Wychwood Black Wych 4.5%

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

Hints of coffee and sweet dark bread in the aroma as well as taste. Very dark in color. Quite bitter and suprisingly thin and waterlike. No viscosity which is odd, since it is a stout. To be honest, neihter very bad nor very good.

Points for style to Wychwood, but not for much else. This beer definately looks better than it tastes. Nothing offensive, just bland and way too thin for anything resembling a stout.

Bottle - Pours out opaque black with a thin tan head. Smells roasted malt licorice and a slight hop almost skunk aroma. Thin quite sweet stout rather one dimentional but not a bad sesion stout if you can handle the sweetness. Needs a a little bittering hops to round out the finish.

Mahogany color that reminds me my old furniture’s (ahh):). There is some aroma that I detected (slightly sweet something). Small head. Mouth fell watery. Light for a stout. Flavor of green leaf with roasted coffee that is easily drinkable but for pros might be disappointing. Label might suggest that is intended for new members of beer world.

500 ml clear bottle. Dark burgundy colour with a mostly diminishing frothy tan coloured head. Roasty, light chocolate, and vinous aroma with somewhat off-putting lactic and almost grainy notes. Dry, roasted, toasted grain, instant coffee, and chocolate flavours with a licorice and over-oaked chardonnay finish. Medium bodied, smooth but lightly oily mouthfeel. Weird.

Pitch black with a beige head. Fairly ashen aroma. Some licorice in the taste which gives way to a painfully dry finish. Smooth but a little thin. Just average.

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.

Bottle. Poured black, but held to the light and it appears more of a dark brown. Very off-putting aroma in the each of the three bottles I tried (on different occasions, bough from separate stores) – as mentioned, probably from the clear bottle. Flavour not bad, a certain nuttiness/licorice flavour that goes down pretty well. Slightly bitter finish, medium to thin body for a stout. Overall, average stout at best, but that smell will not bring me back.