Headstrong Black & Tan
Big Hole Brewing Company

Appearance: It has a nice dark brown colour to it. It has a nice beige head that dies down slowly and has some lacing.

Smell: The aromas definitly give out hints of a graininess, bready malts, some caramel and citrucy notes.

Taste: Like the aromas, it has a grainy/bready taste to it with a bit of coffee, caramel and slight citrucy notes coming from the hops.

Mouthfeel: It has a medium carbonation with a watery feel.

Drinkability: It's a good drinkable beer accompanied with decent flavours and aromas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tallboy can picked up at the LCBO. I've had a few Headstrong brews before and they were serviceable drinks, if not especially memorable ones.

Pours an opaque dark-brownish-black with only a few crimson-coloured highlights under the light. Two fingers of lofty, creamy tan-coloured head that gradually seeps away, leaving behind webs of stringy lacing. Decent aroma but nothing very interesting or enticing - dark roasted nutty malts, burnt sugar and coffee grinds. Sweet and earthy.

The taste is similar to the nose, with more nutty roasted malts, toasted grains, caramel and milk chocolate. Some sour fruity raisin notes. The pale ale qualities are noticeable toward the finish, where the earthy and herbal hop bitterness becomes more prominent. Some lingering astringency in the aftertaste. Pretty light-bodied, with high carbonation that makes it more crisp than I expected. Disappointingly watery.

Decent stuff, the dualistic nature of the blended styles is at least interesting, but it still feels a little watery and not especially well done. I can't work up much enthusiasm for this brew... if it strikes your fancy, give it a shot, but don't expect to be blown away.

Hesitant but I gave it a shot. Apparently and 'expert' blend of ale and stout.

A - Dark brown pour, almost black with red around the edges. Not bright but not opaque. Brown two finger head is fizzing down fast. Good chunks of lacing and a half finger of retention.

S - Earthy, roasty, cola. Cold strong coffee?

T - Cola, coffee-ish, some burnt something or other and roasted notes. Not a good combo. I guess the pale ale element is there but it doesn't mix in any way I like.

M - Good carbonation, light to medium body. Slightly sweet then bitter finish.

O/D - Meh. I could take it for a while. It's not offensive, just not interesting. Maybe I don't like b&ts but it just doesn't jive with me. Drinkable, but not interesting.

473ml Can

Appearance - Opaque black/brown colour with a huge off light brown coloured head. I can't see much carbonation due the darkness of the beer and there is some good lacing. The head lasted for around 6 minutes before it was gone.

Smell - Malts, grains, coffee, smoke

Taste & Mouth - The beer has a low amount of carbonation and the taste consists of coffee, chocolate, breads/grains and malts. There is also a bit of a smokiness and a bit of a harsh tasting cheap alcohol flavour. It finishes with a malty and roasted coffee aftertaste.

Overall – I'm on the fence with this one. At first I found the taste a little harsh and regretted my purchase. But towards the end of the beer as it warmed up I acutally didn't mind the taste all that much. Either way, it's nothing spectacular and I wouldn't buy it again.

473ml can. Made by the same company, but in Utica, NY. Contract brewed?

This beer pours a clear, very dark ruddy cola brown colour, with a teeming amount of puffy, foamy beige head, which settles slowly, leaving a nice band of webbed lace around the glass. It smells of toasted biscuit malt, dry chocolate, earthy nuttiness, and soft piney hops. The taste is bready, doughy malt, medium chocolate, mildly bitter grassy/weedy hops, and a subtle warming metallic/mineral character lurking under it all. The carbonation is fairly sedate, the body approaching middleweight, but kind of thin, even though it's smooth enough. It finishes off-dry, a bland nutty cocoa character going the extra round with some equally game(y) drying hops.

I can't seem to like or dislike this particular offering, whether taste-wise or marketing-wise. Roaming buffalo label lore - good, weird production origins - bad. Roasted nut/chocolate character - good. Strange edgy hop/rock drying offset - bad. A beer that abuses its inherent duality, that's for sure.

473ml can poured into pint glass

A a dark brown cola with two fingers of thick mocha head that slowly fell to a thin film that leaves lots of lace

S dark malty molasses with a little milk chocolate

T a little more chocolate then the nose and has a sour raisin thing working against it

M a little thin and it could use some more bubbles

O take it or leave it, I'm not impressed or offended

for the price its not bad but this one looks better then it actually was

This one pours pretty nicely with two fingers of foam in a mug.

The smell is a nonevent, but it goes downhill fast from there.

The taste is just bad followed by a worse astringency that lingers. Just not good..

The mouthfeel is a little thin with no coatability.

I can't even drink one of these and wouldn't want anyone else too.

headstrong does make some surprisingly decent beers including their Munich lager and Pale ale but this is just a disappointment.
It even looks like it's going to be good with a super-creamy head, however it smells like melted crayons. that's a smell that pretty much prejudices me for how it's going to go down and when i try it I am all but ready to pour it down the drain, save for the fact tat it's all I've got for the evening. In other words it's okay but nothing especially exciting.

Very dark brown with faint chestnut highlights. An inch of dense, tan foam settled slowly, leaving a lot of clumpy, streaky lacing on the glass. Looks nice. Doesn't smell very good though. Notes of malt and piney hops, some caramel and biscuit, but the hops have an unrefined character -- cat piss, sharp floral, not good. The flavour was little better, kind of fruity in an unappealing way with some hop bitterness, roast, and caramel sweetness helping things out. Lingering coarse bitterness. Light astringency, lightish bodied, moderate carbonation. I'm not a fan of this. If it's truly a black and tan mix, then (at least) one of the base beers is way off -- whichever has the majority of the hops I'm tasting. Seems like they're using high alpha hops for flavour and aroma rather than something a bit softer in character.

Very dark brown colour, the outline of my fingers were visible under a brite lite on the other side of my glass. Foamy tan head with low carbonation dispersed leaving thin sheet lace. Looks not bad. Feint smell of brown sugar with equal parts metallic is distracting.

The taste offers toasted malts, some nuttiness but there is an earthiness and a sharp, cleansing mouthfeel that seems a bit out of synch. Very thin body disappoints.

More pale ale than stout, but either on their own might have been a better idea this is worth a try given the scarcity of the style, but nowhere good enough to be a sessional.

Clear copper with a big, rocky head. Nose has some caramel, light fruit, herbal notes and toasted grain. A bit tart up front with a lightly toasty bitterness and hint of nuttiness. Quite dry and also light in body without a lot of carbonation. Has a bit of tea-like character. Fairly easy drinking.