Tom Green Summer Stout
Beau's All Natural Brewing Company

From a 600ml bottle, dated 07/12/18. Served in a nonic.

Pours a mostly clear, rich amber-gold with big-bubbled carbonation and a finger or so of thick, lush, shaving cream-like head. Retention is OK for a minute or two before settling back to a solid bubbly cap with no lacing to speak of.

A hearty nose of fortified breakfast cereal, milk chocolate, mild nuttiness, earthy, creamy and sweet.

Taste follows the nose with cereal grains predominant, not so much toasted as maybe slow-roasted, mild nuts, cacao nib dust and sweet watery berries with thinned cream, relatively light 5% abv makes for a somewhat thin flavour profile - which is easily compensated for by taking larger, more frequent sips. Marshmallow, molasses and a faint-but-lingering hint of coffee bitterness at the finish.

Feel is slippery, nut-oily and medium-thin bodied with light carbonation - perhaps I lost some by pouring too hard?

A blonde milk stout, huh; I've never heard of such a thing. I was initially a little disappointed by its thinness but, once I got the hang of drinking twice as much twice as fast, I became quite enthusiastic. Because there's a lot of flavour there which I probably didn't do justice to in my write-up, it's just, um, spread out? An excellent, tasty beer although I do not for one second accept that 'blonde stout' is a real thing.

Sweet for sure, maybe not really a typical stout, kind of lighter and thinner than expected. No off flavours but some weird notes that are not unpleasant, but seem out of place - maybe vanilla and lavender?

Well smack my ass, and call me sweetheart. This is an interesting and enjoyable beer. I was expecting nothing from it and got a surprise.

Interesting that it has a light feel for a stout, but I assume that is from the lighter color. I found the taste nice,but there was a background flavor that didn't fit, I can't put my finger on it. Smell is quite nice, cocoa perhaps a bit of sweet.

All in all,I'd consider having this again.

L - 2-finger bright white head atop an almost-transparent yellow body. This does not look like a stout!

S - caramel, chocolate, coffee, molasses, coffee.

T - Coffee and chocolate, with a lactose backing. Some roast. Some caramel. Low bitterness, moderate sweetness, no booziness.

F - medium body with minimal carb.

O - a little too sweet, but the pale stout concept really works.

Is a dark stout? is it a plane? no, it is summer stouty beer. So what’s the story?
Poured into a tall pilsner with amber gold and weak collar. minimal efferversence here. Quite complex nose here of coffee chocolate, earthy cocoas and wheats. Now all that within an amber will make you go hmmmm. The taste here in naturally coffee with earthy undertones. Giving quite high feel marks here as the initial taste, deepens in time and finishes quite well. Where you start is not where you end with this one and it is a rich brew. As a previous reviewer noted, it is difficult to reconcile the nose with the look with the taste but overall, it works.

 

Not what I expected - pale gold with - with roasted coffee - sweet.

June 16 2019

 

 

 

 

600ml bottle - a 'blonde milk stout', which is I guess what is supposed to make it summery, and all.

This beer pours a clear, bright medium golden yellow colour, with three fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly off-white head, which leaves some decent layered cirrus cloud lace around the glass as it quickly blows off.

It smells of roasted artisanal coffee, bittersweet chocolate, mildly soured milk, a minor oily nuttiness, and some very tame earthy, leafy, and floral green hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy pale malt, more pleasantly rounded fancy coffee, dry cocoa powder, oatmeal with brown sugar, semi-sweet lactose, an ethereal dark orchard fruitiness, stale bar-top nuts, and some still well understated earthy, weedy, and musty floral 'verdant' hoppiness.

The carbonation is adequate in its simple punch-clock frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and mostly smooth, as the oats and cocoa go a long way in making it just so. It finishes off-dry, the malt and milky esters keeping this one in the zone.

Overall, it's always a bit jarring to reconcile what I'm tasting with what I'm seeing when I have a pale stout, which seem to often be coffee-flavoured, to boot. That said, this is a very engaging and enjoyable version of the style, no matter what it looks like (which is quite craft pils-like, IMHO). At any rate, worth checking out, both for quality, and for shits and giggles, I suppose.

 

 

 

 

Draft: Poured a clear yellow color ale with a medium foamy head. Aroma of floral coffee notes with some light cereal notes is enticing. Taste is a nice mix of floral coffee notes with some light cereal notes and light veggie notes. Body is about average with good carbonation. Not the most complex beer but well brewed with nice refreshing floral coffee notes.

600 ml bottle served cold into a tulip. Purchased for somewhere around $5.50 CDN at the LCBO. Bottled in late May and enjoyed in late June.

Appearance - Brilliant clear golden golden color with a finger and a half of fluffy white that sits on top for a while and leaves some spotty lacing in its wake.

Smell - Cacao, some nuttiness, delicate soft grains interspersed.

taste - Like the nose but artfully done. Chocolate, kisses of nuts, possibly some oatmeal and a light generally graininess. Sweet, but not overdone. Dark fruit (blackberries?) do seem to make a brief appearance.

Mouthfeel -Fairly smooth, medium bodied, medium carbonation and not a dry finish. It's not wet either, but just not really noticeable.

Overall - Certainly preferred this over the original Tom Green Stout, maybe it's the sweetness dialled back some, but medium-light body with flavors that you wouldn't expect from a beer looking the way this one does, but there's a certain wow factor here. Eligible for a repeat purchase but may pass due to the price.

600 mL bottle from the LCBO; dated May 26 2017 and served well chilled. Reviewed on my phone.

Pours a sparkling clear golden-blonde hue, supporting roughly one inch of frothy white head that wilts over the next five or so minutes. Lots of messy lacing is left behind, as well as a foamy collar and thin cap. Earthy coffee grounds are subtle on the nose, but also more distinguishable than any other aspect of the aroma, which is muted. Hints of cocoa, dark chocolate and oatmeal with honey surface as it warms.

The taste is approachable, but not particularly stout-like, in all honesty. Oatmeal and bready pale malt flavours start things off, with milk sugar sweetness remaining a pretty constant fixture from start to finish. Coffee grounds become noticeable towards the tail end, alongside suggestions of dark chocolate, blackberry, toasted nuts and grassy hay. Light medium body, with assertive carbonation and a prickly mouthfeel. Crisp, fairly refreshing and very sessionable.

Final Grade: 3.96, a B+. The Tom Green Summer Stout definitely is not as dark as the original, but I think I like it more, anyway. The coffee and cacao give the base ale some character, and the oats give the texture substance that it would otherwise be lacking. I still think pale stouts as a concept are dumb; nonetheless, this is a tasty beer that I'll more than likely return to.