Sheaf Stout - Carlton & United Breweries, Ltd.

BuckeyeNation

Iowa

3.93/5  rDev +8.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Burnt umber with dark bronze trim. The top third of the glass is filled with an 'oatmeal mixed with brown sugar' colored crown that is impressively bubbly and is sticky enough to deposit scads of minutely pocked lace. As the beer falls with drinking, the glass is almost completely coated.

Sheaf's snout is dominated by bittersweet chocolate, roasted coffee beans and metal, in that order. Without the latter, it would easily earn the next highest score. Here's hoping the flavor profile is the stout, the whole stout and nothing but the stout.

This beer has an odd flavor (although not an unpleasant one) that I can't quite put my finger on. I think it might be the alcohol coming through more aggressively than expected, but I find that hard to believe at only 5.7%. Although it isn't metallic, it's definitely mineral-like. It's also drier than most beer of this style.

There's a roasted maltiness that delivers an acrid char on the back end. Smoky is another word that comes to mind. A minimal lactic tang is the only thing that keeps this sucker in the milk stout category. In spite of my first impressions, this Carlton & United Breweries offering is beginning to grow on me as I get deeper into the bottle. It's definitely different, but it's also good.

The mouthfeel probably isn't out of line for a relatively low-ABV stout. The relative lightness and the well-buried carbonation is making this 1 pt. 11 oz. bottle a cinch to drain in fairly short order. A couple or three of these would make for a very enjoyable session.

Sheaf Stout may just be the best beer from Down Under that I've had yet. Keep in mind that I probably haven't even reached double digits in terms of 'Oz beer experience'. At only $2.99 per bottle, it's a steal. Especially since it's easily the equal of most of the better known stouts from the U.K.

Serving type: bottle

06-12-2007 22:58:39 | More by BuckeyeNation

feloniousmonk

Minnesota

4.47/5  rDev +23.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Twist-off cap, 26 oz. bottle. An old favorite that I love to revisit again and again...
Color, fully black. Head, big, beefy, brown. Aroma: rich and delicious,roasty and bitter beauty, with a lot going on! Anise, pepper, dark rum, a bit of chocolate, a touch of coffee, and a touch of cream. Wow! Wonderful!
A brisk battalion of hops jumps on board the palate and remains for the duration. Big, fat, delicious, luscious roasted malt. Flavor and texture is perfect, drinkability divine. A touch of sweetness emerges, and mingles with the darker flavors, making for a more complex flavor profile.
They made an excellent choice to bottle these only in these gargantuan containers. Less would not be enough.

Serving type: bottle

04-27-2003 23:15:07 | More by feloniousmonk

RblWthACoz

Pennsylvania

3.65/5  rDev +1.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Pours pitch black with a dark tan head. Nose is a bit thin with a slight roasted tone to it. Flavor is decent. Slightly thin as well with more hitting you on the back end. Prolonged coffee tones on the tail end that stick around long after the liquid is gone. Feel is decent. Slightly thick with low carbonation to it. Very drinkable. Much more a sessionable beer than a craft brew gem. Overall, decent, but not something I would search out in the future. And definitely not my favorite of the style.

Serving type: bottle

12-30-2007 13:22:56 | More by RblWthACoz

Zorro

California

3.18/5  rDev -11.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Clear dark brown colored beer with a skimpy tan head.

Smell is sweetish and deeply roasted. Chocolate and coffee aromas are about in equilibrium in this beer. There are no hop aromas in the scent as far as I can sniff.

Taste is just a bit sweet and quite smoky at the beginning. This tastes like it has a large amount of salt in it. Deeper flavor complexities are present but mostly this is Starbucks over roasted coffee in flavor. Vanilla and a bit of caramel are the main part of the complexity. There is unfortunately a trace of oxidation present in this beer; wonder how long BevMo has had it? At best I can only give this an average rating on taste.

Mouthfeel is OK.

I can only rate this as average in drinkability. The main problem with this beer is that it gives me the impression that there is a large dose of seawater added to it and not the little bit in some Scottish beers either. A beer that all beer geeks must try once but not that great IMHO.

Serving type: bottle

09-19-2006 05:32:39 | More by Zorro

Beerandraiderfan

Nevada

2.86/5  rDev -20.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 3

Brown pour. Looks lighter in color than most stouts, even milk stouts. Thin beige head on it. Average lacing.

