Pages

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Ridgeway Brewing's Lump of Coal Holiday Stout

Born from the death of England's Brakspear Brewery, Ridgeway Brewery was only known to me as the brewers of a series of Elf related beers: Bad Elf, Seriously Bad Elf, Insanely Bad Elf, etc. The evil elf union has yet to sue them for defamation, so they apparently know a little something about elves.

Ridgeway describes Lump of Coal as a holiday stout, but I recommend this beer to people who like stouts with a big chocolate flavor, smooth drinkability, and did I say chocolate? Lump of Coal has a nice brown head with a dark body that glows red when held up to a light. Insert your very own red burning coal joke here. There's a hint of coffee in the aroma and the flavor, but this surprisingly lighter stout is almost all bittersweet chocolate and malt balls. The finish is a little sweet for me. Chocolate flavors are certainly holiday flavors, but I expected a little bit more holiday-ness in a beer labeled as a Holiday Stout.

No comments:

Post a Comment