Gardner Naked Stout

Brewed by Gardner Ale House
Style: Dry Stout
Gardner, Massachusetts USA

Dark brown color where no light shines through. Very nice head and lace left on the glass. Strong coffee ground aroma--no sweetness. The body is thin. After a mild start, a heavily roasted malt flavor shows up in the swallow--lots of black patent malt. A very dry stout and bitter from the burnt elements.

Sampled at NH Brewfest, 10/03/09, Pours black with a creamy beige head. Aroma is chocolate and roasted malt. Palate is thin and dry, not my personal favorite, but true to the style. Flavor is roasted malt with chocolate with a little bit of smoke and wood.

My Bottom Line:
Roastiness galore delivers flavor and bitterness atop the faint caramel sweetness of this very flavorful low gravity Dry Stout.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A veil of foam covers the brown-tinged black.
-The grain bill mostly yields roast and caramel flavors, and perhaps coffee.
-Hops aren’t too apparent.
-Fruity esters hang on to the caramel.
-The body is quite generous for the style and the abv.

On tap at the brewpub.

Cask Stillage at the GBBF Bar Sans Frontiers Earl’s Court, London 08/08/2007 Fruit and roast aromas. Black and smooth on the palate with some dryness in a crisp full coffee roast finish.

Growler, Dark black pour with tan, creamy head Not much aroma, a little roasted characteristic Flavor has a burnt chocolate, and some bitterness Overall, OK, not very memorable

Third pint. Jet black body with nice brown bubbles on the surface. Roasted aroma. Hints of smoked, dark malts in taste. Watered palate and thin in the mouth (gravicask at GBBF, 05.08.2008).

Cask (GBBF 2008) - Dark in colour, almost black. Slightly tart and smoked aroma. Lightly tart taste with malt and some coffee.

Cask at GBBF 2007. A pitch black beer with a thin brown head. The aroma is sweet malty with notes of caramel and chocolate. The flavor is sweet malty with notes of roasted malt and chocolate. The body is thin though.