Elk Creek Big Trout Stout

Brewed by Elk Creek Cafe and Aleworks
Style: Dry Stout
Millheim, Pennsylvania USA

Sampled on draft at the brewery this beer poured a black color with a huge brown head. The aroma was creamy, roasty and malty. The flavor was bitter, roasty and creamy with light notes of coffee. The finish was long, bitter and roasty. Solid.

Sampled at Pints for Pets. Pours black with a thick creamy head. Doesn’t lace because the head doesn’t go anywhere. Very roasty coffee nose with some brown sugar. No surprises in the flavor. Roasted coffee with a good bit of smoke. Ok body with a lot of oilness, but not an overall good impression. Coffee and chocolate left on the palate. Decent stout.

On tap the the Pints for Pets Brewfest. Dark brown (way too light in color) with a super large, creamy white head. Smells very roasty and dry with chocolate and coffee notes. Creamy light taste with coffee and roasted malts. Super thin mouth. Weeeeeeeak.

Sampled on draught at Pints for Pets. Milky sweet nose with chocolate and coffee and fresh wood. Mild bitterness and some smoky character. Dark black clear with thick tan lacing head. Medium-light body with light smooth carbonation. Starts with dry roasted grain and a bit of tang. Light smooth hop character throughout with medium bitter finish. Nice, but kind of weak.

Sampler at brewpub. Pours a dark brown to black body with a creamy nitro brown head. Dry roasty nose, a little bit of peanuts, with a touch of coffee. Dry nutty and roasty flavor with a bit of chalkiness. Thin mouthfeel, kinda prickly for being on nitro, it must be a blend of gasses that’s heavier on the CO2. Overall, pretty decent, a tad watery, but that’s more or less to style I suppose.

On tap at the brewpub. Aroma is soft run of pale caramel, salt and coffee oils. Pours deep black-brown with a soap, thin tan head. Flavor is interesting. Peculiar wash of toffees, salt, and wood. A nip of funk? Barely detectable. Herbal on the back end. Hops glow as eucalyptus in the roof of the mouth. A bit conflicted, thin, and ashy overall. Certainly drinkable, not bad. Another mostly bland Guinness rendition.

Nitro pint at the brewery. Deep black with a very small and thin medium brown head. Straightforward roast and chocolate malt in the nose, a faint bit of cream, and some light fruity phenols, but nothing too strong or forward as a whole. Flavorwise it’s light roast, light charred grains, light toast, etc. Not exactly dry like most dry stouts, a little undercarbonated, a little thin as well, but there’s nothing terrible about it. An average stout that doesn’t pretend to be anything else.