Bottle in hotel room. Dark brown appearance with a brown head. Roasty dark chocolate, cocoa, espresso, light vanilla aroma. Burnt dark roasty chocolate malty flavor with notes of char, wood, and smoke. Not bad.

Pours nearly black, with a foamy tan head - some intense roast in the nose, with espresso, bittersweet chocolate, sweet cream - medium to light body for the style - the flavor reminds me of some of my early stout and porter experiences when I first got into beer (London Porter, Shakespeare Stout) - quite a bit of chocolate and anise, with moderate roast and mid to low bitterness - lingering cream sweetness in the finish - not as intense as most look for in a stout, but pretty tasty and balanced.

Pour is a black with a small tan head. Aroma is roasted malt with a nice chocolate to round things out. Flavor is again subtle chocolate with some toasted matls. Not mind blowing but this is a decent beer worthy of a try.

Sampled on draft this beer poured a black color with a small creamy khaki head that lingered. The aroma was bitter curdled cream. The flavor was tangy, bitter, sour and lightly malty with notes of malted milk, marshmallow and curdled cream. Medium body but creamy. Lingering off flavors really detract. Eh.

12 oz. bottle from Hy-Vee in Storm Lake, sold in sampler with the "Schell’s Stout" label. Unusually for such a Deutschenzentric brewer to have a stout in its rotation, especially in summer. Solid black pour, with thin brown bubbles atop. Dark molasses smell, just sweet with no over-roast or astringency. Taste is quite smooth with just a little sourness in back, more citrus than Guinness. A nice strong taste, good finish.

12oz bottle labeled as Schell’s Stout. Opaque black with a small beige head. Sweet malty aroma, some roast. Oddly lactic smooth, with a creamy milky body. Rather easy drinker, nitro feel to it. Lacks and real body or depth, though it certainly manages to be unoffensive tastewise. Odd Milk Stout as far as I’m concerned.

courtesy of retorp. Pours deep black beige head. Aroma, roasted malts, thin chocolate. Taste, nutty, some milk-chcocolate, burnt malts, with light bitter finish, some toffee/caramel like palate. Taste.

Sampled at the Hopsnobbery Collective Stout tasting on 01/16/09 (labeled as Schell Stout). The beer is a flat black color with a thin beige head that burns away to an outer ring. Stringy lacing. Aroma of bittersweet chocolate and malt. Medium body with watery moments, and flavors of roasted malt, chocolate and plastic. The finish is anemic with notes of chocolate and mild hops. Simply not up to snuff overall.

Ever since I started rating beer I’ve really liked the variety of offerings from August Schell. Carmel bock is one of my favorites. Schell’s labels are all pretty classy too. The label says this is a London Style sweet stout….really looking forward to it. Sweet stouts are one of my favorite styles. Brown 12 oz bottle. Pop the cap to reveal a slight yeasty roasty aroma. Pours dark opaque brown/black with very little if any apparent carbonation visible. However, during the first taste the tingly carbonation is ever present on your tongue. Very roasty with hints of dark cocoa, coffee and burned toast flavors. This beer has the personality of an imperial stout but without the obscene bitterness, very likable dark beer. There are slight hints of bitter hops in there but it is controlled well and is appreciable complex. This is another winner from Schell, as good as Carmel bock or better. I would imagine lovers of imperial stouts will rate this rather low without the bitterness being present. This does fit the style rather nicely tho, sweet stout should not be too bitter and this just has a hint. It is not offensive what so ever. Finish does have a laid back mild burnt hoppyness to it but it leaves you wanting more so you take smaller and smaller sips till, oh well, it’s gone! I wish this beer would be available year round but from the looks of it, this will be a one time offering. You better go get some before it’s gone.

Bottle. Nice dark brown pour, quickly fading head. Straight forward, slightly sweet stout taste. Nothing special.