Silvernail
Structures Brewing

 

Clear, dark brown pour, semi-opaque in the glass with ruby and mahogany tones; thick head, fairly dense and long-lasting, light khaki color. Barely any scent. The taste comes across fairly bold and rich; cocoa and unsweetened dark chocolate; a light touch of grain char bitterness. Medium body feel; smooth.

A nice beer with one (to me) big issue. The nose is pretty lame. It takes effort, but one can detect very, very mild cocoa and not much else. Otherwise (and what counts - to me), the taste is pretty good with the appearance and mouthfeel being better than average.

ABV: 8.5% (web site states 8.8%); pouring temperature: 45.3 °F; canning info: n/a
Source: Tavour

Very dark pour, frothy head fades to a light skim coat. Nose is light roasted grain and not much else. Tasty , once you get into it. Plenty of carbonation keeps the taste clean and persistent. Dark roasted grain with a hint of burnt toast produces plenty of flavor. The taste is smooth and full. Long, long finish with not a trace of bitterness. The 8.5% ABV is completely hidden, so watch out.

 

Pours with a big foam up in the Stella goblet, but subsides to a very dark brown brew. Pleasant aroma of grain, caramel, and fruitcake. Mouthfeel is medium body with plenty of carbonation. Quite sweet with the burnt sugar taste. Also veers into the charred barley zone. Then it's like burnt raisin toast. Interesting but not something to drink much of at a time, and too sweet even for an Imperial Stout. Wish it was in a 22 oz bottle instead of the can. Does Structures not ever date their beers?

This is very nice, smooth roastiness that suggests nutty coffee takes center stage. Hints of fruitcake and faint chocolate as well. The finish brings a stronger, lingering roast that I'm liking a lot, thanks Ryan!

Poured from a can at fridge temp. Pours black with good carbonation. A solid inch of head and plenty of bubbles rising throughout. The nose is dark chocolate, roasted malts, and chocolate-covered toffee balls. Additional notes of blackberries and stone fruit. Very nice.

The taste is roasted malts, slight coffee grounds, charred wood, dark fruit, dark chocolate, burnt toffee, and dark German bread. Very flavorful. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with a nice charred wood aftertaste.

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing opaque in the glass with a fine, three finger khaki head with great retention and solid lacing. Aroma of dark toasted and biscuit malt malt, cocoa and a hint of dark fruit. Flavor is dark toasted malt with touch of char, milk chocolate, dates and mild bitterness in the finish, which has lingering dark biscuit malt. Medium bodied with moderate creaminess, fine mouth feel. After the somewhat muted aroma, I was very pleasantly surprised by the full malt body and stylistically appropriate dark fruit notes. Really nice, creamy mouth feel. The malt leans well into old ale territory with biscuit character as well as toasted malt. Maybe it's just been too long since I had a good old ale, but I really liked it in this porter. One of the better Baltic porters I've had lately, although slightly off style in a good way. I'd like to see this again.

 

16oz can (no date) poured into 14oz teku. Poured a nearly solid black color (just a bit of translucence on the edges) with 1/3 inch of tan head that low-moderate retention and no lacing.

The aroma had soft base malts that were a touch sweet, and had a bit of light roast.

Similar on the tongue, with the roast being a bit more notable. No hop presence.

The body was fairly typical for the style, but was a bit stickier than expected. The finish was sweet over most of the palate, but there was a nice dryness at the very end that lingered pleasantly.

Drinkability was good, an enjoyable quaff.

Overall, a nice brew. Maybe not quite to-style, but worth your time if you see it.