Whitewater Brewery, Belfast Black, 4.2%abv. (Irish Dry Stout)

Coming in a 500ml brown glass bottle, not bottle-conditioned; BB Oct. 2013, served cool in a straight imperial pint glass.

4/5 Appearance: pours a deeply dark brown colour, topped with a well-lasting frothy tan head, carbonation level unknown.

3.5/5 Smell: rich and semi-oily roasted malts with obvious sweet cocoa/coffee notes, a swirl brings out the toffee-ish aroma, toasted nuts and lesser black dates. An intriguing touch of rust also wakes up to each swirl. Overall, richer in aroma than I had imagined for this beer style.

4/5 Taste: dry and bitter from the beginning, besides the full flavour and rounded aroma of roasted barley and black malts, charred nuts and even crushed coffee beans, there goes a subtle dark-fruits like acidity and a flow of earthy/herbal/nutty bitterness to caress the wings of the tongue, leaving behind a long, aromatic, lightly chewy-spicy bitter aftertaste, as a vivid reminder of both the depth of roasted malts and the hop elements.

4/5 Mouthfeel & 4/5 Drinkability: clean on the palate, although in the long finish a chewy feel doesn’t go unnoticed, this moderately-carbonated, medium-bodied, smooth dry stout lives up to the standard and expectation, that it’s dry, sufficiently bitter, at the same time retaining a solid body without tasting thin like many other stouts. I’d really love to try its cask-conditioned version, which I think would be just sublime and definitely a favourite session stout!

--Yau (14/01/2013)