Black Pearl
Wooden Hand Brewery

A 500ml bottle with a BB of April 2015, so it's a little out of date. Picked up a while back from a B&M store.

A: Poured into a tulip pint glass. A very dark brown hue that appears pitch black in the glass. Yields a large head of creamy mocha foam that lasts for a few minutes before subsiding to a persistent surface layer. Slight lacing.

S: Aroma of rich roasted malt with hints of chocolate, mild burnt grain, subtle coffee, molasses, earthy yeast, faint stewed leaves and a twinge of sourness in the background. Dark and balanced - good stuff.

T: Tastes of rich dark malt with a roasty character and a lingering bitter finish. Notes of roasted grain, burnt notes, mild coffee, subtle chocolate, molasses, earthy yeast, faint stewed leaves and a touch of sourness. Slightly sweet, followed by a robust, malt-driven bitterness upon swallowing.

M: Mouthfeel is smooth and tingly, with soft carbonation and good body. Could be a shade more carbonated. Somewhat astringent, accompanied by an aftertaste of bitter roasted malt, burnt grain, coffee/chocolate and earthy yeast.

O: Very nice; a well-crafted stout that punches above its weight. Looks great, while the aroma and flavour are an excellent blend of roasted malt, chocolate, coffee and yeast notes. Good body. Dark and seductive - goes down a treat. Well worth sampling if you come across it.

Bottled
Pours a jet black body with big foaming tobacco stained head that pretty much sticks around
Nice big molasses and rum aroma
Good burned toast and bramble jam flavour

 

Cask tapped by the Front of Falmouth, the beer has a deep black colour with shades of plum, brown foam, little more than a finger.
The nose is immediately striking from a black chocolate, intense, bitter, overriding, with just a hint of burnt as well in evident.
Even at the taste you pick up the flavor of strong chocolate, bitter cocoa and toast, and always the feeling of burnt overwhelming, linked to roasted malt (maybe chocolate malt?) that blends very well with the rest.
Long finish, leaving pronounced traces of toasted and burned, well mixed with a dry chocolate (at least there isn’t trace on nut or dry fruit like some other stout).
Definitely a stout that hit the imagination, with a chocolate and a roasted truly superlative. Recommended!

This was the third Stout in one of my 'Stout Evenings', it was also the third beer I've reviewed from this brewery.

Poured into a Westmalle Chalice and a little into a Palm Tulip, gives me chance to see the colour and condition better when using two glasses.

Very black, in fact a true 'Jet Black' Stout. Sadly the tan head didn't even try and stay, it just ran to the side of the glass and became a thin collar half way through the pour.

Least aroma of the three stouts tasted this evening, some burnt malts and chocolate, but nothing rich or heavy to report.

Strangely, the taste is the best of the three, even though it was the weakest in alcohol. The richness and smoothness is evident as you taste the chocolate and burnt malted barley. There is a hint of coffee, but no smoke or cigar flavours you sometimes get in an English Stout.

I am really pleased this beer came up well, I have had to write a fairly unkind, but true, review on one of their beers. As I have said before, I don't like to put the small guy down, but if its poor, its poor. This beer however, is far from poor.