Session Ale #19: Black Sumthin'
East End Brewing Company

Thanks to pghlee for bringing a growler back to me. Shared at the Brick Store with the usual crowd. Pours very dark and with quite the healthy head for a growler. Smells nutty, roasty, and dry. Nice, but I'd like just a tad more malt in the nose. Tastes very dry and extremely roasty for the style, and a little thin. Lacks the lovely malt roundness I like to see in an English Mild, but I understand they wanted to take this in another direction. For me, the roastiness is a bit of a distraction, but it does develop more of a flavor punch than you might expect from the abv. Smooth and roasty in the mouth, very pleasant and easy to drink.

A-Clear, dark brown with a thin tan head that reduces to a thin veil and leaves decent lace.

S-Smoky, roasted malt, hint of tobacco and oak.

T-Roasted malt, smoked oak, light tobacco with a light sour twang.

M-Medium-light but somehow it feels more robust than it really is. Good lingering malt richness and light smokiness.

D-An interesting take of one of my most favorite and under appreciated styles. A total session brew...full of flavour and body without all of the burdens of a high ABV. Great job Scott!

Had this courtesy of pghlee - thanks!

Pours a dark brown color that manages to let some light through. Head is a half-finger of off-white foam that dissipates into a wispy layer on top leaving light lacing.

Smells of roasted malts with hints of tobacco.

Tastes similar to how it smells - loads of roasted malt flavors that seque into light tobacco flavors before ending with a solid bitterness and hint of dark chocolate.

Mouthfeel is good. It's got a good thickness, especially considering the low ABV, and the carbonation is just right.

Drinkability is good - I could have more than a few of these, and feel alright after doing so.

Overall I was impressed by the amount of flavor in this beer, though I think it could use some tweaks to balance to large amounts of roasted malt flavors, though I'm nitpicking. Worth a shot.

Growler courtesy of pghlee and glid02 shared at the Brick Store.

Pours a murky dark brown with a small bubbly head that recedes quickly and leaves no lacing.

The aroma seems fairly big for a mild with a hefty roasted malt and chocolate nose. The taste follows the aroma with lots of sweet dark malts complemented by the dark chocolate. All this is with a slightly smoky character overall.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied with fairly low carbonation.

I have to say this is probably the first dark mild I have ever tried. That said, I was pretty surprised that a 3% ABV beer could have such big flavors - it drinks like a bigger beer, which I think is a good thing. I'm a fan.

Growler obtained via Growling at the Moon from CrazyMacHarris99. Thanks for the opportunity.

Poured into an imperial pint glass, formed a teensy skim of dark brown "head" over the opaque dark brown/black brew. <So dark that I was surprised to discover that the growler is clear glass, I thought it was brown glass.>

What head there is quickly goes to a swirly layer of even smaller bubbles, with the bigger ones hanging at the rim, helping form great lacing. Aroma is deeply of roasty sweet dark malts.

Taste follows the nose upfront, and closes with ample bitterness, but in the middle we've got got watery wort to me. Almost makes me wonder if there's any alcohol at all or if it's just grain tea.

Mouthfeel is smooth, and drinkability is way easy. Just seems like even a mild could have a bit more oomph to it.

Thanks to Kegatron for sharing this growler with me.

Poured a dark chocolate brown/black color with nice big fluffy tan head with good retention and some nice lacing. Smells of chocolate, roasted malt, molasses, coffee, and smoke. Tastes of roasted grains, leather, and smoke up front, very assertive. Following is a nice sweetness of chocolate and caramel then a good bitter finish of coffee and a touch of hops. Medium in body with good carbonation, smooth and creamy with a nice hearty roasted presence but still manages to be balanced. Extremely easy to drink, fantastic for drinking while watching football on a cold winter's day.

From a growler purchashed at the brewery into a pint glass.

Pours black with several fingers of foamy mocha colored ead. This shrinks down into a big and creamy nearly finger high layer of retention with a big dollop of foam right in the middle that leaves a thick coating of lace down the sides of the glass. The aroma is quite assertive and lively with BIG TIME roasted chocolate character filling the nostrils, along with additional notes of coffee, caramel, and a nice leathery smokey texture that weaves in and out of the other scents.

Much like the aroma, the taste is surprisingly assertive and flavorful with a big roasted bitterness that just hangs on the tongue. This blends into some chocolate and smokey tasting molasses sweetness. The mouthfeel is light-medium bodied with a softer carbonation that lends a smooth and creamy feel to the proceedings.

Wow! They really packed a lot of flavor into this, despite it only being in the 3% range, and the lighter and easy body guaranteed an easy drinking experience. Full flavored and quaffable, this is the definition of a good session beer. Great stuff!

This beer was brewed from the second runnings of the East End's upcoming imperial stout, Toaster.

Drank several glasses from a growler picked up at the Brewery the same day. Black, but not quite opaque. Decent head. Smells of licorice and leather. Tastes like licorice and burnt toasty. A little bit metallic. Not at all sweet, which is fine by me. Substantial carbonation, very pleasant feeling. Not too heavy.

I could drink this stuff all day. There's lots of flavor complexity, but the beer is light enough and well carbonated. And at only 3% abv, you can just keep drinking. East End makes a lot of great session brews, but this might be my favorite yet. I can't wait for it's big brother.