Wychwood Black Wych 4.5%

Formerly brewed at Wychwood (Refresh UK - Marstons plc)
Style: Stout
Witney, England

This beer was the odd man out in this tasting. I like stouts...figured this would be a traditional one as it’s from the UK...bzzzzzzzt wrong! I didn’t expect much with arty label and the trendoid embossed clear bottle but it wasn’t skunked. Poured a lucid dark brown instead of the expected dead black color of traditional stouts....this looks more like weak porter. The pour (and I hated to defile such trendy packaging actually opening it and drinking the artfully wrapped contents) was anti-climatic...what you saw in the bottle was what you got in the glass...low carbonation, weak nose..some coffee some malt...very weak. Stated watery for a stout...medium-light malt body outbalanced by hops..finish comes too fast with nothing left on the tongue to impress but a bit of astringency. This would be a passable mega porter if it had more malt character. Not bad but not good and the package is overstated for the contents.

Bottled. This was nasty. Smelled, looked, and poured bad. Very weak for a stout, way to thin. Oh did I mention this smelled bad. I really couldn't get over it to drink this. This was a drain pour.

500ml clear bottle. Black, ruby highlights, tan head comes on strong at first but thins out. Roasted aroma, also somewhat nutty. Roasty flavour with a bit of an iron like bite, some coffee notes. Dry finish. Medium bodied. No skunky notes at all, which is not typical of most Wychwood bottles I get.

A very thin beer claiming to be a stout. No head and a very dark color. Okay toasted flavor but all in all pretty weak. Weak flavor but not totally bad. Far below average for a stout, but not a totally bad beer.

Ruby-bown color I can see through, thin watery, with a weak roasty flavor, not even worth a try.

Extremely skunking aroma. I let it air out for awhile before I took a sip. The flavor was really gross..burnt malt (not roasted), and an odd bitterness that made for a very unsatisying experience. This is a sad excuse for a stout...without a doubt the worst I've ever had!

I can't figure out what they are trying to do at Wychwood. Is it a novelty beer? This is a very poor stout, if it is one at all. Nothing Wychwood does excites me.

Almost black colour, decent head (at best). Aroma and flavour is mild with coffee and chocolate. Smooth but thin mouth feel (perhaps due to the oats). Dry and bitter finish. Tastes more like a bitter than a stout. Too "inoffensive". Another cool label though.