Dia De Los Muertos (Ghost 725)
Adroit Theory Brewing Company

 

Pours black with nearly two fingers of caramel-tan foam rising to the top. Head retention is good. Aroma is toffee, molasses, dark chocolate, vanilla bean, cinnamon, roasty and toasty malts and a light hit of boozy bourbon at the back. Slight dessert like quality at the onset that gets cut by the volume of the stout behind. Flavor profile is roasty and toasty malts through and through. Stacked on top of the malts are notes of vanilla bean, cinnamon, caramel, toffee, chocolate - both dark and mild - and oak. It is robust and full all the way through. Mouth feel is thick with a hearty velvety texture that drinks like a nappy heavily-woven oriental rug. Overall, thick and full with some flavorful sugar qualities that help lift the profile just a shade out of complete darkness.

Served in a 15.5oz Speigalau tulip from a 22oz bottle.

Look: It pours very dark brown with a brown head. Head retention is low.

Smell: Roast grains with bold fruity esters. Chocolate and alcohol are quite evident. There is a bit of cinnamon with plums. There are low vanilla notes in the background as well.

Taste: There are strong roasted grains with alcohol and some chocolate. There are plums and prunes in the background with very low cinnamon and vanilla and a bit of spice.

Feel: It is full bodied but silky. There is smooth alcohol warming.

Overall, a wide range of complex aromas and flavors make this a very complex and quality stout.

Poured from a 22oz bottle into a Teku glass.

Look is pitch black with a thin cafe au lait head.

Roasted malt aroma is so strong that it almost comes off spicy.

Taste is thick and delicious roast malt. Sweet and bitter balanced beer.

Delicious

A - Pitch black pour with thick, dense, caramel colored lacing with very good retention.

S - Dark roasted chocolate, light charcoal/char, dark roasted cocoa, roasted toffee.

T - Dark charred roasted malt, some light smokiness, some acidity hits the palate and back of throat. Long lingering deep chocolate roast and char sits on the palate well after the fact. There's a slight off flavor that I can't peg that shouldn't be there. It detracts a little bit from the beer but not enough to wreck the experience.

M - Thick and chewy with some substantial heat on the way down.

O - Solid. Would really like to try the other variants.