Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

Super dark brown coloured body with a thick, but fairly fast-dying light brown head that doesn't leave any sort of lace at all on top, with the body being about 80 per cent opaque. Aroma of roasted malt, anise, licorice, deep chocolate and some lactose notes with a heavy hand of caramelised sugar as well, but the bitterness from the spice and roasted malt is strongest here. Medium-bodied; Rich chocolate and earthy malts dominate up front with a big hit of the lactose, cream and nutty flavours from the malt and residual sugars here, with a bigger finish from the bitterness and grain and still a good punch from the star anise and the yeast here. Aftertaste shows a lot of character, especially from the lactose, creamy and earthy side of things with a touch of sweetness still here, but the robust and relatively pungent qualities of the malt are strongest. Overall, a pretty strong and earthy, malty, licoricey and sweet, lactosey beer that has some nice chocolate notes but stronger malt notes that hit nicely for the style and the brewery and are about what I expected from this one! I sampled this sixteen ounce, pint-sized can, purchased from Total Wine in Cary (Crossroads Boulevard), North Carolina on 30-May-2021 for US$3,99 sampled at my house here in Washington on 13-December-2021 for Beer #12 of my 2021 Advent Calendar.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

Cask at GBBF'19 Day 1, 06/08/19. Can't believe I hadn't raked this before so nice to enter the book via cask! Extremely dark mahogany brown with a decent beige covering. Nose is chocolate, good dark fruit tang, light roast, toffee. Taste comprises mellow roast, good lactic tang, dried fruit rinds, tangy fruit esters, cocoa sprinkle, light ashen tones. Medium bodied, soft carbonation, light drying close. Decent stout.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 7.5

Pours a reddish-amber with a thick creme head. Aroma of sweet malt, and something bizarrely reminiscent of grape kool-aid. Taste has grainy malt, somewhat woody, light caramel notes on the malt. Palate has a really interesting nutty malt note that permeates the nasal cavity and lingers for an exceptionally long period. Interesting.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

3 week old bottle A: Poured hard to a thin quick head atop a blackish brown body. Light film of lace. S: Roasty coffee, chocolate and sweet caramel. T: Follows the nose closely. Bitter roast coffee and unsweetened chocolate. Chestnut and powdered cocoa sweetness underneath. M: A bit thin but very smooth and slick. Low carbonation and powdery finish. Lactose-y though there is none. O: Hard to find fault. Solid, just not very memorable.

Pours a clear black with a thick tan head. Aroma of chocolate, mocha. Taste has creamy malt, smokey, chocolate. Palate has a nice body, smooth mocha notes. Good.

Dark black body medium creamy tan head. Toffee caramel ashy aroma. Caramel chocolate floral hop flavor. Medium body moderate carbonation. 7/5/7/4/15 3.6

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Month old pint can A: Black body poured hard to 1/2 of light brown foam that held up well and left sheets of lace. S: Both dark and milk chocolate, coffee and and earth. T: Bitter, roasty and ashy with prominent black coffee and unsweetened chocolate, then earthy, muddy notes at the end. M: Medium light, smooth textured and dry but with that dirty finish. O: OK but I prefer this stout plain. I'll try it with oysters though.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6

Black with tan head. Light malt aroma. Malt taste with a bit of chocolate. Malty finish. Bottle at New Seasons.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Cask at the Great British Beer Festival 2019 - London. Pours unclear brown with a light, foamy tan head. Holds notes of tangy berries, toast, light chocolate. Medium bodied with fine carbonation. Finishes with dark malts, blackberries. A little odd. So so.