Black Is Beautiful
Phase Three Brewing Company

 

Pours an incredibly thick, almost, fudgy consistency. Dark chocolate black and completely opaque. Two finger mocha colored head forms and then dissipates leaving just a thin layer of foam on top of the beer. Aroma has notes of fudge, brownie batter, vanilla, and marshmallow. Its really sweet on the nose - and the underlying stout is kind of missing ... Im not getting much in the way of roasted malts or any other stout characteristics.

Taste follows the nose with notes of light roasted malts, fudge, chocolate, vanilla, and marshmallow. Its quite sweet - too sweet for me - but I imagine this would be really well received by the people who love pastry stouts. The feel is where this beer is unlike anything I have ever had before - its like drinking brownie batter. Incredibly thick, sticky, and viscous. Moderate carbonation.

Overall this was in interesting stout - its thicker than any stout I've ever had, and its very sweet

 

Pours a inky jet black with motor oil consistency. A couple bubbles surface but give up under the weight of the viscosity.

Huge vanilla nose without being artificial. Birthday cake, frosting, marshmallows, hints of the 2014 BCS VR pillowy vanilla. These flavors duplicate the nose plus cigar tobacco and roast malt balances to keep this one from an outright pastry.

This is Curvature level thickness and had it been in a bottle and not associated with a wonderful social justice cause, this would be equally revered in the beer community.

Excellent beer for an top social justice reason!

Dark thick and delicious! The statue base is spectacular viscosity is on point. Vanilla blends seamlessly with the chocolate malt. Well executed. Another great stout from Phase 3.

Pint can - poured into a balloon glass at 45°F

Pours thicker than any stout I've seen. Glugs into the glass like oil. Zero head. A super dark coffee brown collar attempts to. form, but it just can't push through. Jet black, even on the pour. Clings to, and stains the glass brown.

Nose: Vanilla. Vanilla bean. Vanilla ice cream. Vanilla frosting. Vanilla cake. Vanilla candle. There's some light milk chocolate and soft caramel, but this is basically a glass of black vanilla. Underlying notes of caramel, dark chocolate-covered malted milk balls, almind paste, and blueberry, but for all intents and purposes, this is all vanilla.

Palate: Vanilla. Vanilla frosting, vanilla beans, vanilla extract. There's some faint milk chocolate - malt, presenting as malted milk balls, and a whisper of mild, mild roast in the finish. Some coconut. Maybe a whisper of blueberry and almond. It's very sweet, sticky, dessert-like, fudgy, with very little roast or stout character. Absolute vanilla bomb.

Mouthfeel/Body: I actually had to write this first, because wow, this is THICC. I've had some big, chewy stours before, but this is on another level. This is so viscous, thick, and syrupy, it genuinely doesn't feel like I'm drinking it. You actually need to chew. This is the consistency of maple syrup. I mean literally. I love a chewy stout, but come on...this is constoutrated. I don't even know what to rate it. 5? 1?

Overall: This is the definition of extreme. Dominating vanilla. Dessert sweetness. Body like liquid fudge (literally), and very little besides vanilla, syrup stout, and pastry sweetness. Were this barrel-aged and in a waxed bottle, it would probably be the biggest whale ever. I'm glad I got to try something like this, but when does it no longer count as a "stout", and become something else entirely.This is something else entirely. After a full day's thought (and 2 to drink it), here's what I'll do. I'll rate this how I would from a modern appeal - hype standpoint in all the fields, except overall. Most new-age drinkers would flip over this beer, call it "perfect", and I understand why - so I'll give it what they went for, but I'm rating it *overall* as a stout. That seems fair.

Because if this is a "stout"....I'm gonna need a bible.

Tasted in a Phase Three pub glass from draft at Phase Three Brewing on November 14, 2020.