Devil In The Details
Frog Island Brewing Company

 

22oz bottle from Main Street Party Store (Ann Arbor, MI). 9.99. No bottling date but I believe this was only brewed once in late 2010. Served in a goblet.

Pours a molasses hued, near-black brown with two fingers of frothy mocha foam that quickly dissipates. Almost no retention and absolutely zero lace.

Fairly simple aromas of vanilla, dark fruit, and brown sugar.

The flavors are not bad but come across as a bit disjointed. Fudge, charred wood, vague dark fruits, burnt coffee, subtle oaky vanilla, earth and a lot of fuesel alcohol. Towards the beginning of most sips it seems like a pretty well done imperial stout but by the time ot hits the back of the tongue all that booze and char crowd out what could have been quite good.

The body is pretty heavy but the carbonation is almost completely gone so it just wallows on the tongue. The aftertaste is bitter with more burnt wood, bitter cocoa, fruit skins and alcohol.

I was hoping that time would smooth over some of the issues that previous reviewers noted. Maybe it did but there it just wasn't a strong enough beer to begin with. After enduring about half of the bottle I opted to sacrifice the remainder to the drain. Not that a near 4 year old bottle would be a likely option but I recommend passing on this one if you see it.

 

22 ounce bottle into snifter

Pours a nice dark brown with a small tan head. Smell is roasted malt and chocolate with a hint of vanilla and coffee. Very muted nose. Taste is like the nose, not a lot going on here. Lighter bodied with a higher level of carbonation, too much. Overall not very good, flavors and nose are very faint.

I picked this bottle up in a bottle shop in Ann Arbor on a trip to Michigan a few months ago. Finally drinking it.

I poured a finger of very rich brown head over a nearly black body. As the head thins to a ring, the body continues to stare at me like a black hole.

I smell chocolate, roasted malt, a little caramel and coffee.

The richly roasted malt is very pleasant up front. This goes to a chocolate/coffee mingle, with a little vanilla on the back end. The alcohol burn is surprisingly slight for the ABV.

The mouthfeel could be a little creamier. It almost seems to pass too quickly. There is a little bite of carbonation, but it's not heavy handed.

Appears a pitch black with a beige head, and a tiny cap that fades into a little head and collar. Speckles of lacing are left around the glass.
Smell is of vanilla, cocoa, roasted barley, and toasted grains.
Taste is of the aromas with a toasty barley flavor with cocoa.
Mouthfeel is medium full bodied, slick, and filling.

 

Reviewed from notes of a previous tasting.

Pours a deep dark brown, not quite black, but definitely opaque. Lifeless upon pour in terms of head. The nose starts with some vanilla and oak with accents of artificial cherry character. Roasted malts seem to be taking a back seat on this one. The taste is very mellow with lots of vanilla. The flavors seems well integrated, but again lacking some of what I search for in a stout. The mouthfeel leans on the thin side and the carbonation is very low. Nice balance of flavors here but nothing really resonates.

The Devils in the Details, Frog Island Ann Arbor was our final tasting. we were shocked at the pour to see a black, syrupy beer fill our glass. Strong odd smell. upon first taste I was pleased, but it grew sweet and stronger after that. No carbonation either. it is billed as an Imperial Stout at 13 abv .
Our tasting glasses are 6 oz can't imagine drinking more than that.
Good - rich beer

bomber into my deschutes snifter.

a - a hard pour gets me a black liquid with no head whatsoever, not even a thin film. no lacing present.

s - burnt toast, sour cherry, stale coffee.

t - a little roasty with some stale coffee notes. maybe a bit of wet cardboard. no oak or vanilla as claimed on the bottle and no discernible hop character either. faint alcohol bitterness.

m - thin for the style with absolutely no carbonation.

o - really sub par and just shy of being a total disaster. drain poured half the glass. if you see this one on the shelf, keep on going.

 

 

 

Black in color with an enormous head that nearly fills the glass. The nose is just awful. Highly metallic and acidic with the only stout characteristic being the roasted malt. The flavor is similarly bad. Very acrid and harsh, super metallic and acidic as well. Somewhat roasty with maybe a touch of oak flavor. No way I’d care to have this ever again.

 

 

Bottle from Siciliaon's in Grand Rapids. Poured in to Bruery tulip glass.

A - Dark inky black with almost no head aside from a few light bubbles around the edges.

S - Huge artificial vanilla aroma up front with some oak and a roasted malt presence in the background. Very sweet overall nose.

T - Big sweetness up front full of vanilla and milk chocolate flavours. The vanilla tastes very artificial and is almost cloyingly sweet. Roasted malt backbone is present behind the vanilla. The bourbon is barely noticeable. The sweetness makes this difficult to drink.

M - Medium body with almost no carbonation.

Bottle shared by sprague11, thanks John. 22oz into a tulip.

Huge dense brown head that appears to cascade (like a nitro-pour) when poured into the glass. Black body with some lighter hues at the edges. Nose has big bourbon and barrel notes, brown sugar, oak and butterscotch. All of this appears to dominate some subtler flavours, perhaps some chocolate and roast. Taste has some warming (but not hot) alcohol and bourbon, oak, butter/butterscotch, coffee bitterness. Unbalanced flavours and the barrel certainly overtakes this rather than compliments it. A heavier medium body, but the lack of balance really sets this back - little room is left for the other flavours to add much to the profile.

Looks like a thick chocolate milkshake with a big bubbling head. A lace sheet is left complementing the dark black body. Corny, buttery, vinegar, bourbon, boozy, woody. Balance, well doesn’t quite get it taste-wise, murky mix, though interesting to try. OK drinkability.