Every now and again I get a little nostalgic and peruse the older posts here on The Barley Blog. A couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon a review of Pike Brewing’s Entire — a beer that I was unbelievably lucky enough to sample.
I’m not sure if it was fate or just odd timing, but last week I strolled into Total Wine to find a well placed Pike display, showcasing this XXXXX Stout among several other of the brewery’s products. Having loved the Entire I greedily snatched what few bottles of the stout they had as well as one or two of the other tasty treats available.
I was curious to see how one of the building blocks of Entire stacked up against that wonderful blend. Let’s just say, I wasn’t disappointed in the least.
Appearance
Just like Entire, XXXXX Stout pours black with a rich, milk chocolate colored head.
Aroma
The nose is full of rich chocolates, roasted coffee and toasted malt. The 7% ABV barely makes an appearance amongst the roasty character of aroma.
Taste
Now, this is a damn good stout. The full mouthfeel is rich and smooth. There’s a good deal of roasted coffee and chocolates up front with a pleasant, lingering bitterness in the finish. There’s a touch of a char on the roasted malt that only adds to the robust nature of the brew. Again, there isn’t much heat from the alcohol which makes this one dangerously drinkable.
Overall
Like I said before, this is damn tasty. It has just about everything I want, nay, need from a stout. I love the semi sweet chocolates mixing with the roasted, half smoked cigar char as well as the lingering bitterness. I’m not sure I’ll be able to stay away from the other couple of bottles for any prolonged period of time.
Rating: 4/5
