Hopworks Organic Survival Stout

Brewed by Hopworks Urban Brewery
Style: Stout
Portland, Oregon USA

quite possibly one of the best stouts that I’ve had. on tap at HUB, pours deep brown, almost black with a medium head. aroma is filled with coffee and nutty notes. flavor is full of deep coffee notes with an earthy balance. hairbender is obviously the key ingredient here. an easy but complex drinker.

bottle courtesy of kenb! dark pour with a 1 finger light brown head. aroma is tons of coffee, just like a cup oif regular ol joe. plus lots of hearty yummy grains of course! taste is a nice bitter bite cut with the earth flavors of grain, dirt, smoke and time. being familiar with the more obscure grains in this drink i can def taste and very much appreciate their presence in this mixture. nice full body with some velvet and a very nice feel all the way through, very primal, i love it! leaves a great smokey, full aftertaste that is bitter, but not too. idef want some more of this!

coffeeee! yes! cappuccino, java.. yes!! !! pure! .. black .. so smooth and perfect roast level .. espresso cup aromas .. . very tasty, organic? .. awesome stuff!

Appearance: Pours out a clearish, dark brown, near black body with a well-sized, frothed, khaki-colored head. Smell: Hearty and fulfilling - it’s like the reunion show of some long ago canceled television sitcom. Retired, aging, has-been grains sitting alongside barley and wheat, who’s beer careers have been on an unprecedented meteoric rise, to share memories and swap stories with limited commercial interruption. Taste: The Survival Stout utilizes more well-known grains including barley, oats, and wheat, but it also contains a number of ancient, oft-forgotten grains: amaranth, spelt, quinoa, and kamut. Starts with a flavor of fine dark chocolate syrup with touches nutty oats, molasses, Dutch cocoa, and with a background taste of crisp, blackened grains. Medium degree of sweetness throughout. Also, there’s a buildup of smooth, tasty espresso. Meager earthy hop character and bitterness, with more perceived bitterness attributed to the grains than the hops. Finishes dry and roasty. Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium carbonation. The mouthfeel is velvety to a point. Yes, yes, it is. Drinkability: Somewhere, in a secret, candlelit room, the uninvited, unwelcome Rye Grain sits alone brooding. From floor to ceiling, the walls are plastered with iStockphoto.com stills of the various grains all X’ed out with bright red lipstick. This won’t, this cannot end well. Survival Stout, with its wide array of various grains and added cold-pressed espresso presents a rich, inviting complexity and yet there’s a very, very sensible ABV%. Recommended!

22oz bottle. dark reddish-brown pour. Aroma of roasted grain. Flavor of deep roast and a bit of molasses. a bit thin, still very tasty.

22 oz bottle from Hagen. Pours near black with brown edges. Average size fluffy beige head. Nose is roasted grains and coffee. Tastes like you would expect...coffee, roasted grains, and some dry bakers chocolate with a touch of cream. Light/medium body. I have not had a dry stout in some time..one because i have not sampled much beer in the past 6 months due to wait loss, but also because it is not one of my favorite styles. This is a very good beer though and at the top of this style, and much better than most dry stouts i have had. Would love to try this on nitro. HUB continues to impress me. Quality ++ all the way.

Very tasty stout. Pint on tap at Horse Brass in Portland, OR. Nice bland of chocolately malt and roasted coffee. Yum!

2008 Spring Beer and Wine Festival. Pours ebony black with a tall beige head. Big roasty stout, chocolate and coffee icecream flavors, rich and smooth. I’ve found myself less then impressed with a lot of stouts since I enjoy imperial stouts so much, this was very well done while still allowing you to drink a few pints. Smooth on the palate, not a watery boring mess.