours a dark brown with a big, light brown head that dissipates quickly. Immediately after pouring, I can smell apples in this, but that goes away quickly. Decent palate although a little thin, and the flavor is just nondescript. The hops are bitter but not terribly strong. Personally, I think you get a better black & tan from mixing together half a Guinness and half a Bass Ale.

Bomber. Powers very dark, but transparent, with a very rich-looking creamy lasting head. Nose roasty but sweet, a bit smoky, malted milk. Flavor -- yeah I can sorta get the B&T thing, seems to me quite an excellent blend of a lighter, fruitier pale and more robust porter. Very smooth, but some nice hop kick all the way down. I'm with argo0 on this one, well worth your $3.50

Bottle: O.K. nose. Some that BBC signature with some smokey,roasty notes. Clear reddish/ brown color. Creamy head that stayed for a while. Roasted malts, coffee,carmel with some fruit peachy, berry flavors. Clean drinkin. Smooth with a little roasted malt left on the tounge. Pretty good overall, just not convinced of the B&T in a bottle concept. Plus with Berkshire Ale being an amber color you don't get much distinction from the porter. I enjoy it none the less. Maybe all brewers should stop trying to do this in the bottle.

Uh, Okay. This is not like any black and tan I know, but I'm sure it's a very good Shabadoo.

I expected more from my hometown brewers. I wasn't real impressed wit this one. I've had a black and tan poured for me and it's majic to watch and drink, this was not. It was on the thin side almost watery and it had a stange plastic-y fruity finish to it, not nice to do to someone at the end of a drink. This isn't something I'd try again or reccomend to friends.