Like yesterday's Martello Stout, today's Beer Advent Calendar selection, Thwaites Very Nutty Black Ale is a beer that was discontinued by the MLCC, so I had to pick some up before it was all gone. As most of the beers I've been drinking in the past week or so seem to be porters, stouts or just dark ales, I'm getting bored, I want something different.. where's the barley wines?!
Appearance: Pours a dark brown, similar to a very dark ale, or a lighter porter, near the bottom it has a bit of a reddish/brown hue (akin to Cola). There's a decent amount of tan brown head, but all clumped in bunches for some strange reason. This beer is only 3.9% so I'm not sure what to expect.. lower ABV than even LITE beers.
Aroma: The aroma doesn't have the roastiness of coffee beans or bitterness of dark chocolate like a few of the most recent stouts have, it's more of a sweet aroma, a bit of a smell similar to classroom paint, only slightly nutty and not much really there.. but what do you expect at 3.9%?
Taste: The taste made up for the rather bland aroma as the taste was a surpriser for me - it came out as a sweet/sour tartiness, not something I would generally see for a very dark nutty ale, a bit similar to a tarty red wine. The tartness gradually turns into a nuttiness and a bit of chocolate, as well as leaves a bit of a chocolate covered coffee bean aftertaste on the palate.
Overall Thoughts: The taste made up for the lacklustre aroma.. for 3.9%, it has much more flavor than most lagers out there, but I would not have expected a tartiness from a black ale. Not sure what else to say.. it's alright for being 3.9% but I guess I'm just glad it didn't have the stereotypical porter/stout profile that I was expecting.
"Usually brewed for its home market, David Thwaites has broken all the rules with an 'export strength' bottle of its double award winning ale. Don't despair though, as the same well rounded flavour and nuttiness lies within and this stronger beer will now be leaving Lancashire destined for the Far East (Leeds) and even remote areas of the southern hemisphere (such as Watford).
To follow the 2012 Beer Advent Calendar series:
Cranky Beer Blog
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