Fear
Brewfist

Sept. 2012: 330 ml bottle, shared by abemorsten. ABV is 5.2%. Black colour, large beige head. The aroma is woody and roasty, notes of cold coffee and chocolate. Fairly thin and fizzy mouthfeel, The flavour has woody and moderately roasty notes with cocoa, but is not nearly as rich, roasty, "thick" and sweet as I hoped for. Low bitterness.

 

 

L: Dark brown color, massive six finger light brown head, messy lacing, light carbonation.

S: Chocolate, coffee.

T: Chocolate, coffee, sweet. Nice.

F: Light to medium bodied, nicely flavored.

O: Decent milk stout but definitely not a standout.

The beer pours a deep brown with a 3 finger foamy tan head. The head dissipates fairly quickly and gives the impression of a soda. The nose is a sweet chocolate as promised on the label. The taste is an even mix of sweet chocolate and roast coming across as a fairly well balanced beer. The mouthfeel is where this beer fall horribly short of expectations. It's overly thin and the soda like carbonation only exacerbates it. Overall it's not a terrible beer, but the mouthfeel is crucial in a good stout and this just doesn't have it.

Poured into an English pint glass, the appearance was a nice looking dark brown close to black color with a nice semi-thick lush and woody tan colored head that slid off ever so gently. Lace was somewhat there but slid with the sips, was semi-concave-ish.
The aroma had a gentle milk chocolate to cocoa nib-like bitterness flowing into some roasty coffee beans and a light sweet woody to ever so subtle vanilla to lactose-like sweet quality even further in the background.
The flavor was a fantastic blend of sweet to roasty tastes rolling into a little bit of toffee and a mild dark fruitiness. Aftertaste rolled through some sweet milk chocolate, roasty coffee beans and extremely light dark fruits.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied with a good sessionable to sipping quality about it. Carbonation felt good, nice and controlled. ABV felt on par. Finish leaned a bit more towards the roastiness trying to pull in the sweetness a bit more.
Overall, one of the more "balanced" milk/sweet stouts on the market and definitely one that I'd have again. Nice to find one that isn't cloying and has more balance to it. I'd definitely have again.

 

 

 

Pours an excessive head which takes several minutes to dissipate. Minimal lacing however. Rich flavor which is highly sweet, bordering on molasses and maple syrup with a slight roasted character. Unbalanced. Medium to full body. Soda like carbonation. Not my favorite.

 

 

 

 

 

For this price, pass. I'm sure this is a big hit in Europe where they've been drinking the same style beers for 500 years - with the exception of the Scandinavians, they get good beer.

For a palette accustomed to champagne or sparkling wine, I can see how maybe this could appeal to some. But introduce this in the US as a milk chocolate stout...come on. It's like a slightly chocolaty Bass. And for the price.....tragedy.

 

a uniquely american style undertaken by a new radical italian operation, i had high hopes, but this is easily my least favorite of the brewfist stuff to date. for one, its majorly thin, almost watery, just not at all the texture i look for in a stout, even a lighter one. the malt flavor is great, with the chocolate malted barley setting the stage for the actual cocoa, and the bitter roasted barley giving it some balance that is much needed. however, the yeast is weird, and while i usually like it in italian beer, even as their general defining element in my experience, its wrong for this beer, or its too old and gone weird, one or the other, but its off. astringent and sharp and just not meshing with mellow earthy chocolate notes. the flavor is actually good, its the feel and all that isnt there for me. carbonated like crazy too, which usually i like, but its too much for the lighter beer. i cant complain, it was a bargain bin buy, definitely been in the market a little while, but this is pretty unimpressive.