Black Rock Stout
Crossroads Brewing Company

 

Bought two from Beer Drop.
Making the connection to my immediately previous review of a porter from Return Brewing who contracts with Crossroads as their production brewer, both brews came to me via Beer Drop. So not only is there a nice collaboration of two micros next to each other in the Hudson Valley, but Beer Drop is facilitating getting these micros' beer to aficionados in such far-flung places as Chicagoland (or wherever else deliveries are made.)

Anyhow, there are some interesting similarities between the two brews, so the micros may also be sharing secrets... which is just as good. I will drink the second copies of both side-by-side and analyze these similarities more closely.

For now, Black Rock opens with a ridiculously huge foam. Such Looks often make me suspicious that some amateurishness is being hidden from me. But I'm glad to say I am wrong here. The Smells are not unusual, but the Tastes produce a very satisfying dry chocolate finish. No dessert was necessary tonight as the dryness satiated me for the night. Sugar not necessary. Full-mouthed as advertised.

I will give my micro-review of Crossroads with the second can side-by-side.

An almost solid black appearance
Medium light carbonation with about a medium body
Aroma is oddly dark berry,then some chocolate, char,wood and coffee
Taste is very similar to aroma with a mild amount of tobacco coming through.
Overall its a very well done stout

From a can. Pours a deep black with a several inch thick cap of tan foam. Smells of chocolate, roasted malt, coffee, and earthy hops. The flavor follows the smell, lots of chocolate, a little coffee, and maybe some fruitiness from the yeast. Medium full bodied; clean and dry on the finish.

Poured from a 16 oz can, batch coded, no date.
A - Chalkboard black back drop, carbonation supports a really lovely loose knit mocha froth. Lacing is ring after ring.
S - A bit of milk chocolate to start, char, roast malt, hint of earthy hops, some dusty woody element is quite nice.
T - Starts with that really nice bitter chocolate/char element, nothing sweet about it, a hint of blackberry, a bit of earthy hops again, with a hint of tobacco.
M - Medium in body, dry during the entire experience. Linger is bakers chocolate, and lovely char notes. All that dry and lightly bitter make for an excellent experience
O - A very good export style stout, dry and well bittered, flavorful and dare i say crisp. Next trip to NY i will seek out more.

 

Roasty offering with a bit of a mineral aspect to the char that the taste bringsz. Nose is chocolate and dark roast to almost burnt coffee. Could just be my can, but the foam being produced belies the carbonation of this beer - it’s just a tad on the flat side. Otherwise, pretty good for a style not often seen from US craft brewers..

Black as expected with a nice tan head. pleasant aromoa of rich, dark roast coffee & roasted malt. A bit salty with some bitterness. Lots of coffee flavor, dark chocolate, roasted malts & char. Thick & extremely smooth. I like it!

 

 

 

Picked up a 4 pack on recent trip to upstate NY. Pouring a cold 16 oz can into my snifter.
The beer pours cola brown with a creamy beige head of 1 cm that fades to a sturdy edge layer soon after the pour. Only the faintest dark mahogany color shows through on the edges of the glass when I hold it to the light. the foam also remains a wispy surface layer throughout the sampling. Looks the part of a stout so far.

Aroma is some charred malt and roasted notes, dark chocolate and a little black coffee. The char note seems the strongest on the nose and is definitely more than just roasted malt. I like the nose and again, it seems the part for a stout. No hop presence and not boozy either.

First sip reveals a medium body with very smooth texture and active tingly carbonation. The beer drinks very easy and seems a little thinner than many stouts, but its not watery or anything. Beer drinks pretty easy from my glass.

Flavor is roasted malt and dark unsweetened chocolate, slightly bitter, but not from hops. I again get some charred wood notes and just a touch of black coffee. the char or ash notes linger on my palate after each mouthful. I dont really sense much of a hop character and the ABV is well hidden too.

