The Townsman
Goodfellow's Brewing Co.

Poured from a 22 oz bottle. Pours dark brown with a fine brown head. Smells heavily of mocha coffee. Taste is just like the smell, with a faint acidity. Bitterness works well with coffee and chocolate notes. Little carbonation, and a creamy body make it easy drinking despite the 7.5 abv. Overall, definitely enjoyed and hope to have it again.

 

Pours a nice mocha colored creamy thick frothy almost 1 finger head that fades quite slowly, nice thick lacing, pitch black beer, no light.

Nose brings lots of roast and black malts, charred black malt, a mild roast and burnt coffee, that quickly turns into big cocoa and chocolate fudge, a touch of fluffy nougat marshmallow like, a little biscuity cookie as well, chewy like fudge, a mild burnt briney acrid like note.

Taste brings lots of dark and more dark malts, roasty char, acrid burnt flavors, too much of the roast and burnt. Also a little yeasty flavor in there. Some dark chocolate and cocoa char, burnt roasty malts, black malt city, although a nice fluffy nougat and marshmallow chewy fudge, etc. a big burnt acrid char all over, esp lingering on the finish, with syrupy messy cocoa char and chewy mess sticky mess, etc. Finish is all sticky sweet syrupy, and chocolate fudge, roasty char and acrid roast, burnt, etc.

Mouth is med to fuller bod, sticky sweet syrupy, fluffy carb.

Overall, well it started nice on the appearance and nose, but then the taste just went south, waaaaaay too much acrid burnt roast and char, and too sticky syrupy mess, hard to deal with but still has it's good points.

 

 

 

A - Poured from a pint bottle. Black with two fingers of nice, thick head.
S - Coffee and burnt caramel.
T - Bitter dark chocolate and burnt caramel.
M - Very nice mouth feel. Almost creamy.
O - Excellent stout. I really enjoyed and will make a point to buy more.

 

I've had this beer frequently and am always pleased.

Look - pours with a nice mocha-colored head that falls to a small layer of pretty fine bubbles. The color seems a bit light for a stout - a more mocha/coffee color than the dense black. Some nice red highlights around the glass.

Aroma - s light miss for me here. First I get coffee, then I get chocolate. then somewhere in the mix the malt shows itself.

Taste - actually a very nice balance between the coffee/chocolate and malt tastes. I've never gotten the burnt notes others have described with this beer. It's not a sweet stout by any means, but I get more of a balanced flavor with a nice hit of bitterness that's "just enough" to cut through the coffee/chocolate flavors. There is a definite vanilla sweetness that the aroma lacks - a very pleasant level of sweetness.

Feel - maybe a bit thin, but that is being highly critical. Carbonation and thickness are well within the style.

Overall - I'll buy and drink this stout any day. I can get it super fresh and a good price, and it is enjoyable to drink. This is a super-drinkable stout - not pretentious or over the top in any regard. Well-made and flavorful to my taste.

 

A - Poured from a growler, black in color with a large tan head that disappeared after a short while. Some lacing present with each sip.

S - Nice Mocha aroma. I got more chocolate and my wife smelled more coffee.

T - Just like the aroma. Dark chocolate flavor with roasted coffee. Roasted malt on the finish. I prefer sweet stouts, but even though this one comes in at 40 IBUs the bitterness is nicely balanced.

M - Lightly carbonated, just right for a stout, with a creamy medium body.

O - A very good American style stout given to us as a gift. Thanks Sharon and Ken.