Mean Old Tom- Stout Aged On Natural Vanilla Beans
Maine Beer Company, Portland, ME
This beer pours a dark brownish red, with a creamy brown head.
Smell is STRONG coffee and roasted malt.
Mouthfeel is surprisingly light and wet. Its "unstout"-like in my mind. Very thin on the pallete.
Taste is smokey coffee, deep and earthy. There is a surprising hop taste and bitterness as well. Finish is super light and wet and smooth. But where are the natural vanilla beans?
And where were these natural vanilla beans I was told about on the label? They too appear to be MIA.
What we have here is a beer with great smell and taste, yet, to this drinker, it didn't taste at all like the beer advertised on the label.
So, should it be recommended?
Well.... I'll leave you with this- it did taste great, but I don't feel it's actually a stout, and that was what I was expecting. It's more of an India Pale Porter, with coffee.
Draw your own conclusions. Try it, let me know what you think.