Beer Review: Guinness Foreign Extra Stout

This beer review was made possible by the generosity of a donor who wishes to remain anonymous. We salute you, anonymous beer donor; without your selfless gifting of beer, this review of a great beer may never have occurred. Your contribution to beer advocacy will forever be enshrined on the inter-webs via this blog. Now, on to the review.

The beer is poured from an 11.2oz Euro style bottle; a departure from the normal stuff we get here in the US from Guinness. A little over an inch of mocha-colored head caps this jet black beer. Totally impenetrable by light.

Lots of roasted malts and some espresso bean smell fill the nose. Simple, strong scent is quite different from regular Guinness extra stout offerings.

As soon as this delicious black liquid hits your taste buds, you are hit with big roasted malts which give way to a surprisingly potent hop presence. The hop bitterness transitions into a dark chocolate taste on the back end of the sip which leaves you with a bittersweet taste in your mouth. There's a slight warming sensation, probably due to the alcohol but without any alcoholic bite. Rich and creamy throughout, this beer definitely hits the spot. I'm very impressed with the flavor.

This beer is so smooth! There's not a whole lot of carbonation (but certainly not flat) but rather, the creamy smoothness mentioned above is present.

I definitely wanted more of the beer; the 7.5% abv is not noticeable other than a warming touch at the end and the heavy flavors seem refreshing rather than imposing. Enjoy this one slow; you'll notice all the flavors and the body makes you drink it slow anyway.

This is a beer that I would have had no problem hating; I don't particularly care for Guinness' other offerings, but I must say that they definitely got this one right. This bottle was a gift, but you can buy a 4-pack of Guinness FES for $9.99 +tax most anywhere. That's expensive for me but worth it; this beer had surprisingly bold flavor that justifies the severe price hike from their normal extra stout.

Score: A-  4.0/5

Beer Review: Duvel

This beer pours a dark gold color; very similar to a Belgian Saison or Tripel, with a big fluffy head. As you can see by the picture, I have the Duvel tulip glass that is just about perfect for an 11.2oz bottle of Duvel. The head dissipates rather quickly but leaves a filamentous and creamy layer on top of the beer. Bubbles can be seen streaming from the bottom of the glass for the duration of the drink.

Smells of citrus fruits, yeast, and some faint spiciness. Not a very complex scent but very strong.

Tastes a bit like lemon-lime soda at first; then the yeasty, bready flavors kick in followed closely by a barrage of lemon taste. Cloves a lot less present than other belgian styles making this a very sweet beer. Hugely refreshing and a hint of alcohol at the end to let you know that this is not a soda but a 8.5% abv strong ale.

Pretty heavy carbonation from the get go until the end. Very smooth and almost too light on the palate in spite of all the flavors just mentioned.

Goes down like a beer of much less alcohol content; the 8.5% abv mentioned above is not invisible but superbly blended into the core of the beer. One could probably drink a bunch of these but the alcohol will catch up to you and it's a very expensive beer to put away a 4 pack in one night with.

Bought the holiday gift pack for $14.99 + tax which included 4 bottles and the tulip glass pictured above. The beer was delicious and I love the glass, but I simply cannot stomach shelling out $15+ for 4 beers on a regular basis. As such I can't recommend this as a go-to beer, but would certainly recommend giving this a try if you can find a single bottle or if you don't mind the high price.

Score: B  3.75/5