Freestyle Series #2
Oxbow Brewing Company

 

I was lucky enough to try this at Lions Pride during a Maine Beer Week event, from notes that I just came across!

Deep black, with a rich tan head. Lots of spotty soapy lace. Roasted malt nose. Light bodied, mineral and grain up front. Light cocoa and chocolate bitterness. Extremely dry, not rich at all w. medium to light carbonation.

Excited to see future offerings from Oxbow!

 

Thanks to rudzud for sharing this interesting unique beer brought back from his interesting Maine excursion.

Big creamy 1+ finger head fades slowly with nice lacing, pitch black beer.

Nose is toasty rustic dry stout, toasty malts, light bitter roast, light smoke, light caramel, hint of coffee. Then deeper nosing reveals a light dry Belgian like yeast with hints of spices.

Taste is malty, smoked malts mostly, smoked meat, chewy malts, caramel, light chewy dark brown malts, creamy. Nice caramel and molasses, touch of roast and coffee, and hint of cocoa. A slight juicy malt comes through as well. I would almost expect this to have more booze and sweetness, but its just dry and very drinkable.

Mouth is med bodied, almost creamy but more dry, decent carb for growler.

Overall fairly impressed, lots of nice malty dark flavors, kinda like a dry irish stout but a bit creamy and lots of flavors, nice smoke, etc.

A completely twist of fate occurance got us in this neck of the woods for Oxbow. After a tour by some really fun brewers/owner we got to try this fresh from the tank. Of course, a Growler had to be purchased.

A - Poured a standard pint glass a rich deep dark chocolate with a two finger mocha head that faded to leave a nice creamy side lacing. This looks quite nice in a glass.

S - Very nice coffee (not bitter at all) and chocolate. Very nice roasted malts with this. Super enjoyable and inviting considering the abbey.

T - Wow...this is 4.5%? How do they pack so much flavor into this? Nice roasted toasted malts with some nice coffee and chocolate with a slight bitter lightly hoppy finish. Impressed considering the ABV.

M - Light, slightly crisp and creamy this feels a little thin but then again its to be expected with such a lower ABV. Still is super sessionable which is what the brewery was going for.

O - Like everything else by this brewery I was incredibly impressed. An excellent stout with really surprising flavors and nose for something so low. I could pound this back no problem and still happily know that this was a stout. Would buy again without hesitation.