Portsmouth Le Chat Noir - Portsmouth Brewery

joepais

Maine

4.55/5  rDev +18.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5

The bartender was nice enough to go grab me one of these from the cask downstairs it arrived in my Imperial pint glass at cellar temp with a wonderful rich frothy head on top of a jet black body

This cask was dry hopped with Cascade hops so the aroma was a little bit hoppier on this one. You also get the nice Belgian yeast as well. Along with the roasted malts and coffee aromas

You get the same roasted malts and smokiness but the flavor's of coffee and chocolate is more pronounce in the cask version most likely due to the hop bitter as well. The Belgian yeast tends to make this a little sweater than the regular black cat at the start a nice change up on the style

The mouthfeel is great from the cask as well full and rich just the way I like my stouts

Highly drinkable stout, very much a session brew I think the experiment with the Belgian yeast was a success

Serving type: cask

04-20-2008 00:09:17 | More by joepais

DrDogbeer

Massachusetts

4.35/5  rDev +13%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Not really an Irish stout, but it starts with their black cat stout, and-Paraphrased from the Portsmouth website- Fermented out with a begian yeast strain- makes it a "belgian style stout"

Anyways- Impressive looking beer- nitro poured deep black with nice 1" tan head. Smells of slight alcohol with little bit of roasted malt. First sip is deceiving- I get teh normal dry stout flavor, but backed up with a nice sweetness from the yeast. Very nice, smooth finish. Irish stouts not being one of my favorite beers, this one is definitely different! Nice change up on the style. Very drinkable and actually refreshing!

Serving type: nitro-tap

04-16-2008 15:46:39 | More by DrDogbeer