Black Bear XX Stout
Alameda Brewhouse

My favorite Stout by far!!! Even better than the Irish death in my opinion.

 

 

 

Pitch black. Clean. Almost perfect even. An enormous creamy and foamy tanned head layers itself on top, and takes its time to come down, leaving ring after ring just in case you forgot what was there.

Extremely roasty and extremely metallic aromas clash appropriately. Dark chocolate, charred bread, toasted nuts. Iron, mineral water, damp soil.

Each sip plays back and forth with an initial roasted grain intensity followed by a smooth semi sweet milk chocolate. All together, each sip is reminiscent of chocolate covered toasted nuts, followed by a sharp metallic and floral finish.

It starts creamy and sweet, then roasty and bitter. Full bodied but ends dry except for the sticky film that coats the lips.

This is a damn good classic export stout. In the same ballpark as the more well known like Pelican Tsunami and Guinness Foreign Extra. When I'm in the mood for such, no question I'll reach for some more Black Bear XX. Cheers.

 

 

 

Perfectly opaque deep brown, nearly black. Head is a lovely autumn brown that is small but vibrant.

Flavors are light cola, chocolate, with some pine in the back. Carbonation is silky smooth

Pretty good !

She pours a motor oil quality and leaves the same colored body, both have an enormous three finger head that seems like it just doesn’t want to die. Wow, what a nice show as the lacing is strewn in foamy bubbles. The aroma has a super huge amount of roasted coffee notes coming through in a slightly bitter way, backed up by a decent amount of roasted malts. The taste is mainly bitter and roasty, there’s an aspect about this beer that tells me it wants to own you as something dark and harsh pervades and pounds my mouth. There is a super dry roasty somewhat coffee-like aftertaste with a just a plain dry finish. On the palate, she sits about a medium on my mouth and tongue and wants to try to be gentle yet that same dark harshness comes back, carbonation is fairly smooth. Overall, I think is just an ok foreign/extra stout, it has a fair amount of good qualities of the style trying to come out but there's a fair amount of other ones of this style that I would rather have.

 

 

 

 

The beer pours rather thick looking - like a lightweight oil. a nice medium to dark tan head builds up and forms a lightly foamy cap. Lacing comes in lines of residual bubble stretching most the way around the glass.

Nose is roasty with maybe just a slight bit of char. Seems to be a little amount of unsweetened chocolate or cocoa, perhaps, but isn't clear to my nose. A little smoky astringent note comes out on a warm beer.

Taste doesn't give you much sweetness up front. It almost teases you ever so briefly before bitterness takes over. This bitterness controls the taste to me. Roasted malt bitterness mainly, with a bit of woody bitterness that may be from the hops. No chocolate carried over from the nose to the taste, the flavor is more of a coffee-like roasted malt flavor with a little nuttiness perhaps, but no fruit. (Note: I enjoyed the last of this with a roast beef sandwich, and afterwards, a near room temperature beer did show a little bit of a chocolate brownie note)

Beer is a more bitter than I'd hoped. It's quite bold in its roastiness, and seems to have a decent dose of hops. I long for a little of the sweetness to balance this.

Wry dark appearance with a mild coffee taste and aroma. The beer is a little thin on appearance aroma and taste. A bit to mild for be. I like something that does not hint at th she qualities but actually delivers.

 

Picked up a bomber from the Belmont Station in Portland yesterday for $4.98.

Beer poured black with a nice tan head that is leaving some lacing behind.

Nose is roasted malts with hints of cocoa and some dark fruit like sweetness. Hopping is ample enough to keep it from being cloying.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied and creamy smooth.

Overall a nice stout that is fairly priced. I would recommend it if you enjoy the export stout style.

22 oz bottle purchased and consumed in Oregon. 7% ABV.

Pours dark brown, ending up essentially black.
Fruit and dark roasted grains in the aroma.

Dark roasted grains with some char longer in the mildly bitter aftertaste. Unfortunate sourness.
Sweet up front with hints of dark chocolate followed by espresso.

 

Pours with nice thick, velvety beige head, lasts a pretty long time too. Normal dark / roast malt aroma, taste is rather full and strong though. A touch of molasses sweetness mellows out the bitterness. Easy drinker.

 

 

 

 

 

Tasted like dip spit aged on green peppers with some raisins and olive juice thrown in for good measure. Beautiful beer, but the taste profile hit all the wrong notes for me.

 

 

Treated as a Foreign/Export stout, this was poured into a nonic pint glass.
The appearance was a dark brown close to black color with a one and a half finger white to off white foamy head. Lacing was somewhat foamy and slid into the beer.
The smell starts off with a ton of roasty coffee beans. Delicate dark chocolate enters in slyly to try and balance but falls a bit short. The bitter side of the coffee beans also shows up in a nice way.
The taste was a nice balance between the roast, the sweetness, and the bitterness. All of the previously mentioned aromas show up in the flavor. Roasty aftertaste.
The mouthfeel yields to the roasty side effects sitting on a medium body. Carbonation feels nice for the style and for me.
Overall, I like this beer. It has all of the workings a fine Foreign/Export stout.

 

APPEARANCE: One of the darker stouts I've poured, but not the darkest. Pitch black, but held up to the light some color shows through. Poors smoothly, with a decent caramel-colored head that dissipates within a minute to leave a thin ring.

SMELL: Smells like your average stout/porter. Matly, chocolaty, "meaty," ect. A bit sharper than I would expect.

TASTE: Pretty different than what I would expect. Not your average stout. I tasted almost no roasted malts, chocolaty flavors, caramelesque or vanilla. But a lot of dark fruit flavors. Black cherry and plums come to mind. Very pronounced over everything else. Sweet and sour. Other flavors of nuts are present... almonds, cashews, pecans. "Nuts'n'berries" is something I would expect from any "Black bear" strout. Subtle coffee notes, but again, almost no malty flavors. Bitter, but hardly hoppy either. And dispite its "fruit and nuts" flavores, it wasn't very earthy. Very different, but enjoyable.

MOUTHFEEL: The smell was sharp, the taste was sharp and sweet, and the mouthfeel was sharp as well. Felt very clear and light. didn't sit too heavily. Left a waxy sensation.

OVERALL: A different stout. But very enjoyable. I've read some other reviews and most seem to disagree with me on my categorization. Everyone claims heavy earthy, malty and toasty flavors. But I experienced something quite different. Maybe you will too. A welcomed change in my tulip glass.

 

 

 

Really enjoyed this stout, thanks to the staff at Beer Mongers for the recommendation!