Sergeant Stripes
Beau's All Natural Brewing Company

 

600 mL bottle from the LCBO; dated Aug 14 2017 and served slightly chilled. Reviewed from notes.

Pours functionally opaque, with a deep brown colour, as well as some brick red highlights when held to the lamp. One inch of bubbly, khaki-tinged head rises at the surface, falling off within the next five minutes whilst leaving behind a webby, discontinuous band of lacing. A decent-sized collar of foam remains; looks good to me. Fairly typical aroma for this style - molasses and caramelized malt sweetness, together with roasted grains, are the main presences of note, with minor contributions of fig, red licorice candy and cocoa. The ethanol is also just barely perceptible.

This is quite a solid, robust export stout. Dark malts and roasted grains are the primary consideration, with ample flavours of caramel, black cherry, toasted biscuit and baker's cocoa coming through to complement the blackstrap molasses. Notes of black licorice, dark chocolate and herbal hop bitterness arise towards the finish, concluding with a bittersweet aftertaste that also features a noticeable, yet mild alcohol warming. Medium in body, leaning perhaps towards the lighter side of that weight category; the carbonation is unobtrusive, meekly agitating the surface of the palate and resulting in a rather smooth texture. Easy enough to drink - finishing the bottle is easy enough for one person, but I wouldn't want a second helping tonight.

Final Grade: 4.04, an A-. Sergeant Stripes made for a highly pleasant quaff. The roasted malts are in the driver's seat, but the blackstrap molasses provides a nice semi-sweet character, while hints of licorice, chocolate and dark fruits add some much-needed depth - and once you top that off with some tempered ethanol heat, you've got all the makings of a quality export stout. Probably the best of the four brews that were included in their Fall 2017 mixed pack, and a worthy example of this semi-uncommon style.

 

600ml bottle - memories of 1980s Bill Murray are totally being evoked right now.

This beer pours a fairly solid black, yet with prominent amber basal edges, and four fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly brown head, which leaves a bit of movie set explosion lace around the glass as it quickly hies it outta town.

It smells of roasted, bready and doughy caramel malt, a bit of biscuity toffee, bittersweet cocoa powder, cafe-au-lait, a hint of muddled dark orchard fruitiness, and some plain earthy, weedy, and floral noble hop bitters. The taste is semi-sweet, grainy and bready caramel malt, medium baker's chocolate, cold-pressed coffee, cream, a touch of sour black stone fruit, mild anise spice notes, and more understated leafy, musty, and gently perfumed floral hoppiness.

The carbonation is pretty tame in its basic form frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and rather smooth, with a decent creaminess there essentially from the get-go. It finishes on the sweet side, as the cocoa, caramel, and milky coffee essences show the most lingering moxie.

Overall - this is certainly one well-made and enjoyable version of this somewhat exotic style, with the tart fruit esters sidling well enough alongside the toasted malt mainstagers. Definitely worthy of investigating, in that peculiar way of ours, if ya knowhutimean.

Batch 6473 August 15th poured into a tall pilsner glass. Pours 5W30 black oil. Great collar that lasted well. Roasted caramel nose does well throughout as well. Dark, earthy taste as expected. Sweet start with slightly bitter end. This one is worth revisiting on a cold, dark Winter night with Gordon Lightfoot’s Song for a Winter’s Night playing softly with a dog, cat or stuffed ceature by your feet. Giving this a Wizard’s staff up.

 

 

 

Mollasses based stout. Weak for style but was drinkable in a pinch at a party with at best Beaus beers. LCBO available bottle. Black, no lasting head. Sweet.

600 ml bottle served fairly cold into a tulip. Part of Beau's 2017 Oktoberfest Pack. Batch 6473 and bottled August 15, 2017. After a very impressive Oktoberfest pack last year, looking forward to this high ABV export stout. Another of the Wild Oats series.

Appearance - Cola brown in color, maybe even the darkest shady of ruby. Appears near black in the glass. Close to two finger so light tan head sit on top, plenty of retention some streaky lacing, all that good stuff. An attractive beer to say the least.

Smell - Notes of chocolate, maraschino cherries mingled in, little bits of caramel and a subtle roastiness tho the brew that makes it quite inviting.

Taste - Sweet initially with cherry and caramel initially shining through, but transitioning to a more roasty dark chcoolate flavor. Fairly bitter though on the sweetre side of things for the style and a bit of coffee towards the end. Also found a nice subtle anise and molasses flavor mixed in for added complexity and deliciousness. Flavors are all there although none of them blow you away with intensity, this is a more subtle beer than some in the style. Even tobacco and especially leather in there at the end.

Mouthfeel - Smooth, creamy yet the body doesn't seem heavy, even a certain thinness in the beer makes it easy to drink.

Overall - While Lug Tread is a known commodity, Sergeant Stripes is making a great start in making the 2017 Oktoberfest pack match up with the excellent 2016 pack. Probably one of the bets beers I've had from Beau's.