Plague Of Angels
Holy Mountain Brewing Company - Interbay Brewery + Taproom

Beautiful beer, almost pitch black with good head production and retention.

Very roasty on the nose, with notes of red grape, light char, burnt toast, coffee, and molasses.

Flavor follows, along with a rich but mild sweetness balancing out the profile. Molasses, licorice, toast, toffee, bitter chocolate, coffee, cream, red grape, walnut.

Smooth, creamy, and full bodied. Bitter and roasty; finish is only slightly dry, likely thanks to the lactose.

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing nearly opaque black in the glass with a half finger dark khaki head with great retention and nice lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, cocoa, light coffee and a vague fruit note somewhat like that from bourbon, although this isn't barreled. Flavor is dark toasted malt, dark chocolate, lactose and latte coffee; milky coffee finish with lingering light char smokiness. Medium bodied with moderate creaminess. It's been a while since I've stumbled on a stout from Holy Mountain as I stopped waiting in line for releases a long time ago. This reminds me of what I've missed. A big, bold milk stout with nice chocolate and coffee character, both of which could be mistaken for adjunct flavorings because they are quite authentic tasting. Lactose is forward giving the character of a milky coffee drink. Nicely integrated with a great finish that has some of the malt char lingering after the taste. A bit boozy in aroma, but smooth drinking. I like this a lot.

 

 

 

 

 

Serving in a tulip at the Shambles.

Appearance is very dark, with a nice tan head and lots of lacing. The smell is coffee and roasted malts. The taste has quite a bit of milky sweetness, lots of coffee, and bitterness from both the coffee and the dark roasted malts. The mouthfeel is creamy. The 9.6 ABV is not noticeable, but that might be because this thing has so much flavor that I'm just sipping it slowly.

Overall, this is a very fine stout. I can't help but think about Celestial Lineage, one of Holy Mountain's great beers, IMHO. Celestial Lineage had that spicy rye, which this doesn't seem to have. But if HM isn't brewing Celestial Lineage, I'm very happy to drink this in the meantime.

 

 

Very dark appearance with slight tan head. Aroma is a slightly sweet malt with significant coffee. Taste is a coffee with a mild malt that is very tasty but a little thin.