Still Night
Tonewood Brewing - Barrington

 

 

12-ounce can courtesy of the generous @jonphisher. Date stamp reads "DARK AND STORMY 11/12/25". Enjoyed in a nonic half-pint glass.

The label says this is an "American Stout." 4% seems kinda lightweight for that, but hey, let's see what the beer has to offer.

Look:
Still Night is a dark, dark red-brown with ruby highlights. It sports a craggy head of buff-colored foam that quickly fizzes down to a broken ring and patchy skin.

Smell:
The nose is full of ashy, roasted malt lightened with a little dark chocolate and subdued citrus notes.

Taste:
The flavor starts every bit as dry as the nose, full of roasted malt and char and a little unsweetened cocoa powder. As it warms, however, other flavors emerge from that bone dry darkness. The cocoa powder becomes more like high-percentage cacao dark chocolate, rich and delicately fruity. The Munich malt in the grain bill provides a delicious nutty character. The American hops add some orange and grapefruit peel to the dark chocolate.

Feel:
The body is on the light side of medium, with low-key carbonation.

Overall:
This beer has an impressive amount of flavor for such a low ABV, and I'd say it qualifies as an American Stout on that aspect alone. The American hops help make the case. Overall, it's another delicious and satisfying low-ABV beer from Tonewood. Great stuff.

Pours completely opaque black with a two-finger brown head that holds well.

Big aromas of damp earth and wood, with an underlying roast graininess. As it warms, I get more roast coffee and dark chocolate, with some citrus notes as well.

The taste is where this excels. At the start there's that hit of woody and earthy hops again, with a quick shift into medium-roast coffee and semi-dark chocolate. Before the finish there's a final shift into roasted grains, pumpernickel bread, and a hint of citrus before piney bitterness joins in and builds through the aftertaste, which is a bit sticky.

A medium-light body combined with silky smoothness from the oats make this go down real fast.

Overall, this is spot-on, nearly quintessential for the style. The lighter body is a easy tradeoff for keeping this beer at 4%.

Pours quiet; darkest of browns, beautiful light brown head; thick, luscious and lingering; great lacing, we got a looker.

Nose shows hops; pine and citrus; comes off to me as a little grapefruit like, lots of bakers chocolate and good roast presence.

Taste is burnt toast without being acrid; dark chocolate, dark roast coffee bite, light hints of licorice; and then…glorious American hops; theres a really nice mix of pine and citrus...the balance and back and forth between roast/dark malt and the hops is something special.

Light body, but feels appropriately full, lighter carbonation, perfectly smooth, great bitterness on the finish; hops lend some really good lingering stickiness on the finish.

 

 

Allergy but I prefer stronger stouts in abv and in flavor

 

2021-12-06
16oz can served in a big snifter. Dated 09/29/2021. Received from @jonphisher.

Pours quite black with a fairly small head. Smell is quite nice -- roasty / toasty grains, coffee, anise.

Taste is also very rich in the same vein -- roasty / toasty grains, coffee and anise. Moderate clean sweetness, roasty bitterness.

Mouthfeel is light, smooth, clean. Overall, this is a very nice beer.

Thanks to jonphisher for this one. 16oz can (dated 6( but maybe 9, it got printed twice and the digits run together)/29/21) poured into 14oz teku. Poured a solid black color with about 2/3 inch of dark tan head that had more than moderate retention and and very light lacing.

The aroma was, as expected, roast forward, with some nice base malt also showing through. No real hop aspect.

Pretty much the same on the tongue, with the roast being even stronger, bordering on coffee.

The body was smooth and even, with a semi-dry finish.

Drinkability was good, surely a session stout.

Overall, a nice, enjoyable brew. One without a lot of tricks or gimmicks. Certainly worth trying if you see it.

The pour is almost pitch black. The darkest shade of brown possible. The edges are mahogany. I smell earth, mud after the rain. Used coffee grounds. Wood char. A wrap from a dark cigar. Up front rolls earthy woodsy hops. Mineral in quality. They just enough zip so that when the cocoa powder and 80% dark chocolate bar flavors surround it, there is complete utter balance. The mouthfeel is dry creating the urge to sip again. For only 4% there is plenty of tang and the acidity is fairly high on the tongue.

I’ve been waiting for this one. And I’ll more than likely be buying more while it’s still around. A top contender for my favorite beer of 2020 and much needed. If you are a fan of dark beer and/ or drinking multiple please drink this and find out.