Stella Artois Black
Stella Artois

 

 

 

A: The beer is very dark red in color and is black when viewed from afar. It poured with a half finger high beige head that died down, leaving a large patch of bubbles in the center and a collar around the edge of the glass.
S: Light aromas of malt extracts are present in the nose.
T: The taste is similar to the smell, except that the malt extracts are a bit stronger and they also lend some sweetness.
M: It feels somewhat more than light-bodied and a bit watery on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: Just like the regular Stella Artois, this beer doesn't have the type of complexity you would expect from a Belgian beer—especially one labeled as "noire"—but it is quite easy to drink.

Serving type: bottle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not very aromatic beer. Too much sweet but it looks nice and it have a nice head mouthfeel is ok, medium body. had high expectations and I must admit I was a little disappointed, probably will not buy it because in the market there are better stouts.

 

 

Enjoyed at the Conan Doyle pub, Edinburgh

A: Clear, darkly golden with a half finger head that quickly dissipates.

S: Citrus abounds, much like the smell of regular Stella. Although some Belgian yeast may have popped up in the mix.

T: Crisp, lager-ish, malty, smooth. A step up from little sister Stella.

M: Medium with medium carbonation.

O: Even better than its predecessor. I was happily surprised. Would drink again.

 

 

Half pint taken on the bank of the river Thames in London.

This is a bit drier and has a darker golden hue than the standard Stella: otherwise not a lot of difference. I'm sure the brewery will claim all sorts of differences in the brewing process and ingrediants, but I bet it's from the same base brew and tweaked a little to make it have the changes already mentioned.

You could say (as a previous reviewer almost stated) it is a German Pilsner meets Belgian Lager for the British market.

It was cold and refreshing and not unpleasant, makes a change for me to have a lager when in an English pub.

I had this beer on a recent trip to England. It is one of the typical non-English ale choices at a lot of the pubs. As another member wrote, the presentation is very slick, with the pretty, custom glass with black logo and obvious nucleation sites.

I felt it was better than Stella and actually not bad at all. It was a little like a combination of a stella and a German Pilsner.

Overall I thought it was pretty good. It was my go-to beer when I wasn't in the mood for a cask pull.

The glasses are sleek and stylish, as is pretty much everything to do with the presentation and advertising of the beer, unfortunately the beer itself does not follow suit. The best way I can describe it is empty, it lacked any sort of substance or body, it felt like there was the potential to be more but the taste was just out of reach. There was some very light citrusy flavours along with a mild spiciness but this never manages to materialise into anything more than a passing hint, while a bread-like maltiness hovered in the background throughout. It's cold, it's drinkable, and in the end it is just another run of the mill commercial lager but you have to appreciate that the intention to do something different was almost there. Would be interesting to see how it stands up to some spicy food though, it may compliment and bring out the flavours in the beer more but I don't think a curry house beer is the image that A-B InBev were shooting for here but then again I don't really think they knew what they wanted.