Neo (Neapolitan Stout)
The North Brewery

Smells and tastes like melted ice cream

Pours an opaque brown/black, with more than a finger of off-white head. Lacing is persistent yet wet, washing itself away after sticking to the sides for half a minute on each sip.
Nose is almost all strawberry, very mindful of frozen strawberries from the freezer section. An overall soft feel to the nose, hinting at vanilla but not exactly jumping out. A tad of alcohol hotness is present but not overly so.
Taste mostly follows the nose, plenty of frozen-daiquiri strawberry, interesting meld of Hershey's chocolate syrup and that not-obviously vanilla softness again. Chances of the base stout being their sweet DoubleD milk stout are strong, which may account for the soft vanilla note. That chocolate-syrup note is just barely there together with the sweetness. Otherwise, no bitter chocolate nor stout-y roast is present. The flavors noted all retain past the finish, giving a very sweet soft-strawberry aftertaste. The 9% alcohol is nowhere to be tasted, but from memory of the smell.
Feel is quite light and milky for a strong stout. Carbonation is just right for a strong-sweet stout, enough to avoid being syrupy, but no zing or pucker from
the fizz.
Overall, it's pretty nice for a sweet strawberry milk stout. That description would not typically turn me on much, but this is pulled together nicely for what it sets out to be. I would love 3x the chocolate that I perceived, but this thing stands as well-executed for what it aims to be. Ask your local brewers to do their take on a choc-van-straw stout at 9% and see if they make something drinkable that actually leaves you wanting more ...... this one does that, and I'm surprised that I've liked it as much as I have. Now, if they will triple the chocolate syrup in the next batch, I may have another minor favorite on my hands.