Argonaut Collection: Flying Cloud San Francisco Stout
Anchor Brewing Company

355 ml bottle, from Vinmonopolet Madla. ABV is 7.4%. Black colour, moderate but lasting tan head. Pleasant aroma of moderately roasted malts, hints of caramel, dark bread, wort and woodwork. Dry and roasty flavour, roast malts and coffee, hints of liquorice and dark bitter chocolate, moderate bittering hops in the finish. Nice beer.

 

Unknown vintage; drank 10/9/15 @ the Yarchives.

Black appearance.

A rough pour yielded a HUGE dark tan head (careful pouring! ); frothy lace.

Red wine, black licorice & fresh earth notes in the nose.

Medium thick mouthfeel.

Red wine, fresh bread & black licorice flavors up front; fresh earth notes on the finish.

An interesting, enjoyable stout. I'd have another.

 

 

From notes taken 02/02/17:

Pitch black in glass, though clearly dark brown when tipping it back for a sip thins it out. Head is probably the darkest I have seen, so in head terms you might call it a “dark brown,” although it is more of a medium brown on an actual color spectrum. Quite lacey. I can tell it is thick and viscous from looking at it as it pours. To nose, roastiness and char, some toffee or cocoa sweetness. Even more chocolate to taste, dark. But even roastier than that, with some dark fruit tartness in the background. A little toffee and smoke in finish. Tobacco and burnt meat and booze in retro-olfaction. Full body, no question. Velvety and sloshy, with tingles on tip and edges of tongue, and cheeks. Very astringent but balanced out with sweeter, acidic flavors.

Picked up a four pack at a brewery tour in late Aug & noticed the bottle date was 1/14/16 (6JN); this tasting is on 1/9/17, roughly 1 year from bottling. If Anchor is selling this at the brewery 7 months old, I don't think they can take issue with my rating it at 12 months. It was enjoyable when I got it so thought it'd be worth an experiment.

Poured into a snifter. It's almost pitch black with the slightest blush of dark brown when held up to the light. Thin layer of brown head dissipates quickly to rim of bubbles. Aroma is lightly roasted malt with light caramel/toffee and a hint of chocolate. I detect no hops at 1yr.

Mouthfeel is rich for a moderate Abv stout. There is good body and light carbonation on the tongue. Taste is a decent balance of roast with a light malt sweetness to balance it out. There is spiciness that makes me think of rye, though probably comes from the other specialty malts used. The full, roasted flavor may have been accentuated by the age, and while that's not off-putting, it is more present than I expected.

Overall it's a good export stout. It probably didn't' improve with age but was still enjoyable. If I find it fresher I will revisit my review.

 

 

 

 

Pours an absolute black with a thick (2 1/2 cm) caramel colored head. Wonderful head retention. Lacing is dull and barely present. Aroma is spicy with notes of roasted and toasted malts, bread, and spicy floral hops. A sip brings in a dull pale, roasted malt quality, which never bolsters up or gets too loud. Additional flavor notes include chocolate, bread, and spicy, floral hops. Mouth feel is filling and velvety, with a bit of a fizzy, dry finish. Overall, it's a really fun dark beer. It finishes dry, which may be off putting for some, but otherwise it's a fun little brew with plenty going on.

Served in a 12oz snifter.

 

Pitch Black with a tan head. Smells like cherries and roasted malts. Taste of cherries, vanilla, dark malts, sweetness. Smooth mouth feel, very taste clean.

Overall, This is a good clean beer.

 

 

Pours near black where no light shines through. Beige head with many streaks from each sip.

Sweet with a barley wine aroma. No hop, but lots of cherry sweetness.

The taste is an extention of the smell. Deep sweet cherry with an unsweetened chocolate flavor. Thinnish body with a high carbonation level. Yet, this is a chewy beer. This is a bit of a cross between a sweet stout and a dry barley wine, or a dry stout and a sweet barley wine.

 

 

Aroma is dark/roasted malts, very English yeast and mild dark chocolate. The flavor is dark/roasted malts, English stout yeast, fruit/dark fruit, mild dark chocolate and an acidic/slightly spicy finish.

 

 

 

This beer is just as a foreign export stout should be: intense malt-flavors attenuated by fruity hops. Despite a high-level of hop-flavor, this beer remains not bitter and semi-sweet, though not as sweet as the dark malts underneath this hop profile would otherwise lead one to believe.

 

 

 

 

Appearance: A full-on bubble show presentation; the mocha head settles in at three inches, stripping dots of lace on the way down; the liquid is a translucent cola color

Smell: Roasted grain, chocolate and a hint of molasses

Taste: Roasted grain and chocolate forward, with cinnamon and burnt coffee bitterness building through the middle; some molasses adds sweetness to the finish

Mouthfeel: Medium body with moderate carbonation

Overall: A little too grainy and a little too sweet, leaving a rather schizophrenic impression; not bad but not a favorite

 

 

Bottle into a Madtree snifter. Pours a syrupy, dark brown and settles pitch black in th glass. A relatively gentle pour yielded about 1/2 a finger of tan foam, which bubbled down to a spotty lacing after about a minute. Strong notes of sweet, roasty malt are accompanied by caramel, molasses, ginger, and dark chocolate. Upon tasting, the first notation I see is a strong, choclately bitterness followed by notes of roasted malt, molasses, caramel, and light hints of ginger and cinammon. Overall, the taste is quite sweet, and coupled with the overly-carbonated mouthfeel, this nearly reminds me of a cola. In terms of density, this is fairly light for the abv, but is chewy enough to not feel flat or thin.

Overall, decent. I'm not too experienced when it comes to "Foreign/Export Stouts", but this seemed like an overly-sweet, syrupy American Stout. Not bad, but not sure I'd buy it again.

 

 

 

Looks like a good hearty, chewy black stout with tan head. Aroma was dry export stout malt roastiness.

Taste was what they were aiming for I imagine, its a dry, no frills, chewy adjunct stout. Almost oatmeal like.

Damn George, why you gotta be fartin' while I'm writing this stuff.

 

pours out somewhere between thick and thin with a mocha head

hints of licorice and chocolate

I get lots more chocolate than licorice, dark chocolate bitterness.

full mouthfeel no alcohol presence and a bitter finish .

good for drinking more than one, but not my typical thick stouts.