Hitachino Nest Lacto Sweet Stout

Pours black into a snifter. Tan head recedes leaving no lacing to hug rim. Chocolate aromas. Sharp, tingling sweet summer fruit upfront.

Pours deep, opaque sable with a fairly thick, if not persistent, light tan head. Aroma is malty and yeasty as well as chocolaty and a little sweet. Flavor is more like an ale than a stout, mainly malty with a chocolaty undertone and nutty and coffee hints - tasty nonetheless. Texture is smooth and fairly tingly. Dang, I really like for a stout to taste like a stout.

(330 ml bottle from Global Beverage) Pours very dark brown with some rubyish-amber highlights. Two or three fingers of tan head eventually recede to a somewhat globby unattractive covering. Aroma of mostly chocolate. Mouthfeel lightly prickly, perhaps a bit thin, fairly unremarkable. Flavor of light chocolate, really no roastiness or anything too remarkable. A bit wooden. Didn’t notice the word "lacto" on the label.

330mL. Pours a deep ruby with a one finger rocky head that has zero retention and lacing. Aroma is weak: cherries, nothing much else. Mouthfeel is superlight more like Coca-Cola. Taste is chocolate cherry Coke. Ummm.... If I blind tasted this I would call it a dark N/A. Mostly flat. Not good.

From a bottle poured black with a small head. Sweet malty flavor with a kind of sour finish.

Bottle. Pours black with a brown head. Aroma has an acidic note that led to a bit of tartness and there is also a milk chocolate note. A really awkward combination. The flavor is quite similar to the aroma. Tart and acidic notes do not compliment the light fruitiness.

Dark brown-black, thin, oily, off-white head. Plummy, milky nose, quite sweet. Flavor is similarly sweet, rather milky chocolate, grainy, and with a lingering light fruit note. Rather thin body, short finish. Not much to report here, no real interest.

Pours a nice dark brown with a thick head, aroma is typical of a stout, nothing too special. Tastes of dark chocolate but with an overwhelming tartness that stays on the palate way too long. Not that good, especially for the price.