Holy Mackerel Mack in Black

Brewed by Florida Beer Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Melbourne, Florida USA

Draft. Pours pretty pitch black, with a medium light brown head. Smells of some roasty dark malts, and little bit of dark fruit, although the aroma wasnt very big and bold, but more subtle. The flavor was definitely roasty, with a bit of chocolate malt, and got a touch of pomegranate, although it wasnt prominent in the flavor, but more there for moral support pretty much. Pretty nice palate on it, went down pretty smooth with not much trace of alcohol at all. Definitely better than their first offering, but still didnt blow me away. Very solid though

[Bottle, generously gifted to me by daknole] Pours dark brown with a good sized tan head that lingers quite nicely. The aroma is very unusual. The predominant aromas are roasted malt, barley, and pomegranate (which I will admit I probably wouldn’t have identified had it not been on the bottle), with cocoa and dark chocolate also present. Taste is slightly tart with a little bitterness. The pomegranate is detectable, but much more subdued as the barley dominates. I also noticed a hint of banana at the end of the glass. Medium-thin mouthfeel with a good roasted malt and barley finish. Not a bad beer by any means, but the taste was lacking just a little. Still, a very interesting beer that I’m glad to have tried--thanks again, daknole!

Bottle thanks to ucusty, thanks man. Poured a deep brown color with a thick beige head that slowly settled to a thick layer. Aroma of chocolate, some light roast and a hint of coffee, a bit of fruitiness, and some caramel. Smooth, lightly tart entry with some undertones of fruit transition into a moderately chocolaty flavor with some undertones of roasted malt and coffee. Finishes with some lightly bitter coffee, a bit of fruit, and a hint of roast. Moderate carbonation and decent mouthfeel. Solid, interesting imperial stout.

Pours a deep opaque brown, like dark chocolate, with a nice tan head. Smoky aroma is strongly of fine roast coffee and has a hint of pomegranate. Mouth-filling flavor has tones of coffee and unsweetened chocolate as well as a pomegranate hint. Mouthfeel is lively and tingly, and finish is pleasingly smooth.

Had on draft at Redlight. It is my very humble oppinion that this beer was served WAY too cold...Beautiful pour in my glass. Dark brown with a nice creamy head. My very first impression was not good...So I let it warm up. It definitely got better. Nice roasted coffee and chocolate taste with just enough of a bitter sweetness added by the pomegranate presence. I would have liked it a bit sweeter, but this was very good. There was a slight "burnt" after taste that kind of was a detractor for me.

THOUGHTS: My first Florida beer. This was perhaps the worst imperial stout I had too this point. It was still a decent beer, but a lousy impy stout. It seemed more like a fruity stout or schwarzbier. This actually reminded me a lot of a schwarzbier the first day I tried it. A day or two later I had another one and thought it was more roasty and impy stout-like. This one was also a little warmer, so maybe that was it. Had to score this one low for being a bad example of the style. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a dark brown that was an opaque black in the glass with nearly no head. The little tat was there was light brown. The aroma was heavy roasted malt and coffee and pomegranate. The blending of the malt and fruit was a little off-putting. The initial flavor was sweet, acidic and bitter; while the finish was sweet acidic and bitter with a fairly long duration. There was coffee, roasted malt, pomegranate and not much else. The medium (very thin for the style) body was syrupy and then a little dry with fizzy carbonation and a dry and lightly astringent finish.

Aroma is soy, molasses, dark malts, lots of sweetness. Appearance is dark, deep brown, slight fizzy tan-brown head that does not linger overlong. Taste is sweet and malty with a little bit of saltiness, some dryness, molasses, soy. Finish is a touch fizzy, not too cloying, and slightly dry. Very well done. Thanks daknole!

12 oz bottle-Trade w/daknole-Black oily pour w/a slight tan head & good lacing. Cola like aroma. I wasn’t real crazy @ this one...flavor seemed kind of muddled to me, don’t know if it was the pomegranate juice or what, but it lacked that classic coffee/chocolate stout flavor. Had to much carbonation/sweetness as well. Too cola like. Got worse as it warmed, not better like many stouts. I won’t drink this again.