Blackstone Irish Stout

Brewed by Blackstone Restaurant & Brewery
Style: Dry Stout
Nashville, Tennessee USA

Totally black, fine beige head. Dusty, olivine aroma. Dry, sausagy smoked flavor. Watery, chalk body. Olive flavors. Finishes out quickly and smoothly without too much residual roast. A good food pairing -- just not much going on beyond the smoked meat flavor. Medium body. On tap, Flying Saucer, Nashville.

Growler. Pours a dark ruby/black with a bubbly tan head. The aroma is sweet and nutty with hints of toffee, raisins, and molasses. Just a bit of coffee is noticed. More coffee comes out in the flavor along with a fairly sweet, raisiny taste. The finish is just a bit dry with some earthiness and peanut-skin qualities along with suggestions of milk. The mouthfeel is a notch thinner than I’d like in a stout, but it’s okay. The carbonation is more noticed at the tip of my tongue after the initial hit of sweet malts, but isn’t too bad. This is faithful to English interpretations of this style.

Tap at the brewpub. Pours black with a creamy tan head. Aroma of dry burnt malts and nuts. Medium moutfeel and carbonation. There is lots of dark roast and bitter chocolate in the flavor, countered by a spicy hop bitterness that carries through to the very dry finish. Dry stouts are typically my least favorite, because of the mouthfeel, abundance of dark roast, and lack of residual sweetness. However, this one was good, and worth a try of you like this style.

(On tap) A black beer with a reddish tint and a fine, creamy, beige head. Roasted, lightly vinous nose. Medium body with lovely coffeeish accents. Dry finish with a vague underlying sweetness. 300306

Tap @ brewery, on St. Patrick’s Day, nonetheless. Translucent and dark, lacquered cherry brown in color with a creamy tan moss growth spanning most of the head. Dark chocolate and cocoa butter take the nose, along with chestnuts and almonds. Dry aroma characteristics of milk chocolate Symphony bars are well met with the dusty remains in the empty Cocoa Krispie cereal bag. Liquidity and a touch watery register for the flavor. Dry, semi-sweet chocolate takes an iced coolata cooler approach with a given, sucked out mocha bean bitterness. Coffee crusted brownies, like stamping a batch to cool on coffee grinds on the countertop. Carbonation’s a touch too spritsy, but the dry mocha cocoa overcomes it to beat a touch bitterly in the finish.

Pours black with a small tan head and thick lacing. Roasted malt aroma with a hop nose. Chocolate and coffee roasted flavors. Dark and dry palate.