Flat Earth Black Helicopter

Brewed by Flat Earth Brewing Company
Style: Stout
St. Paul, Minnesota USA

Pours a very nice dark brown, nearly black except when held in the light. The head, while turning into a layer of crown, does seem to stick around for a while. The mocha colored goodness looks like it is trying desperately to cling to the side of the glass, but likely to my not quite beer clean glass, is having some difficulty. Scent is coffee beans up front, roasted malt, and chocolate very hidden in the back. This smells like a good cup of fresh coffee. No hint of booze or any hops. Taste, unfortunately, is going to be a huge sticking point for me. This is coffee, through and through, and thats it. The coffee taste is good, but this is incredibly one dimensional after that. Mouth is a bit on the thin and bubby side, I prefer my stouts to be thick and damn near flat. This is going to be like drinking a cup of coffee, and I’m happy to have tried it once, but won’t go out of my way to revisit.

Eagan, Mn. - Cellars Wines and Spirits - bomber. Pours a dark black with a nice khaki head. That is where the love affair stops. Aroma has brief hints of coffee but not much else. Flavor has some hints of coffee if you try really hard, but it is more of a sour punch. It appears that the brewer has some quality issues as I see other raters have noted the same thing and it appears that the retailer stocked it well out of the sunlight. Such a shame - was looking forward to this one.

2009 Bottle - Pours out thin and dark with a medium sized tan head...aroma is coffee and smoke with some roasty malt and char...flavour is thin and coffee-centric, but goes way the fuck into left field...tart on the finish, very weird...didn’t taste like bugs got in, just left me feeling like I had drank a cup of highly acidic DMV coffee...that was not very enjoyable...

25 oz bottle. Pours a medium brown body with a small fizzy brown head that vanished rather quickly. Poured a lot like a bottle of cola. The nose is more coffee than beer, which is fine by me, but it’s not for everyone. Nice roast, minimal hops, and dark bakers chocolate. Me like. The flavor has a slightly disgusting sour twang up front that’s either the start of an infection or just out of control astringency and a pH problem. Finishes with burnt charred malt, some oats, and espresso. Mouthfeel is light to medium bodied with a somewhat watery texture and light fizzy carbonation. Don’t know what happened here, I never smelled a beer so good that tasted so badly.

Bottle from Skinnyguy. Pours an opaque black color with a small off whie foamy head. Nose is roasty and coffee, very nice aroma though it is dominated hard by the coffee. Light sweet hints of chocolate here and there. Palate is very thin, watery, smooth and somewhat flat with a little bit of carbonation and some acidity. FLavor is mostly dark roasted malts with notes of coffee hidden throughout. A lightly bitter and acidic finish and a filmy mouth is left.

Bottle - thanks skinnyguy! Pours a very dark brown, nearly black color with a finger of creamy tan head. Aroma is sweet, cocoa and malts. Light roast and some espresso. Deep coffee flavors up front into a mild bittersweetness. Some light roast and cocoa before the dry, roasted malt and coffee finish. Good!

750ml bottle from tyler. thank you sir....dark close to black pour with a light half-finger light beige head.... aroma of coffee and smoky roasted malt....flavors were pretty mild with emphasis on a light not so sweet subdued coffee. a little thin on the palate.

Sampled February 2009
This is well carbonated as a careful pour still produces a nearly four-finger thick, lightly browned, dark tan colored head in my 25cl tulip glass. The beer is quite black, but with a brown tint and it shows a perhaps a hint of bright ruby if held up directly to the light. The aroma is definitely coffee influenced as it smells like coffee even as I am pouring this beer. A deeper inspection of the aroma, yields sharp, almost harsh, burnt aromatics and even some acidic burnt notes. A touch of charcoal, some berry like coffee-bean notes, well toasted whole grain bread crust, very burnt caramel notes and even some dark chocolate aromatics are noticeable if you dig around here. The aroma is a little harsh for me, but does have some interesting notes to it.

The beer is quite fizzy, which contributes too much carbonic acid. Luckily this is easily remedied by some vigorous swirling. Burnt acidic flavors are joined by roasted charcoal notes and a lingering acidity and burnt bread note that lingers on in the finish. The beer starts to lose a bit of its harshness as my palate gets used to it, though it still never loses it. Dark chocolate notes, softer cocoa flavors and something a bit like burnt prune juice add a bit of balance to the purely roast coffee notes that are up front. There is a touch of berry flavor here as well (perhaps a touch of blueberry even).

Not as bad as my initial impression’s misgivings, but this is a bit too burnt / roast dominated for my particular tastes. Still this is fairly enjoyable and definitely worth trying (I’ll even finish the bottle pretty easily which is saying something).