Mendocino Black Hawk Stout

Brewed by Mendocino Brewing Company
Style: Dry Stout
Hopland, California USA

bottle from 23rd street ,dranl black color tannish head, creamy palate,roasty coffee malts a lil thin but drinkable i like this one goes down easy

Poured black with small but creamy chocolate head. Good smoaky roast aroma with a easy drinking mild roasy chocolate flavor. Light body, maybe even a bit watery. This stout was better cold than when it warmed up.

Picked up at Whole Foods, Austin, Tx. Pours a dark rub red to black with no head to speak of. Not much of an aroma, very, very faint chocolate and coffee if I had to pin it down. Flavor is slighlty smoky and very dry. A litle bit of bitter coffee as well, but not much else to distinguish this as a stout Mouthfeel is quite thin for a stout. Overall, not extremely impressed.

Bottle: Smooth, not very aromatic. Not too complex in taste with hints of semi-sweet chocolate and coffee. Nice hop finish keeps it clean. Easy to drink and a good progression from the most basic stouts, but a few steps short of top shelf.

Ink black with a big head. Burnt grain aromas lead to a sweet, smooth cocoa powder taste. A mild, roasted, coffee-like finish reveals light hop bitters. Well balanced and highly drinkable.

Color is a solid black, with violet highlights, and the head is tall, lush, blooming brown and leaves generous traces of lace. Aroma is sharp, deep, and replete with dark fruitiness. I’ve seen this described elsewhere as a "dry stout". Not in the nose, it ain’t. Grapes and cherries dominate the aroma, with further hints of anise and rum, with almost none of the coffee and cocoa associations usually aligned with stouts, "dry stouts" at least. This incredible fruitiness persists through out every aspect of the brew, not to my complete dissatisfaction. Any disappointment came from the lack of anything else in the way of balance. Fierce, but friendly, bitterness jumps on the palate, and the finish is long, lingering, and very, very fruity. A bit too top-heavy, this one: too much bitter and sweet, but not enough malt to give body and balance. Tasty nonetheless, so I can’t fully fault this very, very, incredibly fruity stout.

Poured with a large head malt coffee aroma, roasted malt taste with a slightly bitter finish. Pretty much on the thin side, a hot summer day stout.

Bottle Pours a solid black with a large fluffy light brown/tan head. Aromas are mostly roasted/burnt malts and a slightly sour woddy note. Flavor is a bitter/sour smokey taste that just doesn’t quite do it. Feel is a bit thin, more like a porter maybe. Carbonation is soft and the trailer is a sour astringent taste. Dissapointing.