Near And Dear
Brewmaster Jack

Sampling a cellar temp 12 oz bottle poured into a snifter. No best buy or born date on the label.
The beer pours a dark cola brown color with a creamy dense beige colored head of 1 cm. The foam slowly fades leaving dense lattice after each sip. I also find one large island in the center of my glass. This island remains through the sampling.
Aroma is rich and malty with roasted notes, almost charred actually. I also get some dark chocolate and a bit of coffee. No real hop profile and the 8% is well hidden too.
First sip reveals a silky smooth texture with very mild almost cask like carbonation. The body is medium and this beer drinks very easy. QUite nice physical traits on this brew.
Flavor is malt forward, just as the nose predicts. I get roasted notes with some dark chocolate and a bit of coffee too. There is a little sweet brown sugar in the middle and then the roast comes back on the finish. Again, no hops nor any sort of hints of the ABV. Interesting and straightforward stout with some well hidden booze that keeps this from being sessionable. Glad to have tried this one and would do it again for something well made and tasty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The appearance was a sly film of a little white head that dissipated at a nice pace. Sticky super speckled lace running all around. The aroma blends the roasty coffee beans, subtle clean sweet cocoa beans, sly vanilla bean. Rugged edgy roasty caramel and toffee malts. Light toast. The flavor starts sweet with a crisp roastiness to it blending the caramel to coffee to cocoa and vanilla bean. All melding nicely right on into the aftertaste and finish. On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium on the body with fair sessionable-esque sort of feel as much as any stout could actually give. Carbonation feels good for what it is and fairly low. Overall, pretty good as an American stout, could possibly come back to.

A: [4.00] The bottle lists the ABV (8.0%). No date info is listed. Perfect stout pour. Rich black liquid with 1-1/2 fingers of dense khaki head. The head has some grab and leaves arcs of lacing on the glass.

S: [4.25] Coffee, nuts, charred hard wood, toasted marshmallows. All in nice harmony.

T: [3.50] Similar to the nose but leading with the chared hard wood. After that getting coffee and toasted marshmallows. There is also something a little bitter in the back end that detracts from the taste and the feel.

M: [3.50] The feel is a little prickly for a stout and there is a harsh bitter edge to the finish which is out of character for a stout and is not that pleasant.

O: [3.75] The bitter/harsh finish detracts from what smells and looks like a really nice stout. It seems to mellow a bit but it took about 1/2 of the bottle. I am not sure if it was coffee bitterness - or some hop bitterness but it made the beer unbalanced.

12oz bottle. Poured a very dark black with a thin cream colored head. Coffee and Cocoa were the main scents in the nose. This was a sweater stout with dark chocolate and some espresso flavor in the taste. The strong coffee taste leads to some bitterness in the aftertaste of each sip. Smooth Medium bodied stout with very light to no alcohol taste. Easy to drink if you are looking for a nice taste of coffee in your stout.

 

 

 

 

 

A: The beer is jet black in color. It poured with a thin tan colored head that quickly died down. leaving thick wisps of bubbles on the surface and a collar around the edge of the glass.
S: Light to moderate aromas of coffee beans are present in the nose.
T: The taste follows the smell, but has stronger flavors of coffee beans along with hints of dark roasted malts. There is a faint amount of bitterness.
M: It feels medium-bodied on the palate and has a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This is a nice choice if you are looking for a coffee stout that isn't too heavy on the palate.

Serving type: bottle

 

 

 

 

 

 

On-tap 8/28/2016 at Natty Greene’s Tavern in North Attleboro, MA, served in a tulip glass.

A: The beer is a deep dark brown color, with a large dense beige head that fades slowly and leaves a very thick lace on the glass.

S: The aroma contains coffee, chocolate, roasted malts and a touch of hops.

T: The taste starts out with strong flavors of coffee and dark chocolate followed by a hearty roasted malt character breadiness. There are some background flavors of dark fruit and licorice. The hops presence is mild but complementary and brings a good balance. The after-taste is slightly bready and slightly sweet.

M: Crisp and smooth, medium body, medium carbonation, finish is slightly sticky.

O: Tasty, goes down easily, not too filling, good kick, good representation of style, this is a solid stout to drink for a while.

 

Love most of the stuff from this brewery, let's see if they can keep it up.

Pours a dark but small fizzy head that fades fairly quickly, pitch black beer, nice legs, and a little lacing even.

Nose is loaded with chocolate, straight up cacao, dark chocolate, bakers, etc, some mild roasty coffee notes, some creamy oats, little nougat, a little nutty fudge, back into espresso roasted coffee, touch of cookie dough and vanilla even.

Taste brings loads of fresh coffee, nice roasty coffee flavor, fresh roasted coffee beans and brewed coffee, a little nutty, but also a bit of a fruity bean, a mild roasted malt flavor as well, back into dark chocolate cocoa beans, little hot cocoa bitter dark choc, and a little bitter earthy spicy hop mixed with the bitterness from the roast. A touch of booze warmth, with full flavor slight savory roast quality but not burnt. Rounding the flavor brings a touch of vanilla and cookie dough notes.

Mouth is med to fuller bod, creamy, decent carb, just a touch of booze.

Overall pretty interesting, nice characters all around, a few things I wish was a bit more but not quite there, but still a very nice American stout.

 

 

Pours near black but I can catch a bit of light along the edge. The head dies quickly but leaves several streaks of lace after each sip.

Black coffee aroma. Definitely a strong burnt barley element. No cream nor chocolate to the nose.

The taste follows the smell nearly perfectly. Think ice coffee with a dollop of burnt raw barley. Very dry. The body is good for the style but the carbonation is high (this deserves a nitro pour). Long bitter aftertaste.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wanted to get this reviewed because I had been reading about it lately on the forums. I think this is a great stout. L: It pours deep black with little head. S: Sweet is the first word. It also has some roast behind it, but sweet. T: Sweet continues, but I'd describe it as butterscotch. Also has some smoke and a little vanilla. Don't get me wrong, not like a dessert beer, but it has a real different taste from your normal stouts out there now, F: Velvety smooth, easy to drink. O: I think this is a great stout from a great brewery. PLEASE, no one mention this beer as I like finding it in my store with no hassle! ;)

 

BREWMASTER JACK NEAR & DEAR STOUT 1/3/16

Poured from the 12 oz. bottle into a Samuel Smith English tulip.

a: Opaque black with an inch thick tan head which receded to even surface foam and dense to spotty lacing.

s: Tobacco smoke & black coffee

t: Pretty much follows the nose, followed by a surprisingly strong bite for a 20 IBU brew, and a little throat burn at first.

m: Full or close to it, very good body and some carbonation tingle.

o: A good full bodied stout with an unusual net flavor profile. Probably would have special appeal to cigaratte smokers.