Samuel Smith's Yorkshire Stingo
Part of my cellar clearance. Room temperature bottle into a glass. A: Pours a clear reddish amber body with a finger of creamy off-white head that retains poorly. The final result is a thick collar with a scattered film on top of the brew. No lacing that sticks, but it leaves some nice sheets of bubbles down the sides when I take a sip. S: Caramel, toffee, butter, candied dark fruit (dates, figs, plums). Molasses and brown sugar, as well. The sweetness is lightly tempered by oak. T: Butter, caramel, toffee start off. The mid-taste is flavored with candied dates, figs, plums, and brown sugar; but the sweetness is held in check by tannins and a light spice. The oak pulls into the finish, which reveals hop bitterness I couldn't pick up in the aroma. Unfortunately it's still heavily sweet and I find it hard to drink. M: Medium-bodied; slightly chewy and quite flavorful. Finishes with a light dryness. Unfortunately the carbonation is low enough that the beer begins to get very syrupy and throat-clotting very quickly. D: Not worth $12. On top of that, I found it pretty hard to finish before I was even a third of the way through. Too sweet for me.