Back Out Stout
Refined Fool Brewing Co.

750 mL bottle fresh from the brewery; the last of four reviews concerning an equivalent number of beers that were released to celebrate the brewmaster's recent marriage. Served slightly chilled.

Pours an opaque, brownish-black cola colour, topped off with about an inch of dense, creamy-looking, light tan-coloured head. Decent retention; it takes the better part of five minutes to seep away, depositing a doily pattern of lace on the glass, and a narrow, foamy collar around the perimeter. Big notes of pumpkin pie spices on the nose - nutmeg, allspice, gingerbread and perhaps even some cinnamon. There's also a rich base of roasted malt goodness, which imparts aromas reminiscent of dark-roast coffee beans and graham cracker.

Pretty damn tasty; rich-flavoured but not quite decadently so. The malts seem more varied here than they did on the nose, with flavours of graham cracker, molasses and pastry crust being joined up by roastier flavours of dark chocolate and coffee. Ginger, allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg give a bold, spicy kick to the profile. The spiciness stretches into the aftertaste, but is outlasted by more of that graham-cracker-pie-crust sweetness. A touch chalky, but that is my only criticism. Medium in body, with a relatively prickly mouthfeel, courtesy of the zippy carbonation levels. By spiced ale standards, this is quite drinkable, but one bottle will probably be enough to satisfy two people.

Final Grade: 4.02, an A-. Back Out Stout is one of Refined Fool's best seasonals of 2015, and easily my favourite of their four "Drunk in Love" beers. This one is sure to poach a few Warlock fans, and will certainly hold some appeal for pumpkin pie spice lovers. I am assuming that these beers are all one-offs, but this one specifically would totally be worth bringing back in the future as a fall seasonal. Nice stuff; worth picking up, although I don't get the feeling that supplies will last for that much longer.