Double Stout (Green Flash Brewing Company)

I'm excited to be sitting down with this bottle of Green Flash Double Stout, which I've been looking forward all week to drinking.

The stream is deep mahogany while pouring, but the beer is utterly black in the pint glass. As the pour settles, there is some cascading effect, even without the help of nitrogen. The mocha brown head resembles the foam on a root beer float, and leaves lacing galore as the glass drains. A highly attractive beer.

And I find it every bit as pleasing to the nose as to the eye. The aroma is a symphony of roasty, smoky, and sweet notes: herbal hops, sorghum syrup, cured sausage casing, cold fireplace. An olfactory taxonomist's dream.

So much positive build-up to the tasting! On first sip I get very sweet, rich chocolate malt tightly wedded to perfectly calibrated bitterness. The mouthfeel is heavy but not ponderous or sticky, and the signature smoothness of oatmeal is obviously present while the 8.8% ABV is scarcely detectable. The flavor is big and bold, but rounded and nuanced in very pleasing ways. After the chocolaty body, there are coffee and slightly bitter hops on the finish.

This is a big beer done right: does not hit with the jarring alcohol ping of some imperial stouts, and does not collapse the tongue with bitterness or astringency like many highly roasted brews. Double thumbs up to this double stout from Green Flash, whose Hop Head Red Ale was another of my favorite discoveries of the past year.

From the bottle's label:

BIG, BOLD & COMPLEX

Featured beer:
Double Stout

Honorable mentions:
Hop Head Red Ale