Estes Park Samson Stout

10oz. draft. Roasty, lightly sweet chocolate aroma, some mild coffee/toffee and cream. Brown-black color, not completely opaque, with a very slight head. Flavor is dominated by roasty malts, coffeeish and mildly bitter malty aspects, some cocoa and lightly spicy hop flavor combined with burnt grains, moderate hoppy bitterness and a touch of dark sweetness at the finish. Prickly, active palate, body is medium. Lingering chocolate flavors late. Not bad.

draft at the brewpub - Pours very dark brown with a roast malt and coffee aroma. It tastes of roast malt and bitter coffee with good hops bitterness there too. Medium to full bodied, it’s a good quaff and my clear favorite of the sampler.

On tap at the brewpub. Dark glass with small tan head. Rich malt, coffee, and cocoa nose (didn’t get the cinammon previously mentioned). Taste isn’t overly bitter. Nice smoothness with a bit of creaminess. Coffee, malt, and cocoa in the mouth. Maybe some dark fruit sweetness? Or is that the roasted malt? Very drinkable stout for a small town brewpub.

Estes Park Brewery’s Samson Stout features the strongest scent of cinnamon I’ve ever caught from anything besides a bundle of cinnamon. It’s somewhat dulled by grouped aromas including malts and coffee, but it’s hard to find much else in the aroma besides a violent puff of cinnamon - really, it assaults your nose, while another contingent rushes up the bridge of your nose and into your eyes. If you like cinnamon, you’ll love the Samson stout. Almost as bewildering, the cinnamon completely disappears in the flavor. In it’s stead is lots of coffee and cream, a modicum of fig, a nice weight, and an overarching bitterness. It’s standard fare, as stouts go. The real remarkable qualities are all in the nose, and I would highly suggest paying for a serving just for the novelty of catching a scent so strong and precise as the cinnamon in the Samson stout.

12oz bottle. Opaque black with a small lacy layer of beige head. Mild roasty chocolate aroma. Lots of chocolate and coffee tastes, quite roasty. Mellow carbonation gives it a watery, but very drinkable mouthfeel. Lingering cocoa aftertaste. Mellow balanced hops help out, but are sort of in the background of the rich malt. Slightly better than your typical US Stout I suppose.

(bottle). Pours a black color. Small size brown head. Minimal lacing. Roasted malt aroma. Strong malty taste. Smooth finish. Soft carbonation.

Bottle courtesy of douglas88. Pours dark brown with a thin tan head. Smells of chocolate, caramel, some roasted malt. Tastes of roasted malt and chocolatey. Decent.

dark body brown head. honey, light coffee nose. sweet flavor, a nice oatmeal taste. roast is gentle & well balanced. i was surprised by this. i was happy to drink this. roast & marshmallow linger in the finish. 4 7 6 4 15