Unjunct
Carton Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pours black with a one inch tan head that dissipated to a ring fairly quickly and left little lacing. Smells and tastes of roasted malts, dark chocolate, coffee and a bit of smoke additional flavors of tobacco vanilla, caramel and char. Medium Bodied, light carbonation, creamy mouth feel.

Great stout! Pours very dark, aroma of coffee and chocolate. Taste of roasted coffee and dark chocolate with slight sweetness and bitterness together.

Canned 12/15/17, reviewed 9/9/18

Look- pours cola brown, but appears almost black in the glass; aggressive pour yields a huge light brown head that fills up half a nonic pint glass, and eventually settles to about 1 finger; a lot of spotty lacing

Aroma- milk chocolate, bitter dark chocolate, light smoke, roasty coffee notes and a little vanilla

Taste- bitter sweet dark chocolate, bitter roasted coffee beans, slightly sweet milk chocolate, a little smoke and a little vanilla

Feel- medium to full bodied and lightly carbonated making for a very creamy feel; semi-dry finish thats slightly sweet and moderately bitter

Overall- a really nice stout with fairly intense bitterness kept in check by the mild sweetness

 

This is a exceptional stout.....or perhaps more accurately, an imperial stout at 8.5%. Is an equal to my favorite...North Coast Old Rasputin.

 

 

 

 

 

16 oz can. Pours black with tall, long lasting, creamy, brown head and nice lacing. Aroma is of roasted malt, coffee, chocolate, brown sugar and herbal hops. Body is medium, creamy and slightly crisp. Taste is of herbal hops, burnt grain, toasted malt, coffee, chocolate, brown sugar, vanilla and dark fruit. Finish is long and bitter. Great brew.

 

 

 

Carton Brewing Co. "Unjunct Stout"
16 fl. oz. can, coded "START JOURNEY 12/15/2017..."
$5.49 @ Total Wine & More, Cherry Hill, NJ

Notes via stream of consciousness: So what do I have here? And why is it called "unjunct"? Ah, I see, it's just a straightforward stout without any adjunct added, specifically coffee. 8.5% abv and 60 IBUs. I also see that it's contract brewed at Two Roads so that's a good sign. OK, let's take a look at it... well it's very dark, an almost black walnut brown beneath a dark head of creamy tan. The aroma is fruity with some dark berries, perhaps currant, and chocolatey like very dark bittersweet chocolate. There's some roastiness there as well, not much, but some. On to the flavor, it pretty much follows. The fruitiness is right there front and center along with a solid bitterness, wrapped in a thin blanket of the chocolate, and surrounded by ashen roastiness. Looking back the head has dropped but there are solid sheets of lace covering the glass with thicker rings marking where I've taken a sip. The more I drink the more the flavors meld together. All of that fruitiness upfront reminded me of Samuel Smiths Imperial Stout but now it's pulling together and I'm getting more chocolate and a bit of nuttiness as well, and the bitterness seems softer as my palate is adapting to it. It's medium bodied and gently crisp with a very fine-bubbled, moderate carbonation that warms to become smooth. The alcohol is present but doesn't clearly jump out at you. So, overall it's a big beer with a lot of flavor, alcohol, and bitterness that does pull together but doesn't offer a great deal of complexity. I'm not finding any hops, American or otherwise, although I'm sure they're there, and so I'd categorize it as a Russian Imperial stout. It's too strong to be an American stout by BJCP guidelines anyway. It's good, even very good, but it lacks finesse and I'm not blown away.

 

 

 

Jet black, just under average carbonation. Above medium body with a creamy feel to it. Aroma is malt,raisins,roasted malt,coffee beans and cocoa. Taste is the same as aroma, a little bitter,a little dry, very mild touch of sweetness. Excellent stout

 

 

 

 

 

16oz can dated 02/08/17. Pours a viscous black color with an inch plus of dark brown head. Lots of lacing. The aroma is coffee, cocoa, molasses, nuts, caramel and vanilla. The taste is much like the aroma. Black coffee, cocoa, nuts and vanilla. Earthy and a bit roasty. Molasses, chocolate and black coffee finish. Slightly boozey. Velvety, heavy mouthfeel. Solid stout that, as advertised, tastes like a stout. Worth buying again.

 

 

 

 

 

Extremely dark brown foam, crests just short of two fingers, fairly airy so it sizzles off at a steady pace, the lacing starts off strong but lacks stickiness and slides away with ease. The liquid is a predictably impenetrable black, no ability to visually gauge the carbonation and minimal if any orange or yellow coloration around the rims. Nice strong roast to the nose, coffee and cocoa, not arch but not depending too much on sweetness, plum, fig, white grape fruit scents, tar and charcoal, cola bean, manages to pack a lot in there without seeming overbearing. In the mouth it is more medium-bodied but certainly bottom heavy and not that inclined to move. Carbonation is subtle to void. Sweeter here with fresh cream, dark chocolate, licorice, cola to toffee notes. Conversely, steady flow of bitterer coffee and chicory accents. No astringency and alcohol managed well, less roasty. Fig, golden raisin, cherry fruit, retains that white grape to apple embellishment. Finishes dryly and the savory components last longest. As advertised, a more classic rendition yet with the clarity to let the complexity march to its own beat. Very nice.