Bon Carbo Stout
Trinidad Brewing Company

Poured from a 22oz bomber into an imperial pint.

Brew Batch # 40
MAR 5 '08 are checked off on the label

A: Pours black like anthracite coal. Dark brown, espresso crema colored head reaches about 1 finger of thickness before quickly melting down to a whispy skim with bubbly ring. Some minor strings and specks of lace were left behind.

S: Right off the bat, I was greeted by an odd/off sour aroma. I love sour beers and I'm quite familiar with the slight sour aroma given off by some coffee beers, but this is just too much. After much sniffing I eeeked out a touch of roasted malt and just a hint of coffee.

T: Same thing again. Out of place sour grain and unripened berry tartness and that greatly overshadowed the other things lurking in the background here. Some roasty malt and coffee in the finish.

M: Medium bodied, with a promising bit of roastiness that is completely overshadowed by the out of place dry sourness.

D: Somewhere in there, there is a great stout tying to break out. Somehow, I don't think the brewer intended for this beer to end up like this.

Not sure I can read right...batch 66? 3+ finger head over a pitch liquid. Smells coffee, ashy chcolate malt, potent grassy hops, noticable alcohol. Brewer's licorice, figs (from fig newton cookie) and dash of vanilla.

Tatses soured with coffee supporting. Lacto-bacillus. Dry overall with cherry and woody finish. Not much to say, as there isn't much here. Not good. Md body and over-carbonated.

Black color with brown edges. Assertive nose of black licorice, heavy roast and dark fruit. Well balanced malt character, with lots of taste. Especially impressed by the finish, which lingers well with hints of mocha, hops and peanut brittle. Front-palate and mid-palate shows lots of roast and coffee. It's quite a stout.

Appearance - pours very thick and very black, has almost no head but a sliver of dark brown suds instead

Smell - pleasant chocolate and roasted malts

Taste - clean hop crispness with chocolate gooeyness, very malty indeed

Mouthfeel - very thick and chewy

Drinkability - I found myself sipping this one slower than most RIS brews, maybe a little too thick?

This pours from 22oz bottle a pitch black with a about an inch of tannish foam. Head retention is not good and very little lacing

The smell has notes of roasted malt, chocolate, and maybe some dark fruit but there's a pretty strong nose of alcohol that seems to be messing with the fruit, if there is any.

The taste is roasted malty in a very big way. It pretty much over powers everything else on the first sip.

Second sip in and I get some chocolate and yes, there is some dark fruit here. I'm tasty some black cherry and some plum but there's a noticeable alcohol taste that's trying to mask the more subtle flavours in this RIS and is doing a good job of it. Mores the pity as I think this one would be a very flavourful and quite pleasing example of the style were it not for the intrusive alcohol.

The mouthfeel is medium bordering on thick, which is good, the carbonation is lightly done, also good. Man, this has the potential to be far better than what I'm drinking from my glass. The good flavours *are* there. I'm hoping that Trinidad does some tweeking with the recipe and gets rid of the one big fault going on with their RIS. As is, yeah, I'd drink it again but not with as much enthusism as I'm sure Trindad would be hoping for.

Cost: $4.99

Pours ebony with a pinky of brown head. Great, sticky brown/black lacing & above average head retention

s: Booze, rich chocolate & some detracting cardboard once warmed up

T: Rich chocolate, dryness, vanilla. booze & a touch of iron up front. Raisins, dryness, & cocoa as this warms. Finishes with much dryness, some coffee, vanilla & more cocoa

MF: Chewy with low carbonation, skews a bit sweet at time, but within style

Drinks alright for the ABV & style, doesn't quite pull itself together enough to make this a great RIS, but drinkable enough

22 oz bomber poured into Chimay chalice

A - Pours a dark, pitch black with a minimal latte colored head. Nice lacing. Looks a lot like the coal its named after.

S - Not very aromatic. Slightly sweet, roasted malt with a hint of dark chocolate and dark fruits.

T - Strong roasted flavor with dry dark chocolate (bitterness may be assisted by a nice hop presence). Sweet. Ends a bit cloying with sticky dark fruit and slight hop bitterness. Sharp alcohol bite.

M - Tries to be smooth but has too much alcohol presence. Sweet up front, drying in the finish, with strong alcoholic bite.

D - Needs more balance and flavor to disguise the alcohol, which really isn't that high for the style. Best to share this bomber with one or many friends.