Wye Valley Dorothy Goodbodys Wholesome Stout

Brewed by Wye Valley
Style: Dry Stout
Hereford, England

I had to buy this because of the awesome label (I'm a sucker for that kind of thing). However, I was somewhat let down by the beer inside the bottle. Lacks the complex characteristics that I like to find in stouts. A little too bitter for my palate.

Bottled. Opaque dark brown, massive beige head. Aroma not very strong, perhaps some malt. Malt and some roast in the flavor, and very dry. Surprisingly light-bodied. Hops? I can't figure out where they are. A little later: A tiny bit more flavor emerges as it warms, including some fruitiness and a not unpleasing hint of sourness, but I don't feel like changing the numbers anyway.

Bottled. Black with an off-white head. Aromas are roast malts and oats. Flavours are coffee, chocolate and some fruit sourness. Leaves a quite odd feeling on the palate - like carbonated water. A bit disappointing considering all the good press it gets in the UK.

[Cask at Gullivers, Copenhagen] A black beer with a beutiful chocolate brown head. The aroma is slightly sour combined with roasted notes - I wonder where the sourness comes from? The flavor is slightly sour with notes of coffee. The sourness pricles the tongue until it ends on a roasted malty dry note. A bad taste - on my tastebuds.

Bottle Conditioned. Thick black beer with short lasting head. I was really looking forward to this and really I was somewhat disappointed, my hopes were high when pouring the thick black liqued, but no head was forming, I had to angle the glass more steeply and drop the liqued in. The body was thin for a stout, with a sweet blackberry initial flavour and aroma. This dried out to a husky coffee flavour, still thin though. It was ok, but not great.

gaze long upon the label, it's the best this product has to offer. in dim bar room lighting, the pour itself was of sufficient density to block out the garrish glare of the television-- like a lead apron shielding me from x-rays. head was the color of lady's stockings, and approximately as thick. the nose caused slight recoil: cigar butts and old coffee. or-- perhaps dark sooty and nutty tones-- to be more positive. thin bodied and too dry, like sucking spilled coffee out of paper towels. fairly bitter. it grew on me somewhat-- not unlike ringworm. this stout is going nowhere. but ain't it typical: the total babe goes for some loser. oh dorothy, tsk, tsk...

Cask at The Anchor, Birmingham. Thinnish for Stout, no real aroma. A rather plain beer this one, without any outstanding features. Smooth enough, almost like a Mild, but bland and unchanging in the mouth.

25 oz. brown bottle. No freshness date on mine. Poured out a brownish black color, with not much head to speak of. What head there was faded quickly to a thin lacing on top of the beer itself. Not much in the way of aromas either. Slight roastiness to it, but nothing in the way of hops. Bitter tasting, mostly from roasted grains, and not hops. Finishes sort of dry, but not ashy. Might make a good session beer. Not too powerful in the alcohol department. Ok beer overall, but nothing to go out of your way to buy.