Crazy Dog Stout
Red Rat Craft Brewery

Appearance: deep dark brown, opaque, very little head

Aroma: roast, soy sauce, cola slurpee, coffee, diacetyl

Flavor: medium malt sweetness with a mild roast offset; hints of licorice, chicory, and wood smoke; slight acidity; finishes semisweet with a lingering coffee roast and tart twang

Mouthfeel: medium full body, pert carbonation, soft texture

Purchased at the Sainsbury's supermarket in Andover, this 500ml brown bottled ale is bottle-conditioned. BB 09/02/09, served cool in a straight imperial pint glass.

A: pitch black in colour, topped with a fluffy dark-tan head with o.k. retention, decent level of carbonation is barely noticeable.
S: the fulsome aroma gets deeply dark-maltiness upfront, showing dark chocolates, sweet coffee, roast nuts, licorice... the deeply roastiness comes with a salty-sweet meaty edge on the side, while a rather light sour dark fruits emerge after a swirl, but very very light indeed.
T: bitter-sweet and sour-fruity/grapey notes as well as dark maltiness upfront are ensued by a belated entry of roastiness (not strong, more like roasted nut-shells), lightly-musty yeasts, then a bitter-hoppy aftertaste emerges with only a faint presence of roasted malts at the fringe. In fact, the finishing bitter touch is more attributed to hops than caused by roasted malts (medium-level roastiness), but the mild, lasting roasty aroma still manages to linger elegantly in the end.
M&D: the mouthfeel is not great, slightly flat for a bottle-conditioned ale, yet at times the light fizziness still makes a token appearance. Considering how well the alc. (6%abv.) is hidden, I find this an easy-drinking and smooth example of English stout - "smooth" both on the palate and in terms flavour.