Hub City Fireside Stout
Hub City Brewing Company

Thanks to schmittymack for bringing this one over last Saturday night. I continue to remain unimpressed with Hub City's beers. This one didn't do all that much to change my mind. Poured a dark brown color with a little brown head. Aromas of chocolate cake, roasted malt and dried cherries. On the palate, this one was medium bodied, with flavors of chocolate, cherries and coffee.

This one was hanging around back in my hometown, and I was actually avoiding it given the poor experiences I had with their other offerings.

A - Pours pitch black with a finger of mocha head, solid retention and no real lacing.

S - Metallic off the top, chocolate and espresso malts come through followed by some sour fruit.

T - The sour cherries and bitter espresso come through off the top with some dark cocoa on the finish.

M - A lighter bodied stout that finishes terribly dry.

D - Compared to the others I've tried, this one is more drinkable, but it's still not worthy. I'd take a major beer brand over this craft.

12 oz bottle poured into a pint glass.

A - Very dark and thick in appearance. about 3/4 inch head.

S - Fruity, either cherry or apricot.

T - Burnt cocoa with a fruity, sweet, fruity aftertaste.

M - Highly carbonated, which I normally find enjoyable. Seemed a bit out of place for a Stout, however. Heavy in the mouth.

D - Not very drinkable. Didn't like the fruity aftertaste. I almost felt like I would get heartburn if I kept drinking it.

Had a bottle from a friend's case. It poured pitch black with a light tan head. I didn't think this was too bad of a beer. It reminded me of my attempt at a cherry stout, which to be honest wasn't that impressive either. There was a hit of smooth and sweet chocolate flavors up front and then a lightly tart candy cherry taste. It wasn't terribly complex, but it wasn't offensive either.

12 oz bottle poured into a Sierra Nevada imperial pint. "Stout brewed with cherry puree." No date or info.

Thanks to Beerwolf77 for this bottle!

A - Fireside is highly effervescent, complete with a fire place-like crackling; a loud tan head with a faint red hue. The four-finger head has poor retention and leaves absolutely no lace. Not even a speck. The beer was clear on the pour but totally opaque in the pint.

S - Heavily roasted malts don't make much of an impact on the olfactory senses and neither does the cherry component. It's got a very faint smell of dark chocolate covered cherries. If it would be a little bit higher in potency it might be pretty solid. A bit of astringency comes across the finish.

T - Dark, bitter cocoa pulls forward with a hint of cherry tartness that conflicts with the roasted bitter malts. Poor flavor going on.

M - Fireside is nowhere near as welcoming as the label would have you believe. It's heavily roasted and very bitter with a dryness that seems to suck the saliva right from your mouth. The mouthfeel is also a bit on the thin side with a highly carbonated finish. Hardly a texture for a stout with drinking around a nice warming fire. A pinch of tart astringency from the cherries pulls through.

D - Not very drinkable, it's too high in both dry, acrid bitterness and carbonation. Smooth it out, bring the cherry flavor up, add some caramel malt to sweeten it up and add balance, and you'd have a much better brew.

Hub City's Fireside Stout probably isn't the best beer I've had. I would say that this beer is just an average stout. It looks and smells like any other stout would. The taste isn't spectacular. There isn't a great deal of flavor, and there is a somewhat strong aftertaste. Again, this is an average stout at best. I think Hub City has some better beers to offer.

Kind of a strange brew. Almost pretty good except for a major flaw. Poured with a decent tan head and a little lace. Color is an opaque brown black. Aroma is classic sweet stout with some solvent. Flavor is where the acetone or ether or whatever that strange sweet solvent thang that really kind of ruins it in a major way. Made me shiver. Hard to think of the other stuff after.