McSorleys Black and Tan

Pabst Brewing Company
Brewed at Lion Brewery, Inc.
Style: Stout
Woodridge, Illinois USA

Draft, just called dark at the nyc pub. Black body with a tan head. Sweet larger notes, light caramel body, very session-able with some light bready notes. Good brew

Slight head on top of a brown mostly thin body. Aroma and flavors are average, with nothing really standing out. Too watered down and slight mettalic flavors. Not bad but far from good.

First, a comment about McSorley’s Public House in NYC: an amazingly historic bar with more atmosphere than you’d find in a dozen trendy SoHo martini bars. But their beer’s a different story. For one, McSorley’s barely even washes their glasses, and their brews are the lamest form of swill. This B&T even shows a little alcohol taste, which is inexcusable. If you’re a real beer drinker, avoid this "style" altogether.

I don’t quite get the whole black and tan thing. Why not just brew a dark lager or a light porter? This is clearly just marketing and itself isn’t so successful as a beer. Brown color and caramelly tastes leave this not without its good points, though.

Dark amber colour not very opaque, but for this style it looks acceptable. The head is very large-bubbled slight tan coloured and fades quickly. The smell is of a typical lager and slightly sweet (as more of a macro-brew smell). The taste is medium-bodied but completely absent in flavour. You get a mouthful to deal with, but absolutlely no taste. This was a new addition to my local beer store, and I had to pick up, just because it was new, and i've had just about everything else, but I will not try any other beers from this Brewery just based on this beer. Needless to say, I look up, and see Pabst....what a shocker! This one isn't good, try another black and tan, or MAKE YOUR OWN!

Draught at McSorley’s, NYC. OK, I’ll admit it - I didn’t take any notes while I was drinking this. McSorley’s isn’t the kind of place where you sniff your beer, and swish it around, and write down your thoughts. You just get two mugs, you pound them back, you get two more, and so on... So as with the Ale (or as they called it at the pub, "Light"), I’m just putting the numbers right in the middle, because after leaning on the beat-up bar and standing on the sawdust-strewn floor at McSorley’s, I’ve realized that sometimes the numbers just don’t matter that much, it’s the experience that’s important.

GABF 2003: Brown/black color without much head. Stale aroma, watery feel, weak cardboard ending.

It is not the beer why I always love to go to Mc Sorley’s in NYC it is the atmosphere. The rudeness of the waiters who don’t like it, if you just sit around, the saw dust on the floor, for the pukers, the rent of 1 $ for an ash try and so on, just a great place! The Beer though, malt beer like aroma. Brown and red body. Malty flavor. Short watery finish.