Black Biddy
The Biddy Early Brewery

Poured a deep black hue with a two finger creamy white head. There was excellent retention and lacing.

The smell featured a strong burnt grain and coffee aroma. Slight floral hop made its way through as well.

The taste consisted of a bitter burnt grain, some mild cocoa and a nice and unusual herbal hop.

The mouthfeel was full and creamy.

Overall an excellent Irish Stout. All the body of the traditional examples with a tricky herbal and earthy hop. Very, very drinkable.

On tap at the pub, June 8. Reviewed by son-of-ColoradoBobs, who fashions himself a stout-lover.

Black Biddy is a good name -- totally opaque black, with just a hint of garnet if you hold it up to the light. Huge creamy fully-lasting off-white head reminiscent of soft-peak meringue. Excellent sticky lacing.

Rich malty bread aroma.

Chocolatey, almost smoky roasted malt is followed quickly by moderately bitter hoppy flavor, with a long bitter-sweet finish marked by an upsurge of hops again at the last.

Creamy palate, with soft carbonation.

Brewed from pale and crystal malts and hopped with Green Bullet and Fuggles hops.

Appearance: Black as my soul, with some ruby highlights if you hold it up to the light. Creamy off-white head with some irregular pitting, but it sticks around for the first half of the pint.

Smell: Oh BABY, that's what I'm talking about. The roasted barley smell is fantastic, dominating the light malty undertones. I'm ready for this one.

Taste/Mouthfeel: Yow. That's all I can really say. Instantly I understand the style, and what it could (and should) be. This is a brilliant beer, begging me to session the crap out of it. Sadly, I cannot as my dad only brought the one bottle. Crap. This beauty is a mere 4.2% ABV, but you wouldn't know it. The body is quite full, and the flavor very robust. It has a very pleasant malt body, with a magnificent roasted barley finish. I'd expect a beer this low in alcohol to have a very thin mouthfeel, but not my Black Biddy. It's got the velvety smoothness of a Pike 5X (can't put five x's in a row for some damn reason), without the hangover. No hop character at all is present in this beer, either in the nose or the body. And if it were, I'd be disappointed.

Drinkability: This is the beer I should be drinking this St. Patrick's Day, not the Old No. 38 I've got in the fridge. Next time, dad is ordered to bring back cases.

This beer utterly defines the style of Irish Dry Stout to me. I'm not one to give out 5's lightly, but I'm going to do this for Black Biddy. Irish Dry Stouts are not easy to make, nor are they easy to find. My dad brought this beauty back for me on a recent trip to Ireland. I have never before had an Irish Dry Stout that actually showed me what the style should be, and this beer did that. Because of that, it gets 5's across the board. Good on ya, Biddy Early.

Classic black colour, with brown foam, compact, creamy and persistent.
Smell a light calmed down, for the style, with toasted and chicory, chocolate malt.
Taste complex: licorice, chocolate, coffee (mitigated, like in an ice cream).
The aftertaste is chocolate and coffe, with medium-light body.
After a while, the toasted note is more evident (it is not uniform... there are moment full of toasted, and other "calmed", with chocolate and coffee.

Lesser known here in the US but a fine example of a dry stout.