Pothole Stout
Brewery Vivant

Pothole Stout from Brewery Vivant. Received on 17/3/21 from Brewery Vivant, Grand Rapids, MI. $ 13.77 (Including tax)/4-pack of 16 oz cans ($ 0.215/oz). At room temperature at store and stored at home at 42 degrees. Reviewed 7/4/21. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Bottom of can stamped “PACKAGED ON 02/22/20” (Not a typo). Served at 45.5 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. Final temperature 51.6 degrees.
Appearance – 4.25
First pour – Brown (SRM 20), clear.
Body – Black (SRM 40), opaque. When rear-lite, amber brown at the edges.
Head – Average (Maximum four cm, aggressive center pour), light caramel, high density with a rare rock, average retention, diminishing to a four to five mm crown fed by effervescence with a complete cap.
Lacing – Good. Wide Band of extremely tiny bubbles.
Aroma – 4 – Mild coffee and very weak lactose. No malt, no hops, no yeast.
Flavor – 4 – Weak, slightly sweet coffee – think iced coffee after a lot of the ice has melted. No hops, no malt, no yeast. No alcohol (7.5 % ABV, as marked on container) taste or aroma. No gastric warming initially occurs. However, by the end of the can some transitory gastric warming occurs. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl.
Palate – 3.5 – Medium, watery, soft but lively carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4 Body seems a bit thin for a stout, but the coffee flavor works well at this viscosity; even the lactose is unoffensive.

It's a very attractive beer, pouring deep black with a medium brown head.
The aroma drifts between coffee, malts and lactose with the coffee kinda wrapping it all together.
The coffee is definitely prominent in the taste, almost to the point of bitter. I actually considered, just for a second, of adding milk to cut the bitter down a touch.
Feel is good, appropriate for a non-imperial stout, though a little on the thin side.
OA - While it started on the bitter side (Poured at 55 degrees) it mellowed out nicely after warming into the 60s. So for me, I'll just want this one to get closer to room temp before enjoying in the future.

Pours a dark brown with a minimal head that lasts quite a while. Aroma is chocolate, coffee and roasted malts. Tastes of coffee, sweet chocolate and roasted malts. A bit thin but no bitterness at the finish.

Canned 2/3/15; drank 3/24/15 @ the Yarchives.

Brown/black/purple appearance.

Nice dark tan head; minimal lace.

Roasted coffee & mild banana notes in the nose.

Medium mouthfeel.

Black coffee, mild banana & cream flavors up front; a mildly carbonated finish.

Quaffable with a nice flavor; a nice spring stout.

 

 

 

 

wow, lots of carb. can was foaming at the mouth...enjoyed from a vivant mini snifter.

aptly named...kind of like drinking some concrete. lots of char with some roast and chocolate in the background. very fizzy too...little oxidized. love a good stout, don't really love this

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The coffee is too overpowering, but otherwise very drinkable.