Whole Foods Old Plowshare Stout

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

A vigorous pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces a frothy, not quite two-finger thick, lightly browned, tan colored head. The beer is a deep, concentrated, dark brown color that shows a concentrated red color when held up to the light. The aroma has a rich, expressive, dark malt character to it that is a mix of aromatic notes of sweet dark chocolate, espresso beans, malted milk shakes, browned saltine crackers and a touch of dusty, almost basement like in some way, malt. I really like the aroma of this beer, purely dark malt driven, but it has quite a bit going on with that & strikes a nice balance.

The carbonation and the dark malt combine to contribute a thin, lightly acidic quality to the front of my first draught of this beer. The middle and finish though gain a fullness and a malt sweetness / richness that is quite nice. A quick swirl of my glass gets rid of the excess carbonation (which wasn’t more than at a medium level to begin with). The beer is now much smoother all around which accents the chocolate malt flavors and darkly sweet malt notes much more nicely. The finish has just a touch of burnt grain acidity as well as a roasted bitterness to it, both of which are light enough that they only serve to balance the sweeter dark malt notes found up front.

This is a solid Stout, much less organic one. I would definitely be happy to drink more of these. The mixture of rich chocolate notes with the sharper, roasted grain flavors is just about perfectly balanced & this beer is just so quaffable.

Bottle

Pours a decent black with clinging lace. Aroma is faint smoke and chocolate. Flavor is dry smoke, chocolate, and coffee. Palate is nice. Pleasant surprise. I’ll have more.

12oz bottle. very dark brown slightly reddish hue. light tan head. aroma of coffee, roasted malt, and semisweet chocolate. organic flavor, very earthy. very dry palate. strong coffee presence. a very enjoyable stout!

Pour was typical for the style, dark black bod, chocolate type colored head. Lacing was only ok. The aroma was milky chocolate, light dry roast. The flavor followed, lots of milky sweet chocolate, too much lactic for a dry stout, but an ok average stout otherwise. Mouthfeel was thin to milky, a touch of stickiness.

Dark brown with a fizzy tan head. Roasty chocolate aroma. Dry chocolate and roasty taste mild bitterness.

12oz Bottle - 99 Bottles - Federal Way, WA
Aroma – Nice stout aroma. Had some chocolate and coffee lingering.
Appearance – Dark Brown color, clear and a thin head.
Flavor – Nice tasting beer the dark malts where very nice this was a easy drinking stout smooth with flavor.
Palate – Nice smooth Mouthfeel, dry finish.
Overall – I liked this stout. It had flavor was tasty and came off very full. It was light a tad in the finish but overall the flavors where very nice.

Dark cola-brown to black in color. Small, light tan head that settles to a thin film. Virtually no lacing noted. The aroma shows big-time roasted barley, with chocolate, coffee, and oatmeal. The flavor also shows huge roastiness up front, with coffee and chocolate providing complimentary bitter and sweet flavors. The oatmeal adds a pleasant smoothness to the flavor. Medium body that shows fizzy carbonation on the tongue. The lengthy finish is dry and roasty. Nicely crafted beer.

Pour black with a nice rocky tan head...smell is coffee and nutty and I think rambeaux is right with the touch of tobacco...nice body indeed!!! I am quite surprised...I think this is more of a dry stout than "stout"...dry roasty flavor with hints of cocoa but more so just dry...nice!