Echigo Stout
Echigo Beer Company Limited

330 ml bottle, no dating that I noticed on the label or bottle. Served in a Spiegelau stout glass, the beer pours dark brown/black with about an inch tan head. Head retention and lacing are both good. Aroma is nice, the brew smells like roasted malt, caramel, dark bread, coffee, cocoa and nuts. For the most part I think the taste is pretty much just like the aroma, but there's also some molasses and dark fruit (raisin, dates, blackberry) flavors in there too. Mouthfeel/body is medium, it's a bit coating with a moderate amount of carbonation. Drinks easy enough. I think it's a good overall stout, and it sure doesn't seem like a 7% one to me. Wish I would have bought more than just one bottle, definitely worth a try!

 

 

Super solid. I feel this almost leans porter, but not quite. Mocha-ish and slight flavors of chocolate. Almost no head out of the bottle, so slight deduction there for look and feel. Awesome beer overall!

Pours an effervescent chestnut with 2 fingers of mocha colored head. Very good head retention, better lacing

S: Roasty, cocoa & molasses notes

T: Cocoa, roasty, dry & some iron notes up front. More roastyness, dryness, Baker's Chocolate, cocoa , iron & leafy hops as this beer warms up. Finishes roasty & dry with some dark chocolate notes

MF: Medium body, creamy carbonation, rich & silky

Easy to drink, fantastic straight-forward take on the style

 

 

 

a: silky jet black color, like a silky motor oil. has a 1/2 finger dark tan head

s: strong smell of roasted malts, rich caramel, molasses, toffee, and cola. brown sugar dominates the backbone along with some stick sweet malt

t: roasted malt and cocoa powder. cola and molasses behind that with a hint of soy sauce. lots of brown sugar and some dark bitter chocolate to close

m: medium mouthfeel with a bit of stickiness. low carbonation

o: honestly, i'm not really sure what's going on with this beer. it is listed as an Irish Dry Stout, and might have some elements of that in the taste and the roast, but this tastes like a regular stout as well. nothing in here is off, however i don't think this can quite make up it's mind on what it wants to be and because of that it's kind of all over the place taste-wise. i'm grading this as a Dry Stout since that's what it's listed as

A: black in body with a tan head.

S: molasses and dark roasted grain.

T: sweet up front with notes if black licorice, and a roasty bitterness.

M: medium body, with a soft feel, carbonation is moderate.

O: it's a fairly basic stout, perhaps leaning towards the bitter side.

 

 

Poured from 330mL bottle into a dimpled mug.

Appearance: black body with just a little bit of a ruby around the edges when held up to the light. Head is a finger of frothy tan foam. Looks good to me!

Smell: sweet and richly roasty with some dark tobacco aromas and perhaps something with a little umami. To me, this is much more of a foreign export stout than a dry Irish stout, but as the former, I like it.

Taste: richly malty, and rather sweet, with a bit less roasty character than the aroma but plenty of that raisin, date, tobacco character that I like so much. Definitely up my alley.

Mouthfeel: medium body with a good level of carbonation and a nicely smooth creaminess. I was expecting more body, given the sweetness and ABV, but even though it's not huge it is silky. Nice!

Overall: a solid beer in my book. Like I said, this is definitely more of a foreign/export stout than an Irish dry stout (it's not dry at all!), but in that category, it's works for me.

 

 

 

Dark brown pour turns black in the glass, with a dark tan foam head a coupla fingers high... Bittersweet and somewhat dry, darkly roasted coffee and malts, hint of char... Sweetness is mild, bitterness is moderate; soft feel, smoothly carbonated... I could see buying it if it's what's on the shelves over there - nothing to quest after, but a good enough stout - identified as an " authentic Irish stout" on their website... Enjoyable and worth the try - assuming you dig stouts, or are looking for a tick lol...