Dragon Stout

Brewed by Desnoes and Geddes (Diageo PLC)
Style: Foreign Stout
Kingston, Jamaica

Dumping it into my glass barely produced any head but what is there is tan to light brown, dark brown brew. The aroma is different, I’ll give it that. Not as oversweet as I assumed: alcohol, coffee, hard xmas candies, lots of roast, burnt brown sugar and I’ll even put my vote in for leather...but overall the overall impression on my nose in not appealing. Taste is too sweet for my liking but the mix of sweet overpowereful burnt roast malts and spice is kinda neat. Licorice? Other stuff to be found: chocolate, molassas, bleck...I don’t want to savour anymore, I just want an empty glass. The mouthfeel is smooth but viscous and my mouth wants me to remove the existing skin with something free of Dragon Stout. The bitterness is blunt and annoying mainly due to how it sticks to the mouth. Now, after waying all the negative crap, read it carefully for the positives. No where near a pour out, not even a consideration. This is an interesting beer, no question, but obviously not to my tastes. I can appreciate it though....from a distance.

Beer looks very dark brown with a brown noisy cap, retention is not the greatest and lacing was spotty at best. Aroma is surprisingly different, sweet an almost exactly like banana cream pie. Deep inhales reveal bitterness in the form of coffee, this is a very nice aroma. Flavour is very sweet almost sickly sweet, just like in the aroma there is a lot of banana in here. You don’t notice any bitterness until the finish and that where the coffee comes out, there is also a lot of dirt in the flavour but this is covered up a lot by the over sweetness. Taste ok but too sweet for me, I’m not sad I tried it but I’ll most likely never drink it again.

Dark brown with big foamy espresso head that thins quickly. Malty raisin alcohol aroma. Sweet caramel malt like a doppelbock with a hint of apple or raisin acidity. A bit light in body, could be thicker. Warming alcohol going down. If I was in Jamaica, this is what I would be drinking a lot.

Deep purple, almost black color. Smells of caramel,hay, nuts, roasty, and cloves. Taste is complex but very smooth. Tastes of raisins and caramels, with some hops and malts. Nice and smooth finish. An overall pleasant experience. I’m not sure why this got such a low rating. This is a much better brew than what it’s overall rating shows.

A nice looking stout with an almost black body and a 2 finger tan head. Aroma is also nice with roasted notes, alcohol, and dark fruit. Flavor is caramel and anise with dark fruit. It has a port wine aspect to it and is sugary, almost cloyingly so. Some unusual hop effects. Warming alcohol. A nice easy drinking and flavorful stout from Jamaica.

284ml bottle. Very deep red in colour, almost opaque with a fizzy coke-like head both in terms of appearance and the fact that it disappeared rapidly. Sweet and chocolatey aromas with hints of alcohol, red fruits and a vinuous characteristic. Plenty of initial sweetness: chocolate and red berries that subside to a roasted malt and fruity finish. A warming alcoholic edge on the swallow with a very mild bitterness in this otherwise malt-dominated beer.

Bottle, Stout NYC. Pours a dark opaque brown color with a dark brown head. Aroma is very strong and complex. I noticed: cinnamon, fruit, hops, spices, and malt. Cinnamon was the most prominent for me. Flavor was very sweet and maybe too sweet. Palate was a little rough going down but flavor really fills the mouth. Good beer- surprised its from the same people as red stripe.

Tasted 12/05/2009. 330ml bottle from New World Island Bay. Ingredients: Black malt; corn syrup; caramel malt; and hop extract. Priming sugar used when bottling. You could say that about sums it up... but that would be a bit harsh. Loads of dark fruit comes through from the malt and the fermentation is pretty clean. Super sweet. That’s about the only thing other than the list of ingredients that I’ve got to say about it.