Saint Alfonzo (Belgian Stout)
Stubborn Beauty Brewing Company

 

Pouring a cellar temp growler into a snifter. The growler is ultra filled making a gentle pour difficult so I get 4 cm of frothy beige head that is densely packed and leaves large pockmarking craters as it recedes into the glass. The beer is a dark cola brown with no light passing through the glass when I hold it to the light.
The aroma is rich and malty with some roasted notes and sweet chocolate. I also get a little bit of anise or black licorice buried under the sweet malt scents. Which is good as I typically dont care for anise notes, so Im glad it isnt prevalent in the beer. The first sip reveals a smooth texture with fine spacious, yet tingly carbonation. The beer leaves a silky coating on my palate after each sip. Flavor is malt driven with some roasted notes briefly up front, which rolls to sweet chocolate malt and an almost chocolate milk like flavor. The finish gives in some coffee ground and a little spiciness, like anise and maybe black pepper and cloves. But a lingering roast malt flavor pervades long after the swallow. I dont get any hop hits and no warming from any booze. The smooth drinkable beer is a nice malty find in the land of heavy hop hitters.