Lion Stout

Brewed by Lion Brewery (Ceylon)
Style: Foreign Stout
Nuwara Eliya & Biyagama, Sri Lanka

33 cl bottle, Fargo, ND, USA. Impressively creamy deep tanned head. Almost purely chocolate aroma with a nice infusion of raisin. Sweet with a building alcohol presence that ends with a very satisfying finish.

Bottle, labelled Sinha stout. Pours black with massive tan head that fades to half a cm. Aroma has roast malts, blackberries, nuts, coffee, cocoa , soy sauce, cloves, liquorice, vanilla, smoke. Soft mouthfeel. Gently sweet. Finish is gently dry. Alcohol is well-hidden. Body is medium, slightly oily. Excellent.

Creamy light milk choco head with black body. Choco Alcohol aroma. Choco alcohol taste.

Dark brown close to black with a small beige head. Aroma is malty fat liqourice and cold coffe. Mouthfeel is very smooth with fine bubbled carbonation. Flavour holds lots of liqourice, coffe and light caramell with additional complex notes similar to burnt spices. Ends on a lingering sweet note.

Serving date: 2009-02-01. Served in snifter. 330 ml bottle with freshness date printed on the bottle (Best before September 2009). The pour is basically jet-black - held up against the light it reveals only small deep red hues. The liquid seems clear. The head is about 3 cm - bigger than expected and certainly bigger than many stouts - and its color is one shade darker than your ordinary cappuccino. It’s a very thick and creamy head - almost reminiscent of a nitro-carbonated brew - and it stays for a while before settling into a ring of lacings. I must say, this beer looks very good. Some quite powerful aromas of dark fruits - mostly black currants - and milk chocolate hit the nose. Plenty of roasted malts and coffee are there as well. A faint nutty aroma - perhaps of cashew nuts of almonds - finishes off the smell, which I enjoyed quite a bit, of this one. In the taste, more dark fruits and notes of ripe red apples blend with molasses for a big sweet flavor. Roasted malts are also rather assertive. There is also a somewhat unusual chocolate character present - consisting of a mix of both bitter and sweet chocolate flavors. In the slightly bitter finish, there is a small twang from the alcohol, a sweet taste of toffee and gentle hops. Towards the end, when the beer warms up, the chocolate flavor becomes more prominent. Overall, this one tastes good, but not extraordinary. It has a nice balance between some of the usual flavors found in a stout, and some flavors are even quite big and powerful - almost trying to enter the domain of imperial stouts. Heavier on the carbonation and a bit livelier than I had anticipated. Semi-full (not medium though) body. Towards the end, it gets a little smoother. This is a very good beer, but as already noted, not extraordinary. It looks and smells really good - the smell actually outweighs the taste, which is a bit of a disappointment. Somehow, it feels smaller than it actually is - the alcohol hides really well - but I don’t know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. However, irrespective of this, it’s highly recommended and I would definitely try it again if it was offered to me, but I wouldn’t make any huge efforts trying to get a hold of it. Serving type: bottle (Copy of old Beer Advocate review)

Dark dark brown, reddish tint, dark beige head. Aroma is instantly coffee and berries but also an unfortunately plastic note. Taste is coffee, creamy mocha, chocolate milk, some more light mixed berries.

Moderat malty aroma with notes of raisin. Huge, creamy, light brown head. Excellent lacing. Fully lasting longevity. Black body. Heavy sweet and liquorice flavor, and a long finish duration. Medium to full palate.

Pours black into the glass. Beautiful two-finger coffee colored head of thick foam. Retention is okay. Lacing is great. Very nice nose. Smells of cocoa, vanilla and leather. Roasted chocolate malts. Very nice smokey notes. Dark fruits. Big chocolate and coffee flavors. Huge roasted malt flavor. Slight hints of molasses, brown sugar, vanilla, and cherries. Touch of dried fig flavor. Here, also, is a very nice touch of smoke. Feels very good. Nice and medium thick body. Slick and almost oily. Personally, I’d like it to be a tad bit thicker, but it is still very good. This is an excellent representation of what a good stout should be. I’m very surprised that this is from outside of America. Tastes like a big American stout. Alcohol is very well hidden. This brew is extremely drinkable. I want more.