Jan 15, 2013

Brooklyn Brewing Dry Irish Stout

It’s been a good long while since I’ve had a beer of this style (Irish Dry Stout). I think the last one I may have encountered was the locally brewed Starr Hill Dark Starr Stout back in the Summer. Oddly enough, being a big fan of stouts in general, it’s the one sub-species of the genre that I don’t really think all that much about. As a result, I was pretty darn excited to see a couple of bottles of Brooklyn Brewery’s Dry Irish Stout arrive last week.

The New York brewery’s take on the style is a nearly-sessionable 4.7% ABV which makes it easy enough to enjoy a couple of pints/bottles in a single sitting. The company’s blend of two-row English malt, black malt, black barley, caramel malt and unmalted barley in conjunction with Willamette, Fuggles, Cascade and East Kent Golding hop varieties gives the beer a robust and earthy, yet easy drinking flavor profile.

Appearance

The beer pours a very dark cola brown (a red edge appears when held up to light) and a frothy, mocha tinted head that fell slowly.

Aroma

Grains, roast coffee, a hint of chocolate and distant grassy hops fill the nose nicely.

Taste

The flavors are right in line with the aroma. The medium bodied brew has plenty of crisp carbonation as it pushes a solid roast malt base over the tongue with hints of coffee and chocolate. The hop blend brings an earthy quality to the brew as well as low levels of bitterness late in the very drying finish. There’s no sign of any alcohol, making the beer pretty darn near quaffable.

Overall

This is a great little beer. It’s obviously not going to compete with the bigger beers of the stout genre, but as far as the few Dry Irish Stouts that I have had, it’s right in line with some of the best. It’s easy drinking and carries a fairly layered flavor profile making the statement that fairly small beers can have big flavor too.

Rating: 4/5

This is a review of a promotional sample from the brewery.

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