Kelly's Stout
Northwoods Brewpub and Grill

 

 

 

I hope that I just had a bad bottle and that this beer is much better than what I am rating it. The beer poured a watery nearly opaque dark. There was no head and no lacing. The scent was a faint coffee aroma. The taste was a watered down coffee...terrible. The mouthfeel was crap and zero carbonation. Overall...no way Jose. If I were to try this again it would have to be from a tap...will not do a bottle again.

 

 

Sampled from the growler, fresh from the brewpub.

A - Black, but not quite opaque. Shows ruby highlights when held up to a bright light. Very little head and no lacing.

S - Dark roasted malt with a hint of bitter chocolate. Not especially aromatic.

T & M - A dark roasted malt backbone is accentuated by that same dark bitter chocolate I smelled in the aroma. Some mild coffee notes. Tastes a lot like the Stout I just brewed from a home brew kit. Medium bodied with a bit of a coarse mouthfeel.

D - This is a beer with decent drinkability, but it could have a bolder flavor in my opinion. Worth a try.

A. poured a clear coffee brown with a generous one finger creamy tan head. Impressive lacing on the glass.

S. Coffee, chocolate, leaves, brown sugar, molasses

T. Coffee, dark fruit, dates, nuts, molasses, Bitter with a sour finish.

M. Medium bodied medium carbonation, small bubbles. Creamy slightly oily.

D. A decent Stout I would have liked it a little sweeter, with some more bitter chocolate, I didn't care for the sour aftertaste.

Appearance: Pours a clear, dark brown body with a bubbly, wispy off-white head.

Smell: Mild aroma of dark chocolate and roasted barley. Yes, there's still that buttery diacetyl character that's really become the hallmark of the Northwoods beer line.

Taste: Dark malt flavors of dark chocolate and coffee allow only a mild butter taste to emerge. Sourish finish. Sadly, even their relatively darkest beer couldn't quite cover up the diacetyl flaw.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium carbonation. Slick and mouth-coating.

Drinkability: Finally completing this grueling tour of the Northwoods beers, a trip full of many hardships, misery, and brewing faults far, far eclipses my 500 review milestone.

Into a pint glass, pours a dark black with decent head, ok lacing, nice and creamy. Thick and smooth body, nice coasty malt, darnk, not all that hoppy or bitter. Dark malts and coffee, and thats it. Aroma is weak, but decent cofffee flavor to it. At $2, lunch special probably, pretty decent, but nothing special at all.

Nice dark brown color. Slight head which is good for a stout. Adequate lace left on glass while drinking.

Definite coffee wafting from the glass. Pleasing aroma.

Could have a little more taste especially since it was served at around 58 degrees. Above average though.

Would have liked a little more fullness but again it was pleasant.

Had this on tap at the brewpub a couple of weeks ago. Not disappointed with the bottle either.

Pours out toasted orange-brown and sits dark wooden brown in the glass with a full light brown head with some nice lacings. Fades quickly to a light skim.

Smells of of deep roasted grains, coffee and bits of chocolate and tofee. Big toast character and faint hop aroma. Wooden undertones.

Tastes of roasted grain, coffee and dark, burnt toast. Some faint sour flavors come out and are balanced out a by a good dose of hop bitterness. Little in terms of flavor...very basic.

Quite thin and watered down in the mouth, medium-light body with decent carbonation. Soapy feeling all around, doesn't sit well.

Out of the 6 Northwoods beers I picked up, this one is the best of them all, but that's not saying much. Nothing that I would ever seek out again, just too bland and watered down.

The best of the three beers I had at the brewpub...some decent cocoa and java notes on the aroma....body is a little thin like all their beers but the flavor is ok....espresso and cocoa...mouth is thin, but a nice creaminess to it....this would be my recommendation if you stop here....unfortunately this is about as bold as the beers get at this place which is clearly geared at the masses...I won't be drinking any of their beers in the future....they are not horrible just not much is there..

A lighter taste than most stouts. The same black body, but lacking the “oily” mouthfeel. A little of the hoppiness shows through here. As I mentioned with their porter, this beer is hampered by being force carbonated to the same pressure as all the other beers, when it needs a lighter touch. This beer had been renamed “Dark Walnut Stout” on their menu card when I tasted it, but the commercial description is the same. My take-home bottle still has “Kelly’s Stout” on the label, and it’s “Kelly’s” on their web page, too.