New Holland The Poet

Brewed by New Holland Brewing Company
Style: Sweet Stout
Holland, Michigan USA

12oz bottle -pours a light brown head and black with red color. Aroma is dark malt-molasses/chocolate/ashy, some earthy hops. Taste is dark malt-molasses/oats/peat, secondary grassy hops. Medium body.

12oz. Jet black pour with a thin off-white head. Sweet malty nose and a taste with notes of caramel, nuts, and bitter chocolate. This beer is not nearly as creamy as other oatmeal stouts -- it’s lightness came across to me as a bit one dimensional. Still, a pleasant, if unremarkable stout.

sweet with a bit of acrid smoke. not a heavy brew but busy enough with a nice effervescense and light frothy head. different, demonstrative and good. mostly sweetish really with little flavor other than genuine sugar and toast.

(bottle - 12 oz) Dark black pour with a thin tan head. Aroma is mildly roasted with some light hints of coffee and cream. Some subdued cocoa as well. Flavor is smooth and roasted at the beginning and moves quickly to a rich and creamy mocha-like middle. Finishes with a mild roasted hint and some light sweetness.

Bottle. 12 oz. Split with Vinny. Pours dark brown, nearly opaque, with a thin, yet creamy beige head. Aroma of bread, yeast, oats, raisins and cinnamon. Very slight mouthfeel; rather thin body. Finishes nice and calmly. Good oatmeal stout.

Presentation: Arrived in a Shaker pint glass. Appearance: 1 1/2 fingers of medium tan head. This settles to a thin, incomplete coating of foam. Decent lacing as the drink progresses. The beer itself is dark brown to black. Smell: Slight roasted barley bitterness with hints of coffee in the finish. Taste: Roasted barley bitterness. Noticeable absence of creaminess normally associated with oats. Mouthfeel: Average carbonation level. Body is a little thin, especially for a stout. Drinkability: Not a bad drink, but certainly nothing over the top or even worth seeking out again.

Bottle. Poured black with a thick brown head. Aroma was full of grain, oat and a bit of caramel. Flavor was one note with grain/oat malts dominating.

THOUGHTS: A little thin for the style in both body and flavor. The flavor did increase as it warmed, though. Very oily. Nice beer, but a so, so oatmeal stout. Not very sweet for a sweet stout, but it had great balance. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a dark brown that was nearly black in the glass with red highlights and an average, off-white head that kept a thin sheet and left excellent lacing. The aroma was nice, but weak. There was light cereal, roasted malt, sour coffee and oats; and cherry. The initial flavor was sour, lightly sweet and bitter; while the finish was sweet, sour and a tad bit bitter with an average duration. There was roasted malt, oats, cherry, apple, a little red wine, some sour coffee, and a hint of dark chocolate in the tail end. The medium body was oily with fizzy carbonation and a lightly astringent and ever so slightly metallic finish.