I find this a very drinkable stout and with a decent ABV that is hidden well, it could sneak up on you. I do worry that the char note could limit the sessionability of the beer, but otherwise, Im glad to have picked this one up and would buy it again when looking for a dark beer in upstate NY.

Pours black with a 1 inch thick, foamy head. Heavy lacing.

Aroma is mostly coffee.

Taste is coffee, pepper, cigarette ash.

Full bodied, light carbonation. Dry finish.

Not one of the best stouts I've had, just ok.

 

I found Black Rock Stout to be a fine example of a traditional stout. It poured a deep, dark brown, with a tawny head. The smell was malty, and chocolaty, with a slight sweetness. The taste was solid, and traditional, with a sweetness and slight pepperiness complementing the expected cocoa, malt and bread notes. The taste matched the expectations of the smell, just enough of spicy sweetness to distinguish it from the crowd. Black Rock Stout has a firm, pleasing mouthfeel, and is overall, a very enjoyable classic stout.

Crossroads Brewing Co. "Black Rock Stout"
1 pint can without production codes or freshness dating
$4.49 @ Total Wine & More, Cherry Hill, NJ

Notes via stream of consciousness: Labeled at 6.8% ABV. When held to the light you can see a small band of dark mahogany brown along the base of the glass but otherwise the body is a completely opaque black. The head is a creamy cap of tan foam. In the nose you'll find chocolate, black coffee, and an ashen roastiness. The flavor follows with a little bit of acidity added from the dark malts making it seem even more similar to black coffee. The chocolate is like unsweetened chocolate, or dark and bittersweet chocolate. There's a subtle herbal hoppiness in the background. 55 IBUs balance it, and it finishes dry, acidic, and roasty. A hint of underlying licorice/herbs lingers gently. In the mouth it's medium bodied and gently crisp before warming to become smoother. Although limited in height at first, the head held well and left some very nice lacing behind. It's not nearly as nice as Guinness Draught but there's enough to get it over the edge into a 4.25 out of 5. So what's my conclusion? It's a good example of a foreign/export stout on the lower end of the spectrum. It's not too heavy in any way, and nicely balanced, but still not a "very drinkable" stout, it remains a solid foreign/export stout.
Review #6,898

 

Canned on 09/13/19.
I normally like to pour my foreign/export stouts into snifters, however, I poured this into a becher thinking this was a regular American stout. Though I now see my error, I ended up leaving this in the becher glass.
The appearance was a dark brown to black color in the glass with a dark muddled brown color in the pour. A thick two finger off white to eggshell white foamy head dissipated fairly and left some sly rings of lace softly sliding into some strings.
The aroma had a deep dark earthen ashy/char toasty and roasty coffee tones following into some dark chocolate bitterness and small packages of dark wood.
The flavor copies the aroma fairly spot on through roasted notes and bitter dark chocolate book ends. Lingering ashy/earthy/char in the aftertaste, very dry.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied with a fair sipping quality about it. Good carbonation. Dry ashy notes grip my tongue. Finishes roasty, toasty and dry.
Overall, I can see it now as a Foreign/Export stout and was happy to partake in this. I could myself coming back to this.

 

Finger plus of deep brown foam, mottled surface but very nice retention, whiskers for lacing. Jet black liquid, no color regardless of the viewing angle, you can see tiny bubbles break the surface now and then. Roasty nose of cocoa powder, coffee beans, grilled nuts and quinine, more thrust than richness, no real fruit presence to speak of, lasts well enough given its monochrome nature. Medium-bodied, offers more carbonated churn than expected. Noticeably dry and verging on bitter, hard to find any element of sustained sweetness. Hint of cherry but, again, it’s cocoa, coffee and nuts on a looped replay. After you sip you can really feel it paste itself against the roof of your mouth. Bonus points for balance but simply not enough contrast that it could be imbalanced. Absent glaring flaws as well as offputting astringency outside of intended dryness. Nothing you’d cross the street to get.