John Harvards Dry Irish Stout

Brewed by John Harvards Brewhouse (Corporate Office)
Style: Dry Stout
Cambridge, Massachusetts USA

On tap at the Wayne location. On nitro. Poured a dark black with red edges and a small sized off white head. Some lacing left on the glass. Aromas and tastes of roasted malts, chocolate, and some light coffee. Both, especially the tastes, were on the lighter side.

Tap@John Harvards, Boston, Ma. Quite a creamy dry stout. Light mocha notes, with touches of berry fruit in the end. A bit too thin to gett excited about.

At the Union Station Brewing/John Harvards in Providence, RI. Forever-lasting head atop a dark but not quite coal-black body; godd dry caramel-espresso nose and flavor; medium-thick mouthfeel. Best of the five I had here by far, though its not worth the trip just for this. Stick with Trinity when in Providence.

on tap at the brewhouse. it was pretty reassuring while in the states to know that even the poorer breweries, like harvards, still come up with decent stouts. ths was pretty close to black with a beige head. prune and cream aroma. lots of cocoa flavours and nice dry and lightly sour finish

On draught at the Framingham location 7/2/2005. Typical nitro dry stout, moderate amount of head, off-white colored on top of a cola to nut-brown body, some light auburn highlights. Aroma of dry coffee rinds, a hint of nuttiness and astringent roast. Flavor couldnt be any more boring if they tried. Light roast, dry, bitter notes with no redeeming malt sweetness, no hops and just tons of water. A hint of light cream/sugar/vanilla as it warms, but severely lacking in any interesting flavors and in body. Strange, as they make a really good milk stout here. Must be the nitro, or perhaps they werent aiming for anything more than a Guinness knock-off.

Cask sample at the Pittsburgh location. Pours flat black with a thin beige head that dissipates quickly. Slippery lacing. Aroma of coffee and malt. Medium, smooth body with a roasted coffee character. Cask-conditioning really brings out the coffee-ness of this Stout. Some malt and hops bitterness are buried in the flavor too. The finish is bitter and roasty and stays with the coffee theme. There really isn’t enough alcohol in this beer to give it a real kick but it is still pretty tasty.

Druaght @ Wayne, PA: Aroma of malts, choclate, roast, vanilla, and cream. Poured very dark brown/ruby color. Big tan head. HUGE lacing. Nice flavor of choclate, coffee, and cream with hints of toasting and roasting. Easy to drink. Full bodied. Well balanced. I was very impressed with this beer. I wonder if the local brewer did something special to it.

I never expect much from JH, but this dry stout is pretty darn tasty - creamy head - roasty, dark coffee flavor - sure, it tastes like most other decent dry stouts, but really, how creative can you get with this style?