Cooperstown Strike Out Stout

Brewed by Cooperstown Brewing Co.
Style: Sweet Stout
Milford, New York USA

Sweet and charred aroma. Deep ruby in color. I got a bit of a foamer, huge head and lots of tingly carbonation in the flavor. Nice dry stout flavor, deep roasted malts, some vanilla, slight smoke. A little thin and watery. This has potential but needs to thin out the mistakes.

Bottle. Pours dark brown, almost black, with a huge lasting rocky light-brown head -- it looks great! Very nice aroma of roasted malt, hops, milk chocolate, vanilla and coffee. The flavour’s not quite on the same level as the aroma but still quite tasty. Flavour starts sweet with roasted malt, chocolate and vanilla and ends with a light bitterness. Smooth and creamy mouthfeel. Medium bodied. Really enjoyable, it would make for a nice session Stout.

(12oz bottle) Very large brown head atop a brown-black body. Aroma is moderately sweet, milk chocolate, some caramel, light espresso. Taste is moderately sweet, chocolate, caramel, light plum, faint smoke. Light-medium body, some effervescence, seemed a trifle thin.

Deep, dark brown pour with tall, large-bubbled head that didn’t hang around. Roasted malts and caramel nose. The flavor is full of smoky, roasted malts with sweet caramel in the background. A very slight bitterness toward the end. Unfortunately, the smoke and caramel notes quickly dissipate because of the thin body and over carbonation.

12 oz. bottle. Pours very dark brown with a very frothy tan head. I had to wait for the head to settle down to finish the pour. Aroma is of wet cardboard. Slightly sweet flavor with an excessive roated malt flavor that is more like burnt toast. Palate is slightly thin for a stout. Over-carbonated as well.

Bottle. Dark brown, small tan head. Nice semi-sweet chocolate aroma. Thin watery mouthfeel (for the style). Pleasant heavy roasted flavour, some thin chocolate notes as well. Lingering coffee roast over a bit of a rough finish. Nice taste, but just way too watery and bland to be considered an excellent stout.

12 oz. bottle. With the beautiful dark color and ample head, I expected (hoped for?) more. Faint chocolate aroma, but a big whiff gives you a sense of the senselessly over-the-top carbonation of this one. Taste is of chocolate and coffee, but the palate is thin, fizzy, and generally reminiscent of a generic root beer. I’ve enjoyed other of this brewery’s offerings (particularly the Backyard IPA) but, overall, this was a "strike-out" for me.

I really like this beer. I think it has a great flavor, with chocolate, coffe, and caramel mixed in with some hoppiness. Malty. I’m also a lover of a good, healthy, thick, dark head, and this beer has that. Overall, not a bad stout.