Aroma was mild. Reach for it and you can smell caramel, chocolate roasted malt.

Substantial roasted malt in the flavor. A milk stout? Didn't taste like it. Isn't it supposed to have a small lactose character and not a harsh bitterness? Too much bittering hops and burnt malt not in proportion to the rest of the malt bill. Cocao like flavor, dry, mild chocolate implications, but it seems like they really burned the hell out of the chocolate malt here. Bitter, metallic, thin. Needs some heft. No aspect is terrible tasting, but it is average at best. Too much carbonation. Too much of everything that should not be in a milk stout.

This one seems to be getting harder and harder to find, had my first one back in the 90s I believe. College.

Serving type: bottle

03-28-2013 18:15:58 | More by Beerandraiderfan

lacqueredmouse

Australia

3.58/5  rDev -0.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

So obviously, no Australians seem to drink this beer. It's something of a curiosity around here - the macro brewery that relies on tasteless pale swill for the masses still churning out a stout. For whom, we might ask? And furthermore, is it any good? Let's find out...

Pours a nice thick black brown with a loosely-bubbled crest of mocha coloured foam. The head dies away after a while, but leaves an oily film on the top and some really top notch lacing. Shame about the retention, but otherwise it looks pretty fine.

Nice roasted coffee and chocolate notes on the nose, quite sweet and deep, but with an unfortunate PoR aroma wafting around. It's only there if you look for it, but it has the undeniable smell of stale beer that has been coalescing in the corners of the local Aussie pub. But it's only a subtle flaw, otherwise quite tasty.

Nice roasted characters on the palate, and a really slick mouthfeel. Combined with the cocoa characters, it gives quite the impression of melted chocolate. What a treat. Finish is very dry, however, and an ashy resonance sits at the very back palate. It's not a bad character in a stout, but this one would possibly have gained benefit from a smoother, creamier and sweeter finish.

Overall, a very reasonable stout, and one that I was no doubt unfairly harsh upon. While it doesn't quite have the overarching complexities of the best in the genre, it delivers a solid and drinkable dark experience.

Serving type: bottle

03-27-2009 06:25:27 | More by lacqueredmouse

DoubleJ

California

2.85/5  rDev -21.1%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

I have never seen this beer in SoCal, and no, this wasn't found in SoCal, but rather Santa Cruz. 750 ml twist-off bottle, on to the beer:

Poured into a weizen glass, the beer is a lighter black, not total darkness. Ruby brown hues at the edges. There still remains a little bit of tanned white head on top. (On the second pour, the head is gone and only dots of tan bubbles spot the top. The aroma....well first, you get a big whiff of molasses. But underneath that, there's a squirt of chocolate syrup, which is pleasant. Almost like a chocolate stout.

Decent taste. If the taste was like the smell, I would be happier. A little molasses first, burnt flavors are obvoius. Banana emerges here and there. There's a little vague sweetness, but it's nowhere to the sweetness you'd get in a Young's Double Chocolate Stout or Mackeson XXX. It feels light, and seems a little overcarbonated. Not luscious or creamy the way other sweet stouts have pampered me. The aftertaste is roasted, but with less than pleasant astrignency.

When I bought this beer, I was physched to try a beer I've never seen or had. When I discovered it was made by Carlton & United, the same folks who do such masterpieces (*sarcasm) as Carlton Draught and Victoria Bitter, I shivered. Sheaf Stout is decent, and it probably is what I could have expected from these guys, and it's not a life changer in your beer pursuit. But hey, it only cost $2.99.

Serving type: bottle

02-21-2010 07:04:03 | More by DoubleJ

kojevergas

California

2.65/5  rDev -26.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

1 pint 9.4 fl oz brown glass bottle with standard pressure cap served into a conical Guinness pint glass in low altitude Los Angeles, California. Bottle acquired at BevMo in Palo Alto, California. Reviewed live. Expectations are average. I love stouts, but I've never had anything from this brewery. Best before date: February 1st, 2013.

Served refrigerator cold but allowed to warm as drinking continued. Not paired with food.

A: Pours a two finger head of nice tan colour, great cream, good thickness, and good retention for the style. Colour is a solid black. Appears direly overcarbonated; bubbles are rampant.

Sm: Milk, chocolate, toffee, cream, nuts, and maybe some roast. A mild strength aroma.

