Four-Thirty PM
Bent Stick Brewing Co.

473ml can poured into tulip.

Pours nearly black with one finger of brown head that leaves a decent sheet of loopy lace as it recedes.

Smells of toasted bread, iced coffee, campfire smoke, cocoa powder, sweet black licorice and faint leafy hops.

Tastes of cold coffee, more bready toasted caramel malt, smoky ash, unsweetened cocoa, licorice and more soft green hops.

Feels soft and fluffy. Medium bodied with creamy carbonation. Finishes dry.

Verdict: Recommended. A pretty decent stout that's pleasant enough to put away.

Slightly aged bomber split 3 ways.
Pours cola black with see through reddish tinge at edges and half finger deep tan head.
Aroma is a very nice caramel, toffee, slightly chocolate with just a hint of espresso.
Almost has a cola like taste - not really at all bitter - just touches of chocolate, bit of caramel, vanilla - nothing really dominant.
Very drinkable/ sessionable stout with brisk carbonation on an agreeably thin body without significant flaws.
Nice - nothing to make it really memorable, but happy to drink at any time.

 

 

650ml bottle - great name for an offering from an Edmonton brewery, as we recently switched over to this long dark tea-time of the soul period of the year. No mention on the label as to what kind of brew this actually is, FWIW.

This beer pours a solid black, with subtle basal cola edges, and one finger of puffy, rather loosely foamy, and bubbly light brown head, which leaves some splattered alien blood pattern lace around the glass as things quickly recede.

It smells of bready and doughy caramel malt, a touch of free-range ashiness, bittersweet cocoa powder, some earthy anise, very tame cafe-au-lait notes, and a contingent of laid-back earthy, leafy, and floral noble hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy caramel malt, musty and dusty chocolate, faint wet ash, ethereal black licorice strands, day-old coffee grounds, and a further meek leafy, weedy, and dead grassy hoppiness.

The carbonation is surprisingly quite understated in its shy-seeming frothiness, the body a teetering medium weight, and mostly smooth, I suppose, as the hovering ash doesn't exactly indicate any desire to alight. It finishes trending dry, in a sort of Irish manner, which has me re-thinking (without any real info, that's always a bitch) this one's classification here.

Overall, this comes across as a simply-rendered, easy-drinking version of the (pick yer) style of stout. Adequately roasty, and with some coffee/cocoa notes that do this one some justice, I can see 'four-thirty PM' as being more than just a time of day when you wish you were already home.