Bottle from Vintage Cellar. Opaque brown/black color with a frothy tan head. Rather tart aroma of toasted malt; might be hop involved. Medium body with frothy carbonation. A little chocolate and coffee with the toasted malt, and there seems to be floral hop. Sort of an oscillation between stout and lighter, hoppier ale. Makes me think Belgian. Even slightly vinous. Quite unusual. Good, too.

Pour is a black with a small tan head. Aroma is has a nice dark chocolate and coffee combo. Flavor is some roasted malts and a whole lotta watery. Very light for the style and nothng really outstading. This brewer is either a big hit or big miss.

12oz bottle. Deep black with a nice tan head on it. Aroma is very nice, with some chocolate and oat coming through. A roasted chocolate taste is quite evident throughout as well, but it is well balanced by the crisp hoppiness. Delicious and creamy with lots of subtle character.

This is good. Thick, black beer. The aroma has some malt and a light roasted character. Flavor is a little sweet, with roasted malt, but no smoke which I think would have helped this beer. Thick and heavy palate.

A new arrival at my local beer store, the Beer Store in Moon. Starboard Stout by Arcadia. Now that I know it’s a sweet stout, things are looking up. 12 oz brown bottle. Pop the lid and you get a notable stout aroma laced with the effluvium of chocolate milk. Opaque blackish brown and the head is dark tan, almost brown. Lots of baronial streaming bubbles can be seen rising on the inside of the glass. Makes me think about the streams I can’t see due to the opaqueness. Very wallah initial impressions on the taste buds, a creamy roastyness that is easy to enjoy. There are some overly roasted (burnt?) bitter hints laying in wait behind the major flavors. This gradually builds to leave a burned wet wood paresthesia at the back of your throat. Nice palate and the carbonation is just about right. Very nice colorful lacing rides the side of the glass, and that brown color foam makes it ludic to watch. Overall this is a decent brew, mostly because I really enjoy the sweet stout style. Not quite as good as Mackeson, Wild goose or Sammy Smiths but much better than Bells Cherry Stout. On par with Bells Double Cream and Mendicino Winter ale. Finish is not bad considering the building medium incondite bitterness on the back of the tongue.

Bottle. Nice solid stout. Poured black, with nice tan head and no layering. Malt flavor, a little sweet and and a little roasty at the end. Overall, good solid sweet stout.

Draft sampler at brewpub. Rating #996! Served on nitro here. Gotta love ’em! Brown/black with a thin tan head. Not as silky smooth as a nitro oatmeal, but in the neighborhood except for the extra roastiness. Silky coffee texture, American hop profile for a slight twist, then a creamy finish.

Draught - these beers are everywhere in NY now; every single beer bar has at least one on tap - anyway, this had a decent look out of the tap; dark brown, nearly opaque, with a thick, creamy head - smelled of black and chocolate malts, with a hint of vanilla and cream - rather smooth mouthfeel, although a tad bit thin - semi-roasty, with a kind of sharp bitterness near the end for the style - moderate sweetness, with some cream and coffee notes - rather uninteresting, but drinkable.

bottle - Poured a ridiculously huge head. Is that because i let it warm up a little bit before I opened it? Or does it mean the bottle is old? I don’t know. Even with almost half the bottle poured out, the contents of the bottle foamed up out the top after a couple minutes of sitting on the counter. Anyway, it’s black and I didn’t notice until the end that there’s quite a bit of sediment. The aroma is mainly dark roast malts. The taste is as well, along with coffee notes. It’s a bit unusual, though in this case it doesn’t quite work for me. The taste seems kind of off. It’s not bad tasting. It’s just not too good either. The finish is alright. rerate - This was better on tap at the brewery, so I’m going to adjust the rating slightly from 3.1 total to 3.3.

Aroma of roasted malts and a bit of chocolate. The flavor, too, was just as stout-like, offering roasted malts learning toward the burnt side with a hint of choclate. But there was also a slight metallic aftertaste on top of the hop bitterness. Finish on the dry side. Fairly smooth mouthfeel. The pour was black. Nice try, but didn’t come together for me.