by Jimmy Cocktail
16. April 2010 05:08
For those that don’t know me or haven’t figured it out yet, I’m a Dead Head. Yup, I spent many of my 
impressionable years following the band around going to far too many shows and generally having the time of my life. I continue to research the complexities of the music from the Grateful Dead and continue to find new and wondrous things in the small little details of what they accomplished.
All this means is that I’m still a sucker for when I see someone that uses something from the band in a commercial venture. Some are overt, some are subtle but they somehow always get me. This beer is no different. I saw the label, read Dark Starr, had to have it. So that is the story about how this brew made it into my home.
It doesn’t hurt that this beer is from Charlottesville, VA, only a couple of hours from where I live. So that gives it the extra whammy of being a local beer for me. This also means that I was rather excited about trying it. I enjoy stouts at the right time and place, but I don’t go crazy for them. So finding one that can fill a niche for me is a very cool and groovy thing.
When you pour this beer it is very dark, almost black. It has a dark tan head and has a very nice lacing to it. It has an aroma of coffee and bittersweet chocolate with the malt carrying it along. Just a hint of raisins there too. On the palate you get a bitterness and smokiness from the chocolate or black patent malt and a sense of bitter coffee. There is a touch of fruit or sweetness in the middle like raisins or molasses and it finishes with a dry bitterness. This thing is, it is a rather thin brew and I think it carries a bit too much carbonation.
Overall this brew disappointed me. From the nose I thought I would be getting a big creamy stout and it proved to be something less than that.
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