Nero Stout

Tasting in Rome-Italy with daniele and Mortlach, can. Thanks Marko :) Black pour caramel highlights, just a lacing foam. Nose: coffe yes, a bit rough and confusing but coffee. Ham a bit (speck). Nice. Mouth: sweet coffee but also cocoa. Nice really:

On tap at the brewery opening. Pours dark brown, beige head. Chocolate, cocoa, quite lactic and sweet. Creamy, smooth. Medium bodied. Bit too much on the sweet side, will try the new batch which is hopefully more balanced.

Black colored, small tan non lasting head. Aroma is of caramel, chocolate, roasted malt, light smoke. Taste is medium sweet malt, light caramel, dark and milk chocolate, roasted malt, bit dark fruits, some smoked notes, light to medium roasty bitterness, lactose milky notes, bittersweetish dryish finish, dark chocolate bitter aftertaste. Medium bodied, soft- carbonation, creamy.

On tap at the brewery opening event. Black coloured, minimal pale beige head, some light coffee in the nose. Light roasted malt, coffee, sweet chocolate, touch of alcohol and a bit too noticable lactose with mild dryish finish. A bit on the sweet side but overall quite nice stout.

On tap at the 2nd opening day of the brewpub. Dark brown to black, small off-white head. Roasty creamy aroma with developing coffee and macchiato notes, it gets quite aromatic. Some wood or smoke there, too. Sweet, almost syrupy, coffee-like, creamy texture. Medium body, sweet finish with some roasty dryness. Good stout, maybe too sweet for some. Rating again from the bottle. Noting some cocoa and dark bread aromas now as well. Balanced out, not so sweet anymore.

Rerate (2.7.2016) - assuming this is a second batch Not to go into details, visually identical, now this is a much more balanced, complex beer, still sweet, but far less sooquite drinkable for its strength. The flavors and the aromas are less muddled, with a genuinely nice chocolate note covering the rest in the taste. Great job, Garden! First batch (12.6.2016). At The Garden Brewery - both from the tank on Wednesday and officially on tap on Saturday. Black body, brown head. Creamy aroma with distinct coffee notes and some dry notes of oats. Taste... light coffee flavors, light roastiness, silky mouthfeel that gets overwhelmed for a second by slightly excessive lactose - definitely a bit on the sweet side. No real hop profile - which seems to be the hallmark of 102/44 (funnily, tried a beer from a homebrewer friend recently who experimented with it - said they smelled lovely fresh, but they added very little if nothing to the beer) - but that wasn’t needed anyway. Would be pretty nice with more roast and less lactose - and from what I’ve spoken with the brewer, Nick, they want to tweak it in that direction anyway - so I’ll have to try it again next batch. :) Good start from The Garden! 7/4/6/3/14