Whole Foods Old Plowshare Stout

Brewed by North Coast Brewing Company
Style: Dry Stout
Fort Bragg, California USA

Dark brown, ruby color, tan head, nice lacing. Nose of light lactose, creamy roast and sweet mocha chocolate. The flavor is balanced, nice snappy acidity and dryness accentuated by the full body and roasty character. A bit rustic and definitely not too clean, which adds a nice chewyness and richness. I really like this one. Finishes balanced.

Bottle from KY store. Poured dark brown with a large frothy light brown head. Heavy toasted malt and toffee aroma. Medium body with a thin texture. Moderate well balanced toasted malt flavor with a short finish.

Turbid dark brown pour with off-white head. Aroma of roasty chocoff, dark malts, some molasses and nuts. The flavor is malty and roasty, with some chocoff and molasses hints. Medium palate.

Head is initially average sized, frothy, light brown, mostly lasting. Body is dark brown. Aroma is moderately malty (roasted grain/nuts, coffee, dark chocolate), trace hops (herbs), with notes of black tea and wet stones. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Medium body, velvety texture, lively carbonation. Excellent minerally, tea-like dry stout from a brewer that isn’t particularly skilled with stouts (IMHO). I could drink this every day. Kudos!

12 oz bottle, from Bello Vino in Ann Arbor, Michigan (Dec 2005). Opaque tarry blackness, very small dark head recedes to a shy lasting ring....big dry roasty coffee, burnt grainy nose penetrates my oncoming cold like garlic in a perfumery.....quite dry, bitter black coffee character in the body with just a touch of leavening baker’s chocolate, small hint of vanilla towards the finish but mucho mucho bitterness is the guiding force in the this seriously good burnt-toasty stout that shows just how wussy Guinness and its ilk have become...smooth, clean texture could be a bit thicker but not a major problem; very solid, easy to drink yet memorable and a rare "dry" stout that deserves the name.

Chocolately, malty aroma. Creamy in a way. Nearly opaque dark brown color with a significant light tan head that certainly sticks to the glass, though it seems unwilling to break into lace. Seems a bit thin bodied. Kind of chocolate malts, with a light undertone of dark roasted malt. The carbonation is very moderate, the feel is near creamy, and there is a decent amount of bitter, especially in the finish. Dry finish. Quite good.

Dark brown body that shows ruby when held to light. The Head is large and light khaki colored. The aroma is chocolate with coffee and some bread. The taste had some rich coffee with dark chocolate and some tea. The body was medium and slick. A decent stout.

Bottle and served in my La Chouffe tulip: Pours a deep rustic brown hue topped by a creamy off-white head and produced very good lace. The aroma has notes of chocolate, coffee, toasty malt, plum, and grassy herbal hops. The taste is almost all cheap crappy coffee and herbal bitterness without much depth. Yet again another piss poor organic beer, why in the heck can’t anyone brew a rich and flavorful organic beer? Simply weak in aroma and flavor, there are so many better stouts out there, avoid. North Coast should be ashamed to be part of this marketing ploy.