Dark Wave
Varietal Beer Company

Can dated 8/7/24 from a mystery BIFer.

Pours black with one inch of creamy head that leaves pockets of lacing. Smells of roasted malt, some coffee, dark chocolate, and faint sourdough sourness. Taste follows the nose with bitter coffee that is balanced against sweet chocolate notes. Moderately carbonated, creamy mouthfeel. Finish continues the smell and taste profile, more roasty goodness that ends with some dry bitterness.

Canned in either August or September 2024

This is exactly what I'm in the mood for right now. It's dry and roasty with light char and moderate coffee bitterness. There's some really smooth, dark chocolate and maybe a little grapefruit rinds in the finish. At 6.7% this is going down fast. Thanks for the treat Ryan!

2025-02-10
16oz can served in a snulip. Can appears to be dated 09/04/24, but it's hard to read the numbers. Bought it at Hop & Hound a couple weeks ago.

Pours black with a medium sized head that settles into a stable, thick skin of an island with a thick, creamy ring. Smell is dark roast coffee and dark chocolate, toasted bread.

Taste is dark roast coffee bitterness with a creamy sweetness, nutty bitterness, semi-sweet chocolate. Maybe some anise.

Mouthfeel is rich, thick, smooth, not chewy or sticky. Very nice beer.

can into glass
Medium level of creamy, light brown head. Very dark brown appearance, with a bit of auburn highlights at bottom of glass. Rich, toffee and caramel tinged, deeply roasted grains, for the aroma, with perhaps a hint of vanilla. Fulfilling, heavily roasted grain, with some spiced maltiness, makes up the taste. Mouthfeel is medium and finish is a good and gradual one, yum.

 

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing opaque in the glass with a quarter finger khaki head that dissipates to patches with light lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, cocoa, a touch of latte coffee. Flavor is dark toasted malt with light char, drip coffee, bakers chocolate and a hint of vanilla. Coffee and chocolate with light bitterness in the finish. Medium bodied with moderate creaminess, nice mouth feel. A well made, traditional American stout with great roasty and chocolate notes from the malt and a little bitterness in the finish, which seems to meld with the expected bitterness from the coffee. Good flavor depth for the ABV and a pleasant mouth feel that indicates oats may have been used. Well done. Varietal has been solid on their darker beers and it's great to have a full flavored basic stout.

Pours black with the most beautiful creamy tan head you’ve ever seen that clings to the glass. What a gorgeous American Stout this is. The nose is all about the roasty char notes, which are coffee-like, and the bitter hop notes, which are in the background.

That roasty char flavor is loud and proud up front, with resiny pine hop flavors at the back of the palate for balance. This is such a pleasure to drink. If the mouthfeel was a bit sturdier, this would be at the very tippity top of my “non BA” stout list.

I got a can of this beer from my bestie from Charlotte, NC whom got it from a beer of the month club pack. It poured an opaque dark with very thin off white ring head that is not leaving any lace. The scent had subtle semi sweet chocolate notes. The taste was nicely balanced and easy to drink with chocolate and subtle roast presence. The mouthfeel was lighter in body with good carbonation. Overall it is a great beer.

Canned November 24th 2020.

Pours almost pitch black, see a bit of reddish hues, good head of tannish foam, plenty of clinging lace.

The nose is full of roasted malt, dark chocolate, light coffee, some sweetness that is lactose like, some smoke.

The roasted malt is really aggressive and I dig that. Dark chocolate bitterness ensues but I also get some sweet notes that are either coming from lactose or milk chocolate. Some bitterness can be attributed to the coffee. Some smoke, unless it's my imagination.

Good medium fullish mouthfeel.

This is excellent bordering on exceptional.