Martello Stout
Garrison Brewing Company

 

Pours a nice dark ruby red, lighter than a guinness in colours. Light chocolate brown head, giving off nice coffee notes, with some floral hints coming from the columbus and cascade hops. This adds to the nice bitter taste you get after the initial coffee and toffee flavours. Overall, it has a nice refreshing feel (similar more to various ales), and is a fairly good oatmeal stout.

 

 

 

 

 

Serving Type: 500 mL Bottle

A- Pours a Dark Brown/Black colour that is non-transparent. Topped by a beautiful tan 2 finger head. Good amount of lacing.

S- Light aroma's of coffee, roasted barley, hazelnut, and sweet milk chocolate. If my eyes were closed I could've sworn a chocolate bar was in front of me. Absolutely heavenly.

T- Aroma follows the taste well. Coffee, hazelnut, chocolate, and a mild roastiness from the barley. Nothing really pops out here but it's important to remember that the focus with this brew is being "sessionable". A good balance between the roasty bitterness and sweet flavours of hazelnut and chocolate.

M- The body has nice weight like any Stout should boast. Light carbonation atypical to the style.

O- Martello Stout is one of my favourite interpretations of an English Stout. Balanced roastiness and sweetness paired with an excellent body that is heavy without weighing you down. Because the taste is so well balanced, this Stout is extremely sessionable without being bland. If you can get your hands on this brew, do it. I'd be willing to be that you will not be disappointed.

 

In this tall, more slender pint glass Martello Stout looks like a semi-dark chocolate bar, its pale brown head resembling oxidizing edges. I'm tempted to try to drink it all in one straight gulp - I bet it's that delicious! Curiously, though decidedly not black it still manages to outright refuse light to pass through.

The aroma is nice but withholds a little. I keep sniffing harder and harder, for longer and longer intervals, hoping to suck out more of those faint - but unmistakable - scents of hazelnut milk chocolate and blackened barley. Modesty isn't a bad thing - except when there's no need for it.

While the flavour is nothing memorable, that first sip really did hit the spot: medium-roast maltiness with hints of cocoa and the taste of coffee bean on the finish. Subsequent sips aren't as gratifying; the emphasis here is 'sessionable' not 'substantial'. Still, that's nothing to complain about.

The mouthfeel deserves special mention. Elements both sweet and bitter are agreeably understated. The level of roast is just right, adding to the flavour without detracting from texture. And the beer has enough weight to call itself a stout but it doesn't weigh you down.

Martello Stout is a no-fuss, super approachable stout that still manages to check-off all boxes for the style. English-minded and ringing in at a reasonable 4.8%, it's right in the sweet-spot for a go-to social settings pint and, I believe, is best enjoyed exactly as that.

 

Very smooth and easy to drink. Pours a lighter shade of black with minor bubble and just thing lacing. A nose of delicious roasted malts and espresso. Taste follows the nose but adds notes of vanilla offset by bitter cocoa. Exceptional finish with malt coffee linger.

 

From a 500 ml bottle to a pint glass.

This beer looks great...molasses black in color with a foamy two and a half finger root beer colored head. A slow break for the head leaves nice lacing behind along with a good layer of foam. The aroma is roasts, coffee, some vanilla and oak. The taste is roasts, cocoa and malts up front followed by a bitterness from hops. The carbonation is medium but the body is thin, much thinner than expected.

All in all, not a bad beer. The look and smell lead you to believe you are headed for a fantastic experience, and the taste and feel just let you down a little.