Bottle shared at the 6th annual Richmond Industry Gathering, 11/27/11. Pours a dark brown color with a thin tan head. Decent head retention. Aroma of roasted malts, a bit of chalkiness and a fruity finish. The taste is roasted malts, chocolate, bitter hops and a fruity finish. Medium-full bodied. Interesting.

Can. This beer is Creamy and tasty according to the can, when poured it is deep red with a lazing brown head. The aroma has notes of dutsy hops, straw, and caramel. The flavor is sweet with notes of caramel and bread, leading to a dry roasted finish where a weird candy note appears. Thanks Theis for sharing.

clear dark amber, smooth brown head. sweet malty, sweet dark fruits, very slightly roasted. flavor is toffee, caramel, chocolate, ends roasted, almost burnt.

Can 35 cl. Courtesy of Theis. Clear dark orangey brown with a dense and frothy light brown head leaving some lace. Hard roast malt in the nose, a little charcoal and licorice as wel. Medium body, sweet hard roast malt, some dark fruits and a somewhat unclean manure edge. No real bitterness. 200111

Deep dark brown coloured body, not fully opaque, but with a nice creamy, frothy tan head. Aroma of vanilla, malted milk balls, cherries, oak and a bit of roasted malt - nice and sweet. Lightish-bodied; Roasty flavours with a vanilla finish and a light sweetness show well, but are very underdevloped. Aftertaste shows more of the malt, some light earthiness and a touch of caramel - but not much flavour at all - especially for the style. Overall, a decent beer, definitely unobtrusive, but without much character - this is a bit lacklustre. I sampled this 35 cL can purchased from CitySuper! Grocery Store at 2 IFC in Hong Kong, China on 26-August-2009, sampled at home in Washington on 27-September-2010.

Decent stout but not really anything special. This is a strong-ish stout that is relatively light on roasted malt flavor. There’s a lot more caramel character than I’d like, but it’s still an enjoyable beer. The body is a dark, transparent ruby, below a creamy off-white head. The aroma is dominated by caramel and butterscotch with hints of fruit and roast. At 7% abv, I expect more roast than this beer brings. The flavor doesn’t really help. It’s fairly sweet and roast only really shows up in the aftertaste. There’s some coffee and chocolate in the finish, as well. Mouthfeel is a bit too thin and a tad cloying but not bad. At this strength, this beer is kinda in between a normal stout and an imperial. Unfortunately, it doesn’t manage to pull off the high points of either. However, Echigo Stout also doesn’t commit any grievous sins. It’s just a ho-hum strong-ish stout dominated by caramel malt.

33 cL bottle. Pours dark brown with a small tan head. Aroma is dark roasted malt and light fruity. Dark roasted malty, light liqourice and dark breadish notes. Bitter and lingering roasted finish. Good.

Canned at RBJG park session. Near black,small beige head. Rich cocoa aroma. Mid-sweet with clean rounded mouthfeel. Really drinkable despite crystal malt and plenty of cocoa powder bitterness.

ABV listed as 7%. Its just an average beer, nothing that makes it stand out, but nothing that makes you cringe.

Bottle from Healthy Spirits in San Francisco. Near opaque brown color with a slight tan head. Sort of tinny dark roasted malt aroma. Flavor is strange spice/herb followed by dark roasted malt, then going back to a strong spice type statement. Never had anything like it. Under that is some coffee. Finish is refreshing and unusual. Very drinkable. Pleasant surprise. Almost like bay leaf or something similar.