Four Horsemen #4 War
The Defiant Brewing Company

dropped by the brewery today to see what they had and how it would fare. Slow night (tuesday so I guess no surprise) however everyone I spoke to loved this brewery. One of the regulars suggested we split a bottle of this (see below) and of course I couldn't resist. An imp stout made with rauch malt. Yeah, let's see how it fared:

A - pitch black with a dark brown head.

S - roasted grains, slight smokeyness and dark swweet malts with a bourbony abv note.

T - served way too cold. the bottle was sweating as it faced the room temp. I'm basing my taste notes on the last half of the bottle as it took some time to warm up. Nice light smoked malts pair with a dark sweet malt, roasted grain, residual bitter bakers chocolate and hints of a bourbon note.

M - medium full bodied, prickly carbonation that detracts from the overall effect until it warms up and has a chance to dissipate some.

D - once up to temp it was a tasty beer. tooo cold, it looses some of it's charm.

see above note - apparently as of this review bottles can only be bought and brought home if you buy a membership ($100). If this brewery was local to me I'd buy the membership so I could bring this beer home to enjoy leisurely.

Had this at the brewery. From a caged and corked 750 with no label.

A: Jet black with a nice billowy mocha head. Some spotty lacing.

S: Not that much of a nose. Hints of roasted grains, some chocolate, and some roasted meat. They used some rauch malt in this one and it did give it a little something different.

T: Typical roasty stout with hints of chocolate. What separates this from others is the use of the rauch malt. Gave it a little bit more complexity.

M: Definately the week point for this beer. Way too carbonated especially for the style.

D: Only had a 6 oz pour or so but I definitely could have had more. The carbonation hurt it a little but if they can solve that they have a winner on their hands.