Cream Stout
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery

Burnt sienna that looked to be a few degrees Lovibond away from full black. Backlighting generated no highlights other than a microthin sliver along the bottom edge of the glass. The caramel nougat colored head looked good initially and at all points thereafter. It also graced the glass with fat rings of lace indicating the size of each mouthful.

I was surprised to smell black licorice when I placed Cream Stout under my nose. Roasted and/or black malt will occasionally give off that aroma and flavor, but this was so prominent and so distinctive that I suspect anise seed (or something similar) was added. Fine by me.

The chalkboard inside the front entrance informed any interested parties that the ingredients include 'lactose (milk sugar), caramel malt and de-bittered black malt'. It sounded like a winning combination to me... and it was.

Black coffee with a small splash of cream was, by far, the dominant member of the flavor profile. Seeping in at the edges was bittersweet chocolate and the unmistakable taste of anise (wdmrock must have had some left over from the outstanding Black Belgian). Each mouthful was a wonderful, complementary combination of flavors.

Actually, the beer was more 'hop forward' than most cream stouts. Again, fine by me. Malt sweetness was easily countered by hop flavor and hop bitterness, leading to a finish that was (paradoxically) both lactose tangy and borderline dry. This ale was as interesting as it was good.

I understand that it's difficult for sub-6% beer to have any viscosity whatsoever, but that doesn't mean I have to relax my standards. A moderate mouthfilling creaminess by mid-pint allowed me to cross out my initial score and grant the one above. Given the style, the ABV and the season, it was a pretty easy call.

Cream Stout is solid all the way around. It tasted like a mixture of a sweet stout and an Irish dry stout, cherry picking the best attributes from each style. I need to revisit Iron Horse Stout one of these days, but for my money, this beer should be the regular offering.