T: Milky and off-cream notes alongside light chocolate, some caramelized malt, and light nuts on the finish. The chocolate grows slightly richer in the third act, but it's largely insignificant. No alcohol comes through. It's balanced decently, but in need of work. Built blandly, without layering or subtlety. It's not one-note, but it's certainly a simple beer. I don't dislike it.

Mf: Smooth and wet, with a bit too much thickness but not enough cream. Should be far more dry and a bit more coarse. The cream is limited to the open and finish; I'd like to have it through the body as well.

Dr/Ov: Drinkable, but less so than other beers in its style on account of the problematic thickness. Wouldn't session well. Overall, it's a bland simple stout that won't tickle anyone's fancy, but that doesn't mean it's a bad beer. It's merely a bit below average.

C-

Serving type: bottle

02-16-2012 09:08:19 | More by kojevergas

scruffwhor

Illinois

4.18/5  rDev +15.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

Purchased from Kahn's Fine Wines in Indiananpolis. Twist off bottle with bottle opener needed cap style.

Appearance- Good tar molasses brown. Tan head with a mediocre film after first few sips. But it did retain throughout the entire bottle.

Smell- A great mix of roasty, creamy, whole-milky, and even toasty. Hints of coffee, toffee and even molasses. Not bad.

Taste- Great even keel for this beer. Smooth, creamy and very easy to drink. TYhe milky sweetness gives way to a more roasted dry texture. A little smokey even at the end of my esophagus.

Very good beer. I wish this beer was more widely available than Guiness.

Serving type: bottle

10-17-2006 05:19:28 | More by scruffwhor

Bitterbill

Wyoming

3.98/5  rDev +10.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Best before Dec 12, 2011. Bottle purchased online from France 44 in Minnesota.

Ah, revisiting an old friend; I haven't tasted it in many years.

It looks to be a pitch black with a creamy +1 finger head of foam and it leaves some nice lacing. Excellent head retention during the session.

A nice roasted malt nose with under currents of chocolate, both sweet and dark. There's a nice bitter/sweet thing going on.

The taste brings the smell to my taste buds. Roasty, bitter and sweetish from the chocolate, some hoppy notes that I have tasted in quite a few Australian ales/lagers. Quite tasty and surprisingly, brings a bit of an alcohol burn.

Pretty light bodied with medium carbonation, it has an above average mouth feel. Drinkability is good despite the "burn". In years past, I found Sheaf Stout and excellent brew to experiment with black and tans. I'm glad I found this one again.

Serving type: bottle

08-17-2011 00:27:58 | More by Bitterbill

twiggamortis420

Texas

3.83/5  rDev +6.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

750 mL bottle with a screw top, like a big bigger version of a bomber bottle. Pour is nearly black with an impressive cap of light brown, craterous head. Retention is good and lacing is terrific, this is a great looking beer.

Nose mostly consists of sweet chocolate and a fair amount of roasty malt. Low on fruitiness and hops, which I can appreciate a lack of in a milk stout.

Taste is rich and milky with a lot of chocolate malt and yeasty bread. A touch of cardboard creeps in there and there seems to be ample hop and roast bitterness on the finish. Full bodied, but a bit rough around the edges to rival the best of the velvety oatmeal and milk stouts. Pretty tasty though and might be the best Aussie brew I have had. Bonus that it has a nice price tag of 3 bucks.

Serving type: bottle

07-30-2010 01:00:36 | More by twiggamortis420

francisweizen

Australia

4/5  rDev +10.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Big A$$ Bottle: A solid dark brown cola coloured brew that borders on super dark brown/black but is not quite opaque. Head is slightly tan/khaki and it does not last too long, or leave a lot of lacing. Aromas are all sweet lactic milk stout aromas of chocolate, coffee, caramel, and milk, with some nice roasted malt notes as well as just a hint of flowery hops. Taste follows suit with the lactic, sweet chocolate/coffee notes, but this one is a little thin in the mouth. No worries, drinkability remains nice especially considering that this is a "macro" milk stout. It is quite nice, and if you can still find fresh bottles around, they are quite the value as well. Nice stuff.

