Pike XXXXX Stout

22oz bottle from Secret Santa. Aroma: Deep, semi sweet roasted malt with big chocolate character. Coffee, anise, chalk, and some dark fruits. Smells really good. Appearance: Pours very black with no discernible highlights. Dark tan head was full and creamy with great retention. Great lacing. Flavor: Heavy roasted malt, coffee, smoke, dark fruits, and a light hop pineyness. Roasted malt and hop bitterness is fairly high. Palate: Medium-full bodied and creamy. Moderate carbonation. Overall: Good one. Nice roasted malt qualities and a great rich mouthfeel.

Bottle: Black with a tan head. Aroma, dark fruits, roasted malts and some chocolate. Flavor, chocolate, dark fruits and a dry roasty bitterness on the finish. Pretty good stuff.

Bottle. Another local beer I have been wanting to try since I heard of it! Pours a very dark black color with a nice velvety dark tan head. Looks quite delicious! Aroma is quite pleasant too. Hints of coffee, chocolate, roasted malt, and nuts hit the nose. Flavor is mostly coffee and roasted malts. Hints of sweet chocolate come in as well. Flavor is dry as well and leaves the mouth in that state for a long while, asking to be replenished with another sip. Another delicious local beer I am proud of.

Dark velvet like pour with a pleasant but not overwhelming aroma. Small head looks very similar to an imperial stout. Thick roasty chocolate flavor with only a hint of alcohol. Medium mouthfeel and respectable finish. Not bad

Dark brown pour, thin tan head. Aroma is roasty chocolate, coffee, brandy. Flavor is a remarkably balanced partially sweet, partially dry stout flavor. Nice espresso, chocolate. Pretty good.

<22 oz. bottle from LS - Pours the blackest beer I’ve seen. Average tan head. Light lacing. Has a nice roasted coffee aroma and flavor. Flavor is quite bittter. Mouthfeel is dry. Medium body. A good beer, but just a little to bitter for me.

Big thanks to Old Mr Crow for carting this to DC for me. Pure black body with a nice brown head. Great aroma, caramel, coffee, roasted nuts. Taste is very nice, slightly hot on the tounge, coffee and dark chocolate bitter. Sweet coffee overtones however are evident as is some dark fruit as in prunes. Ending is dry and sweetly-bitter. A very nice stout that I’m glad I was able to try.

Bottle. Pours a dark black body with a mocha head. Cocoa aroma, chalky, and some distant hops. The flavour is nicely done - toasted dark malts, chocolate. Well balanced but nothing sticks out particularly well. It’s good but not necessarily special.