El Camino (Un)Real Black Ale
Stone Brewing

Can from my brother. Wow! How’s that for a description. Inky black pour, soft ring of head. Malty, roasty, halfway between a CDA and a stout. Bitter and welcoming, smooth and slick.Tasty, doesn’t fit neatly in any other category, but great nonetheless.

 

 

Poured from a can into a room temperature snifter.

A: Pours completely opaque with a milk chocolate head that settles into a thin ring that laces nicely and maintains throughout.

S: Peppery roast, caramel, molasses and fennel on the nose. More sniffs bring sweet fig smells into the fray with a little hops.

T: Roast and molasses, a tingle of peppercorns and hops. An earthy dark chocolate settles on the palate with the barest hint of dark fruit.

M: A thick-waisted ale that slides across the palate with a slight tingle, which stays in motion with the synergistic peppery flavors.

O: A big, sticky ale that tricks your palate because you want it to be a stout, but has lots of tricks up its sleeve. I waited for my palate to settle in, but the peppery flavors ended up dominating and I was having a hard time picking up the fennel and fig. It became a little ponderous.

 

 

Don't know if I got a bad can, but this beer was extremely awful to me and my wife...ended up being the first drain pour in a really long time.

-Poured thick and almost a little ropey, with little to no head...we only drank 1/4 of the pour, but there was little to no lacing on the glass
-Smelled like prune juice more than figs, a little soy sauce and high fusels/boozey
-Tasted like a burning tire doused in fermented prune juice spirit with a distracting bitterness that only makes it worse
-Way too many IBUs for this beer...obnoxious bitterness follows the burning tire aftertaste and coats the mouth generously so you don't forget your mistake in swallowing this garbage
-Overall, a hot mess of a beer that should be neutered and destroyed so it can't breed and show up again on the store shelves

12 oz can at Soulshine Farm Music Festival.
This strong ale has an exceptionally complex and rich flavor. Not harmonious however, with some sense of clashing flavors. Mild-moderate bitterness. Full body with near medium carbonation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brewed by 21st Amendment. From a can: pours a dark reddish brown color with tan colored head. Spices, roasted malt, and lots of earth tones on the nose; follows onto the palate. Very earthy in flavor. Medium to full bodied. Finishes with spice.

A: Pours dark as expected with heavy head and thick lacing.

S: Definitely bold. Heavy on the burnt/earthy smell. Not too much of the advertised fennel or chia though.

T: Like it's smell, you get a bold chocolate/malty/lightly creamy taste, while still having a lot of other pleasant notes. The booziness is pretty mild even for 9.5%, but again, not too much fennel or chia came through. Dried fruit is another immediately identifiable element that stays in the aftertaste.

M: Nice smooth carbonation that adds to the creamy texture.

O: With this being a collaboration btwn 21A, Firestone, and Stone, I was looking for this beer to be something "special" with their use of fennel and chia, but those weren't really picked up. While it was pleasing to drink with the chocolate/malty/smoky elements, it doesn't really stand out. I'll get it again but won't seek it out specifically.