Sweet Stout
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant

 

Presented with a solid cap of a finger of mocha-brown head with excellent retention. It is especially notable in that it was brewed from a homebrew recipe by Mark Garber, owner of a local homebrew shop. Color was a deep, dark-brown, allowing little light penetration. Sweet? Not according to this guy, at least not on the nose. Nose had a a deep coffee roastiness with a mild chocolatiness, but dark chocolate at that. Mouthfeel was kind of thin for the serving style. Dang! It tasted just like a milk chocolate bar in the mouth. Surprise, surprise, surprise, Sgt. Carter! Finish was not only sweet and slightly smoky, but it also had a dustiness like cocoa powder. No wonder it was "an award winning recipe". All of that said, I simply do NOT like sweet beers. Sorry.

I had this on draft thanks to warriorhbt - served from the nitro tap into a standard pint.

A - The nitro cascade brings the medium brown color to the light tan cream layer by layer like sifting sands. The color is between medium and dark brown body after settling with a murky appearance -opaque clarity, the head settles out to almost nothing. Lace is decent.

S - The smell changes with the temperature-at first a pronounced roasted grain aroma and midway through a mild vanilla and earthy aroma follows. The sweet caramel notes are present toward the end of the taste

M - The feel is good, but I feel the nitro pour dries this beer out slightly, it starts of rich and creamy and thins out slighly -moderated toasted texture and subtle malt bitterness in the texture by the finish is semi-dry. A pretty balanced feel overall

T - The taste follows the smell with a mild grain toastiness like bran with a light raisin-like earthy sweet taste and mild hint of spice
The light creamy flavor is balanced by mild sweetness and subtle dry earthy textures as it finishes

D - I really enjoyed this, smooth, mild w/ dry texture of nitro holds it back slightly. It is not cloying but balanced. A decent all around examle of the style

a: This was black bodied and it was served to me with a thick, bone white, creamy looking head.

s: Mild toasted grains that smelled of milk chocolate and something faintly sugary.

t: This was a very refreshing small stout. Sweet, moderately chocolatey maltiness throughtout.

m: Creamy nitro body, pretty much spot-on.

d: Very nice small stout, great on a hot summer night.