Lump Of Coal
Ridgeway Brewing

 

 

 

 

Unknown bottling date; drank 1/20/22 @ the Roadrunner Lodge.

Opaque dark brown appearance.

A rough pour yielded a nice tan head; decent lace.

Black licorice, oatmeal & dark chocolate notes in the nose.

Creamy, medium thick mouthfeel.

Black licorice, candle wax & dark chocolate flavors up front; creamy oatmeal notes on the finish.

Russian Imperial Stout mixed with oatmeal? Interesting, and ultimately worth quaffing.

A fairly decent stout. Poured from a bottle into a pint glass, this beer features a medium sized tan head with good retention (on a hard pour) and some spotty tan lacing. The color is a very dark brown but some reddish light gets through when you hold it to a light. Smell is mostly bready malt and toasted malt, fairly subdued. Taste is more of the same but there is a little vinuous aspect too which I find more often in stronger, richer stouts. Mouthfeel is a bit thin but it goes down smooth for 8% .abv. I had it with dinner and found it to be pleasant but not all that memorable. I wouldn't turn another one down but probably wouldn't seek it out either.

 

 

First of all, this is NOT black. It is dark reddish brown. Second, it is not the stout that it claims. It is a British brown ale, so the makers have arranged for some bad publicity by misleading consumers with false descriptions on the label.
Having said that, it is quite a drinkable ale. Very little head or carbonation, but a lot of lacing.
The taste has a lot of burnt charcoal notes and a bit too much sweetness. This is not an expensive beer, and it shows.

 

 

 

 

My bottle is marked as ABV 7.5% versus 8% in the Description^. Blind tasted to write the review, ie I haven't read the lable or other reviews on this beer.
L- Superficially black, though very deep ruby-red with a halogen torch held behind the glass. Poured with a 3mm pale tan head that was soon a max 1mm patch in the middle.
S- Well I never, I'm not sure if I get anything from this at all. I have just finished quite a pungent other beer but I'm still surprised. (checked with wife, a good nose on her, she concurs)
T- Quite rich, now I get a clear liquor-ish ABV% note - surprising for it's quite modest 7.5%. I also get some dry hops into the finish. Nothing in between though, no sense of the style of beer I'm drinking.
F- It has presence but I think virtually all of that is coming from a quite clear ABV%-zing, that plus a minor hops+sour lick in the tail.
O- A bit of a confused character here and yet ironically zero problem finishing it. Clear ABV% - verging on loud as it warms - seems to be it's main thing despite it not being notably high. Absent are clearly defining stout or black-beer notes.
BB: 21/09/22 500ml bottle. Bought from TremblingMadness/York/UK for home delivery to London.

 

 

 

 

 

This beer is not a stout. Closer to a brown ale. Pours thin and brown with no head or lacing. Thin tasting. The flavor is slightly sweet and nutty. Ok for a brown, weak for a stout.