Motor Oil No. 3
Alvarado Street Brewery
- From:
- Alvarado Street Brewery
- California, United States
- Style:
- American Imperial Stout
- ABV:
- 11.5%
- Score:
- +2 ratings needed
- Avg:
- 4.16 | pDev: 4.33%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 3
- Status:
- Retired
- Rated:
- Mar 24, 2019
- Added:
- Jan 27, 2019
- Wants:
- 1
- Gots:
- 1
NO SCORE
-
-
Our incredibly decadent, rich & roasty Imperial Stout treated with a custom roast of Guatamalan & Brazilian coffee from our friends at Vertigo Coffee Roasters in San Juan Bautista, as well as Grade A New England maple syrup.
Recent ratings and reviews.
Reviewed by TheBrewsky from California
4.19/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
4.19/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Canned on 1/16/19. I probably should have consumed fresher, but I have kept it refrigerated.
L: Pours a deep brown color and settled near black in the glass. It doesn't pour as viscous as other beers in the same style. About a finger of a khaki-colored cap that doesn't remain for the party. Moderate amounts of lacing spots the glass.
S: Coffee is dominant, followed by molasses, roasted chocolate malts, maple and fig. It smells rather scrumptious and inviting.
T: Roasted coffee is the dominant flavor but maple is not backing down, making its presence known on the finish. It is brewed with coffee and maple, and I get exactly that. The finish also has a natural vanilla-ish flavor that blends well with the sugar cane syrup after taste.
F: Medium in body but heavier in weight. It is slick and oily but not creamy. The heft to the beer is really nice, making this a proper slow sipper. Booze is hid well for the most part being slightly detectible on the finish.
O: All-in-all, I think this is a very worthy offering to the Motor Oil series. Alvarado is popular for the NEIPAs, but don't sleep on their stouts. It's big, bold, and delicious. I am very glad to have tried. Cheers!
Feb 18, 2019L: Pours a deep brown color and settled near black in the glass. It doesn't pour as viscous as other beers in the same style. About a finger of a khaki-colored cap that doesn't remain for the party. Moderate amounts of lacing spots the glass.
S: Coffee is dominant, followed by molasses, roasted chocolate malts, maple and fig. It smells rather scrumptious and inviting.
T: Roasted coffee is the dominant flavor but maple is not backing down, making its presence known on the finish. It is brewed with coffee and maple, and I get exactly that. The finish also has a natural vanilla-ish flavor that blends well with the sugar cane syrup after taste.
F: Medium in body but heavier in weight. It is slick and oily but not creamy. The heft to the beer is really nice, making this a proper slow sipper. Booze is hid well for the most part being slightly detectible on the finish.
O: All-in-all, I think this is a very worthy offering to the Motor Oil series. Alvarado is popular for the NEIPAs, but don't sleep on their stouts. It's big, bold, and delicious. I am very glad to have tried. Cheers!
Reviewed by BayAreaJoe from California
4.46/5 rDev +7.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
4.46/5 rDev +7.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Canned 1/16/19, consumed 2/17/19
Pours dark, oily brown, looks black in the glass, inch+ creamy tan head, low retention, ok amount of spotty lacing.
Nose is toasty malts with a good coffee blend, complemented with the sweet maple syrup. Nothing stands out as too strong or out of place. Good strength, nicely done.
Taste features the maple flavor more prominently, very smooth balance all-around of the sweet maple with medium-roasted coffee and roasted malts. Oh sweet maple.
Feel is a medium/heavy, smooth and creamy, good body but wish it was just a tad bit fuller (stil, not thin like a lot of high-ABV stouts are these days sadly).
Overall, great maple-featured stout from ASB, I'd probably put it on the level with Traeblod from MikkellerSD which I also really enjoyed.
Feb 17, 2019Pours dark, oily brown, looks black in the glass, inch+ creamy tan head, low retention, ok amount of spotty lacing.
Nose is toasty malts with a good coffee blend, complemented with the sweet maple syrup. Nothing stands out as too strong or out of place. Good strength, nicely done.
Taste features the maple flavor more prominently, very smooth balance all-around of the sweet maple with medium-roasted coffee and roasted malts. Oh sweet maple.
Feel is a medium/heavy, smooth and creamy, good body but wish it was just a tad bit fuller (stil, not thin like a lot of high-ABV stouts are these days sadly).
Overall, great maple-featured stout from ASB, I'd probably put it on the level with Traeblod from MikkellerSD which I also really enjoyed.
Reviewed by Ice_Cream_And_IPAs from New York
4.27/5 rDev +2.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
4.27/5 rDev +2.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Look: Pours with a dark brown (not black) stream. Strong head formation. Head retention is quite good for the ABV. There is also a bit of lacing left on the glass, again more than expected.
Smell: Some of the first reviews on Untappd complained about too little maple in this beer, but I'm definitely picking up on it. On the nose, coffee is truly dominant, but notes of maple are there as well.
Taste: Here, coffee and maple are much more balanced. This drinks very pleasantly, even if I did sort of wish for a maple bomb. Maple does begin to dominate the coffee as the beer warms. I'm getting a little chocolate as well, again, especially as the beer warms.
Feel: Definitely the weakest category for this beer. At 11.5% ABV, this is light, and I don't like that in big stouts. It's not terrible, just far from being as good as it could have been. That being said, carbonation is on point, and the alcohol is hidden incredibly well.
Conclusion: I'm enjoying this beer very much as it is. Coffee and maple are blended well, and it doesn't taste boozy, which is important for me. At the same time, I can't help but complain about the relative thinness of the body. It's no 10W-40, that's for sure. A good buy, but there's room for improvement.
Jan 27, 2019Smell: Some of the first reviews on Untappd complained about too little maple in this beer, but I'm definitely picking up on it. On the nose, coffee is truly dominant, but notes of maple are there as well.
Taste: Here, coffee and maple are much more balanced. This drinks very pleasantly, even if I did sort of wish for a maple bomb. Maple does begin to dominate the coffee as the beer warms. I'm getting a little chocolate as well, again, especially as the beer warms.
Feel: Definitely the weakest category for this beer. At 11.5% ABV, this is light, and I don't like that in big stouts. It's not terrible, just far from being as good as it could have been. That being said, carbonation is on point, and the alcohol is hidden incredibly well.
Conclusion: I'm enjoying this beer very much as it is. Coffee and maple are blended well, and it doesn't taste boozy, which is important for me. At the same time, I can't help but complain about the relative thinness of the body. It's no 10W-40, that's for sure. A good buy, but there's room for improvement.
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