Rainy Season
Baird Brewing Company / Fishmarket Taproom

 

Had this on tap at Popeye in Ryogoku, Tokyo. Poured into a pint glass. Very smokey flavor with a hint of sweet roasted almonds. Smooth finish with a presence of strong ethanol. Goes well with sausage. Light lacing. Overall, a great black ale from a wonderful brewery.

Pours a very dark mahogany colour with a red tinge. Head is beige, overly generous but that's OK since it looks good: dense and fluffy with beautiful lace. Bit too much head, but otherwise great.

Smell is very chocolatey, with a weird nutty, salty, almost corporeal edge to it. Very sweet, with cocoa, butter and a cake-batter aroma. Bit too sweet and clingy, definitely needs hops or something to freshen it up, or cut through the malt, or at least to be appropriate for the style.

Taste is less sweet, with dark malts taking the fore. Lots of dark caramel upfront with hints of English toffee, before becoming very chocolatey on the mid-palate. Hints of espresso coming through late and some spice characters - licorice, pepper and maybe coriander. Hint of some herbal hops at the very back, but it's mostly just roasty bitterness late. More like a really malty porter than any other style (including ABA), but not a bad beer for all its shortcomings.

Bit thin on the body, but smooth and easy drinkin'.

Would have liked more from this; like ordering a bride from a mail-order catalogue that's ten years out of date, I'm a bit disappointed with what I've received here.

Pours a nice dark kola hue with decent carbonation that leaves behind a two finger creamy head and clingy lacing,the smell is piney hops,dark coffee and grapefruit,the mouthfeel is medium bodied and has tastes of piney hops,dark roasted coffee,bitter lemon,grapefruit and finished with a mix of roasted malts and piney hops,and overall not bad and very drinkable but after the surge of ABA brews ive had lately ive definately sampled more memorable ones.