Turtle Anarchy Portly Stout

The fact that City Sliquors has started to sell growlers is an excellent new way for me to get local brews that are fresh and from-the-tap perfect. I'm firmly of the opinion that beer is best from the tap, next from the growler, then from a bottle, and then from a can. I've found cans that were excellent, but the tap gives every beer the best chance. I suspect it's the way the beer is given carbonation in the process, but I am no expert. I just know what I like. Today's beer is from just South of Nashville in Franklin, TN.

Forged in the darkness of a black hole, the beer seems to emit a kind of negative light. This is the place where photons go to die, while the head is a tan affair that seems almost not brown enough for the beer underneath it. It needs to be either darker or lighter, but it's caught in between. It's sticky enough to leave a bit of lacing on the sides, and I always appreciate that. The aroma is chocolate, smoky malt and some sweet caramel malt. It's very damn malty.

First sip is smooth and even. It's milky smooth and very sweet - I would say this has a lot in common with a milk stout in its presentation. I take a second sip, and yes, this really tastes like a milk stout, and a good one, too. It's got more smoke in it than I would normally expect, but the smoke is very much complimenting the sweetness to make a nice kind of smoked chocolate milk taste. A full swig may draw out even more.

Tip-in is dark chocolate and smoked oak. The middle is a lighter smoke and the familiar milky smoothness. It is quite a nice stout right about there. The finish rolls in with a casualness that other beers would admire. It comes sauntering in with molasses and caramel and the broken, smoldering timbers of a long abandoned building.

Bottom Line: Delicious and non-compromising, this beer is the very essence of a stout.

4.5/5