Pours jet black into a shaker. Significant brown micro head turns conglomerate as it slowly recedes. Roasted chocolate and coffee aromas. Upfront thin roasted coffee with lasting bitter chocolate finish.

This beer pours a tenebrous, nearly black color with a medium thick light brown head. Head retention is not great and the lacing is good. The aroma is very roasty coffee and grain. Rich and satisfyingly tasty, with a pleasing blend of coffee, malt, and chocolate. There is an underlying faint sweetness throughout as well. The deceptively bitter finish kind of worms its way in. The hops are enough to keep this beer very drinkable. Overall I enjoyed this one.

Makes a great breakfast too. Growler. Muted brown color, very cloudy and actually quite bubbly. Decent amount of dark brown/burnt head. Aroma is very roasty. Definitely a well balanced beer. Less sweet than usual for the style. Has an even dark roast flavor with some sweet malt right away. Bits of chocolate and hops cut in. Coffee flavor abounds as it nears the finish, as well as a nice roast barley. This is extra lovely for breakfast as this rendition is not acidic at all, and relatively not bitter. Still, after trying Sam Smiths, it's tough to rave about this. The flavor is a bit prone to thinning out, as well. Needs more than just coffee. 6/5/6/4/14 Well it's been a while since I've had this (21 years!). Better than my previous rating suggests. Robust, malty, chewy, even a bit syrupy. Great depth, sweetness, roast and coffee character. Incredible that Sam Smith's Oatmeal Stout wowed me more than this...really rich, balanced, flavorful and intense. Score for this iteration.