Four Horsemen #3: Pestilence Stout
The Defiant Brewing Company

Brown corked and caged bottle compliments of my friend who is a member of Defiant's cellar membership/club. Not sure of the year on this one, only identifier on the unlabeled brown bottle was a sticky that read "Pest" in ink on the cork.

Pours a pitch black color with a severely tanned head that is a dark brown. Not much lacing to be seen. Aroma has licorice, chocolate, coffee and a bit of an alcohol bite in the end of the nose. Taste is huge malt, tons of sweetness that is almost distracting but works nice with the amazing backbone of chocolate, smoke and a bit of bitterness (more of a burnt barley bitterness rather than hop bitterness.) Taste concludes with trace amounts of the flavors that the aroma led on: licorice, chocolate, coffee and alcohol. Lingering taste of chocolate sweetness is left on the palate and it clings for quite awhile because this beer boasts a big thick and chewy feel that is slightly syrupy. Medium amount of carb. The only thing I could possibly pick apart as a flaw with this beer is the how overly sweet it seemed to me which hinders the drinkability a little bit. However, the sweetness was tolerable with all the flavor and complexity that this beer had to offer.

Sampled 4-23-2007. Pours pitch black with a dark tan/brown head. Nose is pretty mild. Not much going on here. Flavor is milder and smooth. More of a sweet tone with an underlying bitter edge. Feel is thick on liquid and low on bubble. Definitely drinkable. A smooth stout that delivers a calm experience.

Poured out a jet black color, with a chunky tan head that dissipates into nothingness. The nose has lots of dark robust malt flavors, chocolate, coffee, toffee, tiny bit of alcohol. The taste is led off by creamy coffee, not overly bitter, rounded out by some mild chocolate notes on the edge that also slowly creep up on you. The supporting flavors are wood, some dark fruit, and a bit of charcoal. Mouthfeel is barely carbonated, but on the side of drinkability, this is a gentle giant. All these wonderful little notes playing against each other in a very delicate fashion. Kind of uncanny for such a big beer.

2/8/2007 $5.00 1 liter 7.00% No best by date, poured fresh from my liter growler.

Appearance:

Pours a slightly viscous black with a nice fluffy dark tan head, which has more retention than most of Defiants brews.

Aroma:

Dark roasted malts lend this a nice coffee aroma. Definitely on the drier side of stouts, as there is sense of sweetness at all to the nose.

Taste/Mouthfeel:

Damn, I really wish I had not taken the month of January off from drinking, because that is 31 days of my life that I went without imbibing this liquid gift from the Gods, or Neill, as the case may be.

I don't know how Neill does it, but he produces the smoothest beers in the world. Mouthfeel is perfect on this one, ushering in flavors of coffee, dried cherries and a touch of unsweetened cocoa. This is 7% ABV, but it is masked entirely. I downed my first pint rather quickly, and didn't notice the slightest hint of alcohol, though it has started to impact me into my second.

Each one of the Horseman has topped the one before it, can't wait to see what happens with Death!