8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

16 ounce prowler into tulip glass, filled on 5/26/2019. Pours opaque dark brown/black color with a 1-2 finger dense, creamy, and rocky light khaki head with great retention; that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big dark roasted coffee, milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, vanilla, cream, and dark bread/crust; with lighter notes of molasses, licorice, raisin, fig, date, smoke, charcoal, herbal, wood, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malts, coffee, lactose, and light-moderate earthy hop/fruity yeast notes; with great strength. Taste of big dark roasted coffee, milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, vanilla, cream, and dark bread/crust; with lighter notes of molasses, licorice, raisin, fig, date, smoke, charcoal, herbal, wood, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Light-moderate herbal, woody, grassy, peppery hop; and roast, charred, coffee bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of dark roasted coffee, milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, vanilla, cream, dark bread/crust, dark fruit, smoke, charcoal, herbal, wood, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malts, coffee, lactose, and light-moderate earthy hop/fruity yeast flavors; with a great roast/hop bitter/sweet balance; and no cloying, acrid, astringent flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from lingering hop/roast bitterness. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, creamy/silky/bready, and fairly sticky/chalky mouthfeel that is great. Zero warming alcohol for 5.7%. Overall this is an excellent English cream stout. All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malts, coffee, lactose, and light-moderate earthy hop/fruity yeast flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the mellowly bitter/charred/drying finish; nicely soft feel. Awesome balance between roast/Munich malts, lactose, and fruity/nutty coffee complexity; with balancing earthy hops, and restrained fruity yeast. Mild residual sweetness with lingering dryness. A very enjoyable offering, and spot on style example as expected.