Serving type: bottle

07-27-2005 17:41:10 | More by francisweizen

bluejacket74

Ohio

3.95/5  rDev +9.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

750 ml bottle, best before July 2, 2010 stamped on the bottle. Served in a nonic pint glass, the beer pours dark brown with about an inch frothy tan head. The head didn't stay around for too long, but this brew has a lot of lacing. Aroma is roasted malt, milk and bittersweet chocolate, and a bit of coffee. Overall it's a mostly sweet aroma. Taste is similar to the aroma, but with the addition of some burnt/charred malt and a little bit of licorice. Nice balance between the bitter and sweet flavors. Mouthfeel/body is medium, it is a bit thin for a stout but it's not watery at all. It's somewhat creamy and coating with good carbonation. Drinkability is good, it's easy and enjoyable to drink. Not a bad brew, it's definitely worth a try!

Serving type: bottle

01-31-2010 00:23:40 | More by bluejacket74

Brent

Kentucky

3.55/5  rDev -1.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

1 pint, 9.6 oz. bottle - this is one big beer. Pours a very nice tar black. Aroma is a bit odd, some tangy smoke notes. Flavor profile is a bit tough to nail down. Only moderately roasted malt flavors, much less than the appearance would suggest. Sharp up front, with some roasted flavors that start to hint of coffee, but pull up short. Some chocolate milk flavors lurk in the background, but never come forth. Not a bad stout, but a bit of a lightweight.

Serving type: bottle

02-11-2004 03:48:17 | More by Brent

flagmantho

Washington

3.93/5  rDev +8.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Poured from 750mL bottle into a pint glass.

Appearance: black, light-impenetrable body with a thick finger of rich tan foam with decent retention and an attractive lacing. A nice looking stout.

Smell: sweet, lightly chocolatey aroma with a bit of acidity and a hint of vegetal hops. Mostly clean, but a bit on the mild side.

Taste: lightly sweet with a nice chocolatey flavor and a light vegetal hoppiness. There is a good malt complexity here, though, with some toffee and dates. There's a little more acidity than I normally like, but the depth of flavor really makes up for this.

Mouthfeel: medium body with a decent carbonation and a pretty good creaminess. Not bad at all.

Overall: I like this beer. It's got an interesting complexity and, while it is not perfect, is a solidly drinkable stout.

Serving type: bottle

04-02-2013 00:20:24 | More by flagmantho

canucklehead

British Columbia (Canada)

3.53/5  rDev -2.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Love the big torpedo like bottle. The beer itself was in the words of Randy Jackson "all -ight". Poured black with a brown head with a chocolate nose. The intial taste was slightly metallic with a burnt malt aftertaste. What puts this stout in the B team is the lack of bigness and the sense that the balance is slightly off though I still enjoyed my glass. I guess that with the lack of good Australian imports that it cool to even be able to get this beer.

Serving type: bottle

03-31-2004 00:22:13 | More by canucklehead

KarlHungus

Minnesota

4.18/5  rDev +15.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

This brew pours an opaque black color. The head is creamy and brown, and the lacing is thorough. The aroma is of roasted malt, with hints of chocolate and coffee. The taste is similar to the aroma. Roasted malt is dominant at first , but chocolate flavors become more pronounced as the beer warms. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, and smooth. Overall, this beer has a lot more to it than the 5.7% ABV would suggest.

Serving type: bottle

12-05-2005 02:18:29 | More by KarlHungus

laituegonflable

Australia

2.73/5  rDev -24.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 3

Pours an opaque black petroloid appearance, in fact a delicious ochre head is the only reason I know I don't have a glass of petrol in my hand. Leaves thick but pocky lacing on the glass. Very decent-looking stout.

Gritty coffee nose with a slight cocoa-powder character on it. Slightly sour aspect on the back, this has an over-roasted coffee smell, a bit sweeter than that, but not great. Pretty simple dark beer smell.

It's a bit too cold at the moment, but yeah, slightly sour toasty notes, a lot of dark malt on that. Gritty and sour with a very slight cocoa touch but not much and not impressive. Beer, I can get this shit at my local Starbucks. Oh wait, I don't have a local Starbucks any more. But yeah, just because you're alcoholic doesn't give you the right to be gritty and unpleasant. This beer stands for everything I actually dislike about darks and doesn't have enough character to save it. Mouthfeel is very thin.

I can see what they're trying to do, but this beer just reminds me why I typically say in my reviews that I don't like dark beers. Frankly I'd happily pay for an airfare to Oregon to grab some Rogue Imperial Stout rather than drink this.

