Beer Review: Guinness Foreign Extra Stout

Author's Note:

So it's been awhile since I've done a beer review; that's what happens when cooking gets in the way!  Anywho, St. Patrick's Day is this Saturday and I knew that I had to review an Irish stout.  Enter the Foreign Extra Stout by Guinness.  While Guinness may not be a "true" Irish brew anymore, it is ubiquitous with the American revelry that accompanies the holiday.  

On a personal note, this also happens to be my go-to-baking-stout, it work's great in bread and even chocolate cakes (be on the lookout for some of these recipes later this week!).  

Guinness Foreign Extra Stout

Appearance: Pours almost pitch black with a light-nutty-brown head.  The head forms beautifully right out of the bottle; thick and dense, almost like well beaten egg whites.  It dissipates quickly, leaving a thin lacy head on the glass (a tell-tale sign of a well made brew).

Aroma: Notes of caramel-maltiness playfully dance across the nose, supported by notes of raisins with the faintest whiff of cocoa.

Taste: The flavor profile on this brew opens with a distinct cross between raisins and well ripened figs/ plums.  This quickly transitions to the pronounced taste of well roasted malt (read as slightly bitter coffee juxtaposed against chocolate).  This flavor profile lingers on your palate for second or two before combining with faintest taste of bitter hops to produce a crisp and flavorful finish that stays with you for a while.

Mouthfeel: Creamy, with just the right amount of body to fully carry the flavors of the beer, but not too "stout" to weigh down your palate/ gut.  Finishes with a crispness that is sometimes lost in this style of beer.

Overall: While this may not be the hands-down best stout on the face of the planet, it is an enjoyable and well balanced beer.  It's moderately complex flavor profile is carried nicely by the body of the beer without being overly debilitating.  Unlike some of its terrific American counterparts (the Yeti series from Great Divide), I could easily turn this into a session beer and consume several of them over the course of early spring afternoon.

For a complete review of this beer on BeerAdvocate.com, please see the following link:
Guinness Foreign Extra Stout)

Eat good food.  Drink good beer.  And above all, stay classy