Irish Stout
Silver City Brewery & Taproom

 

 

I've written about this before, but will continue here: Irish stouts vex me. I love the style, if done right. And I'd love it more if more brewers would either get off the damn nitro kick, or sell it on nitro, CO2 and bottled. My complaint with nitro is as follows: nitro has a tendency to mellow out malt flavors, both malty characteristics and the roasted malt flavors that are present in stouts. A dry Irish stout is incredibly dependent on those roasted barley flavors (in my opinion) to truly fill the bill. Sadly, Silver City only offers this on a nitro tap.

Appearance: I'm a VIP member at Silver City, so I get my beers in very tall, slender 22 oz. mugs. This has an impressive profile when it appears at your table. Very dark, almost black, with light brown highlights around the edges if you hold it up to the light. The nitro head is lovely, an espresso creme pillow sitting there at the top of the glass. The bartenders at Silver City also know how to pour this thing properly, so it's fully settled by the time it arrives at your table.

Smell: Faint hops, with the roasted barley smell being predominant. I don't require my dry Irish stouts to be overly aromatic, and have never really encountered one that is. This beer smells right on, but I'd like a little more of the roasted barley to come to the fore. Damn that nitro.

Taste: Sadly, it tastes exactly as I expect it to. Nothing earth shattering, but fun to drink around St. Patrick's Day. Again, you can taste just a hint of roastiness in the finish, but not as much as I like. There really should be a bit more of a malt profile as well, and this simply doesn't have it. I have to give Don Spencer some props, however, for ensuring that there is no weird hoppiness that comes out and kicks you in the sack. The nitro may not be my preferred method of delivery, but this has been brewed correctly for it.

Mouthfeel: Initially I gave this a 3.5, but I changed my mind. It's got the mouthfeel it should have, sort of that nitro-induced velvety texture, but like most nitros, it still tastes thin. Again, please Don, I beg you, let me try this without the nitro.

Drinkability: Hell, the beer sits around 4.5%. Of course you could session the crap out of this. It simply isn't as good as some of their other beers, so I will probably continue to only drink it once or twice a year.