Serving type: bottle

04-16-2009 06:53:08 | More by laituegonflable

Reidrover

Oregon

4.25/5  rDev +17.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

I bought this in plain brown 1 pt 9.6 oz bottle with an old fashioned style plain label.
The beer poured very well and left a thick tan head atop a dark brown almost black beer..the head went down somewhat but still clung on to the edges.
This has a great stout smell the roasted almost burnt malts..i love this, this one smelled better than Guiness.
Wonderful taste IMO, its a good mix of burnt malt and good hoppiness..i tasted loads of caramel, treacle and a hint of black espresso coffee..delicious.
feels really smooth on the mouth but leaving sensation all along the tongue.
Very drinkable..good stout at a not too bad price will drink again!

Serving type: bottle

02-26-2003 21:25:29 | More by Reidrover

grub

Ontario (Canada)

3.55/5  rDev -1.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

pours a deep black colour with a huge, dense brown head. the head is slow to drop and when it does it leaves tons of lace behind.

aroma is nice. sweet and malty, with a little roast. bready malt. dark chocolate and a bit of coffee.

taste is good. sweet and malty. not too much roast. just a bit of sourness too, which is nice. bready. coffee. bit of chocolate.

mouthfeel is big and chewy. pretty nice.

drinkability on this one is pretty good. it's not a spectacular stout, but tasty and nice. i'd definitely have another bottle.

Serving type: bottle

08-20-2006 01:49:12 | More by grub

ADR

Pennsylvania

3.15/5  rDev -12.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Dark coffee color, nice brown head at about an inch. A little spicy aroma, along with malt smells. Flavor is mild, a little smoky with touches of chocolate tones. Candy flavors, gravelly with an estery bubblegum impression. Sweetness is lacking but roastiness is lacking too. There's something missing mid-mouth, most of the action is at the finish. Almost like a spicy Porter with a dark color. Mouthfeel is somewhat lacking as well. Not really a fovorite of mine.

Serving type: bottle

07-01-2002 08:09:27 | More by ADR

Mitchster

Michigan

3.13/5  rDev -13.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 2.5

Haven't had this beer in over 10 years, but I heard on the forums that it is getting increasingly hard to find, so I jumped quick when I saw this in my local liquor store. Clear, jet-black with hints of brown at the edges...beer is nearly flat and I thought I had a bad bottle when there was no "whish" on opening it, but it managed to form an oily, thin, dark-tan head atop small to medium-sized bubbles. Carbonation is next to non-existent, retention is decent, and lacing is surprisingly good. Aroma is delicious...dark molasses, french-roast coffee, dark chocolate, tar, deeply roasted grains, vanilla extract, and subtle hints of sourness...in that order. Mouthfeel is soft with a dense body. Taste begins with alot of roasted malts up front...an oily, treacle mouthfeel...then right in the middle there is a strong wave of unpleasant "homebrew" isopropyl alcohols, followed by a strong metal and mineral tinge, and to top it off... a rubbery, musty cardboard oxidized hop note. Ugh. The moderately astringent finish has lingering notes of coffee, wood, roots, and vegetables. If this beer tasted the way it smells, it could-have-been-would-have-been great, but alas, it ultimately fails as the off-flavors are completely unsettling. The alcohol rating here of 5.7%ABV seems very modest, as the alcohol bite and dulling senses gives me the impression of something in the 7-8.5% range.

Serving type: bottle

03-18-2003 17:17:38 | More by Mitchster

Crosling

Colorado

2.53/5  rDev -29.9%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Definately a less assertive stout. Rather dull....and uninteresting.

Poured black with a less than adequate head and no lacing.

Aroma is faint. Some hop spicyness and some chocolate notes.

Dark roastiness, chocolate with a nice hop bite. Smooth going down but just a little too simple.

Serving type: bottle

04-25-2006 00:07:21 | More by Crosling

illidurit

California

3.03/5  rDev -16.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Bottle from 99 Bottles in Santa Cruz. Dark but not opaque brown with a tan head. Aromas of cocoa powder and roasty malt. Flavor is of bittersweet chocolate coffee with a rather harsh roasted finish. Carbonation is very high and makes the mouthfeel subpar. Very average.

Serving type: bottle

05-29-2008 06:12:01 | More by illidurit

rastaman

United Kingdom (England)

2.9/5  rDev -19.7%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Not elegant or anything, messy mix of roasty chocolate, motor oil, and sweat from CUB workers, yukky, yukky...but somehow its drinkable.

Serving type: bottle

04-04-2002 16:57:54 | More by rastaman