Granite City Broad Axe Stout

Brewed by Granite City Food & Brewery
Style: Dry Stout
St. Louis Park, Minnesota USA

Date: 08/07/2008
Mode: Draft, Nitro
Source: Brewpub, Madison

Appearance: black, creamy tan head, solid lace,
Aroma: light roasted malt aroma,
Body: creamy body,
Flavor: rich roasted malt flavor, lots of burnt coffee character, lasting bitterness rises out of the burnt malts,
Overall: too much burnt black coffee for me

Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 9/20
Rating: 2.7/5.0
Drinkability: 4/10
Score: *4

(Draught) Pours a deep mahogany body with a desecnt creamy brown head. Aroma of chocolate and coffee. Flavor of roasted malt and coffee.

Tap: Pours a nearly black dark brown and is capped by a modest yet sustained tan head. The aroma’s fairly light for any type of stout, but it’s come some bittersweet chocolate and roasted coffee there if you sniff hard enough. A bit thin, but has a flavor of roasted malt & barley, coffee, chocolate, and some nuts. Dry finish.

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Tap, Omaha. Dark brown color with a thin, light beige head. Roasted malt, coffee and hints of caramel and dark chocolate aromas. Thin in feel. Some roasted malt and coffee in the flavors. Seems more like a dunkel than a stout, with the thin body. Drinkable dark brew.

Draft at S.D. location. Black color with an average fizzy brown head that mostly lasted with good lacing. Moderate roasted coffee and chocolate aroma. Medium to full body with a dry creamy texture. Medium roasted sweet flavor with a sweet finish of moderate duration. This is a good drinkable brew and went well with the Asian food I had.

Draught sample at the St Louis Park MN location, RBSG Minneapolis weekend, June 23 2007. Served on nitro. Not quite opaque, the bit of off-white foam lasts through the tasting....faint berries, chocolate and medium-roast coffee in the mild but pleasant aroma...weak cocoa and flat cherry-coke are the results in the body, somewhat watery and certainly not malty enough....smoooth, dull nitro-killed mouthfeel, not quite as poor as most of the other offerings.....probably the best beer of this sampling.

Sampled at the Cedar Rapids branch. Thick slightly tan head with a black body. The nose os milk chocolate with coffee and amaretto. The taste is slightly bitter with milk chocolate and dried apples. Too much hops for the style. Unbalanced with a thin body.

Tap at Mishawaka location: Basically opaque with a creamy nitro tan head and very good lace. The best part of the brew is it’s appearance sadly. The aroma is very weak with roasted, oats, and chocolate malts, mineral water and charcoal. The taste is just like a Guinness Draft but with even less flavors, malty, mineral, slight plum, chocolate and an ashy dry finish... where are the Fuggles? Soft and creamy nitro mouth feel but alas it is watery and ashy. Whatever, it is not offensive, just not very good either.