I was always a bit disappointed that Dundalk Bay Brewery had not included a stout in their Brewmaster core range, opting instead for lager, red and IPA. Their special edition imperial stout, Romanov, showed they definitely had the ability in-house. Happily, they have now fully embraced the dark side, with this new pair.First up, the long-awaited straightforward dry stout: the sort of thing foreigners think every Irish brewery makes but very few do. It's a tough sell. Brewmaster Black deserves a fair chance. It gets the visuals spot on, a fine creamy head forming and lasting, without the aid of nasty flavour-killing nitrogen. That translates into a silky texture as soon as it hits the palate. Oily dark-roasted coffee beans and dark chocolate make up the aroma, and that roast is central to the flavour. There's a burnt-toast dryness at its heart, with the chocolate, less dark here, forming a sweeter balance around it. A bonus floral complexity enhances that, bringing hints of rosewater and hibiscus. Before it goes all silly, a harder old-world metallic hop kick finishes things off. Normally this level of complexity takes a bit of backing from the alcohol. DBB achieves it at just 4.2% ABV.
This beer deserves to sell in quantity but I fear that the mainstream stout drinkers are too set in their ways to switch, while the craft-curious have too much choice of other beers in more fashionable styles with arty labels to bother with this oulfellas' stout which isn't even in a can. The difficulty in getting Irish people to drink stouts is our beer scene's principal national tragedy. And if you agree with me to any extent about that, make sure you get yourself some of this.
On to something a bit more involved: Barrel Aged Irish Stout, this one a special edition. The label gives us the standard spiel about the brewery's ethos, and some anodyne tasting notes, but no description of how the beer was actually made, which is disappointing. I can tell you it's 9% ABV and smells a bit vinous but also a bit vinegary, with a sharp balsamic twang that puts me on edge. That settles a little in the flavour, and thankfully it doesn't taste of vinegar. I would hazard, however, that the barrels it was aged in previously held wine, and may have continued to do so when the stout went in. There's lots of red grape here, and it doesn't sit terribly well with the espresso and cocoa powder of the base beer. I also get a slight phenolic aftertaste, which adds nothing positive to the mix of flavours. I'll throw in my usual cop-out criticism here and say that maybe it will improve with age, allowing the different sides to integrate better with each other. Consumed fresh, it's a bit of a clashing mess of fruit, roast and booze.And yet it'll probably sell more than Brewmaster Black. Sigh.
The Black sounds lovely, right up my street, just a pity it will likely never see Virginia.
ReplyDeleteWas just thinking the reverse about those lovely lagers you posted yesterday.
DeleteI agree about the point about stouts in Ireland. A considerable number of mainstream stouts consider these traditional porters guff and full of notions and brewed by people who have no idea what they are doing and in bathtubs and bins. Most prominent example is The Guinness Guru.
DeleteThe Beer heads of Ireland think a pint of plain is below them, an old man’s drink and nothing worth protecting or prizing even if it was the best selling beer style in Ireland for much of the 20th century, all the way up until 1999. Even ones coming from Irish owned Micro and Regional Breweries in Ireland. The result is a beer product that is the red headed stepchild of Ireland. On one side it is a worthless pretentious exercise as stout has been perfected and on the other it is boring and old fashioned and contributes very little to Irish beer culture.
I know people who drink Guinness fast because it gets nasty in taste when it gets up to stout temperature and they leave the last third of the beer as the bottom of the beer is nasty.
As for Nitro I disagree it adds smoothness and a creamy mouth feel. My three favourite draught beers are nitro stouts and they are White Hag’s Black pig Irish dry stout, O’ Hara’s Irish stout on draught and Sweetman’s stout.
You haven't disagreed with me about nitrogen. I said it kills flavour, and it does -- that's not arguable, even if you tried to, which you didn't.
DeleteGranted a freshly poured pint of nitro stout will not have as much flavour as a keg co2 head stout or a well looked after casked stout. When the head has receded to its lowest or completely disappeared in the three examples I gave you and the beer has been allowed to warm up the flavour gets stronger.
DeleteI recently bought the Brewmaster black. And three ones for you to try is Whitefield’s Old smoke porter, BallyKilcavan Blackwell Irish stout and White Deer’s Stag Stout out of a bottle.
I can’t seem to find them. While we might disagree on nitro and porter we could both agree porter is an unloved beer family except for Russian Imperial stouts.
DeleteI have had the Stag Stout and enjoyed it and bought another bottle. The BallyKilcavan stout I have had multiple times and I have had it’s bigger brother Clancy’s cans number 8 Foreign Export stout.
DeleteTrue. I'm always thankful that Irish breweries are keeping daycent drinking porter alive as a style.
DeleteIn my experience nitro stouts have increased flavour after the head has receded and the beer is given time to warm up.
ReplyDeleteI recently bought Brewmaster Black and I think you might be interested in BallyKilcavan Blackwell Irish Stout and White Deer Stag stout out of the bottle.