Black Walnut Stout
Carlyle Brewing Co.
- From:
- Carlyle Brewing Co.
- Illinois, United States
- Style:
- American Stout
- ABV:
- 5.2%
- Score:
- 93
- Avg:
- 4.45 | pDev: 8.54%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 2
- Status:
- Inactive
- Rated:
- Mar 16, 2015
- Added:
- Jan 10, 2006
- Wants:
- 3
- Gots:
- 2
SCORE
93
Outstanding
93
Outstanding
No description / notes.
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Reviewed by mynie from Maryland
4.38/5 rDev -1.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.38/5 rDev -1.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Pours opaque black, so far as I could tell in the bar's muted light. It let no window light through. Rocky tan head, good lacing.
Smelled like cold roasty toasty malt. Bitterbrown and sweet. Big time baker's chocolate.
Tastes wonderful! Very smoth, sweet upfront. Moves into a milk chocolate and cream middle--like an eggcream--and ends on a smooth hint of nuts and sweet silken candy syrup. Very good.
No butter, no chemicals. This is a superb brewpub stout!
Mar 13, 2006Smelled like cold roasty toasty malt. Bitterbrown and sweet. Big time baker's chocolate.
Tastes wonderful! Very smoth, sweet upfront. Moves into a milk chocolate and cream middle--like an eggcream--and ends on a smooth hint of nuts and sweet silken candy syrup. Very good.
No butter, no chemicals. This is a superb brewpub stout!
Reviewed by StAnthony from Illinois
4.42/5 rDev -0.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
4.42/5 rDev -0.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
I brew beer and harvest black walnuts from an old tree in our yard. So when I heard that Carlyle had combined the two, well I jumped at the chance to see how it turned out. Verdict: Very, very good.
You're hit with a strong (yet pleasant) nut aroma right away. Lift it up to a bare light bulb and you can't see through it...at all. I was straining to see anything but pure black, but alas, it was black as black could be. Which, as a stout lover, I appreciate. Tip the glass slowly above a white piece of paper, and only then, as the thick liquid thins out, is the color revealed as in ancredibly dark brown.
But who cares about the color anyway? The real beauty of this rich stout is in it's extraordinarily unique taste. Apart from the ever-present nuttiness (and not your typical nut brown-like nuttiness, but a roasted dark walnuttiness that somehow makes you feel more comfortable on a cold winter's day), this rich stout packs a heavy dose of bittersweet dark chocolate, with a not-so-unpleasant lingering aftertaste of chocolate-covered espresso beans.
No hop astringency that I can detect, but at times it feels just a wee bit grainy as it goes down...but that could be my mind playing tricks on me as the intense flavor calls to mind the bottom of an espresso cup. Oddly enough, it's also a little on the watery side for appearing so thick, but even that may be the fault of my aging growler (Co2 retention) and not the brewmaster. It's very easy to overlook a less-than-perfect mouthfeel, however, as the taste is truly one-of-a-kind and definitely worth getting a taste of if you're into dark beers and looking for something out of the ordinary.
Rockford is a trek for most (including myself), but if you're in the area (perhaps passing by on I-90 to or from Wisconsin), it's a worthy pint.
Jan 25, 2006You're hit with a strong (yet pleasant) nut aroma right away. Lift it up to a bare light bulb and you can't see through it...at all. I was straining to see anything but pure black, but alas, it was black as black could be. Which, as a stout lover, I appreciate. Tip the glass slowly above a white piece of paper, and only then, as the thick liquid thins out, is the color revealed as in ancredibly dark brown.
But who cares about the color anyway? The real beauty of this rich stout is in it's extraordinarily unique taste. Apart from the ever-present nuttiness (and not your typical nut brown-like nuttiness, but a roasted dark walnuttiness that somehow makes you feel more comfortable on a cold winter's day), this rich stout packs a heavy dose of bittersweet dark chocolate, with a not-so-unpleasant lingering aftertaste of chocolate-covered espresso beans.
No hop astringency that I can detect, but at times it feels just a wee bit grainy as it goes down...but that could be my mind playing tricks on me as the intense flavor calls to mind the bottom of an espresso cup. Oddly enough, it's also a little on the watery side for appearing so thick, but even that may be the fault of my aging growler (Co2 retention) and not the brewmaster. It's very easy to overlook a less-than-perfect mouthfeel, however, as the taste is truly one-of-a-kind and definitely worth getting a taste of if you're into dark beers and looking for something out of the ordinary.
Rockford is a trek for most (including myself), but if you're in the area (perhaps passing by on I-90 to or from Wisconsin), it's a worthy pint.
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