Skip to main content

Magic Hat Heart of Darkness

Hey everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend!  Tonight I am drinking Heart of Darkness, a stout from Magic Hat Brewing Company.  Located in South Burlington, VT, Magic Hat has been part of North American Breweries since 2010.  N.A. Breweries owns such brands/breweries as Genesee, Pyramid, Dundee Ales and Lagers, and Original Honey Brown.  Last month, there was major news when N.A. Breweries was sold to Cerveceria Costa Rica, S.A., which in itself is a subsidiary of Florida Ice and Farm Company, S.A.  So it seems that Magic Hat is now owned by a Costa Rican company, for whatever that matters.  Let's see how this beer tastes!
 Heart of Darkness
Magic Hat Brewing Company
5.7% ABV
Best By:  Unknown
  
Heart of Darkness pours black with a finger width light tan head.  The head leaves a nice web-like lacing on the glass.  It smells of roasted malt and coffee, tobacco, and even soy sauce.  Upfront, this stout gives off flavors of roasted malts and a slight smokiness.  It leaves a stale chocolate taste in my mouth.  This stout was thinner than I expected it would be from the pour.  I wish it tasted more how it smelled, because it's definitely lacking in the flavor department.  The carbonation is average.
Overall:  Heart of Darkness left me yearning for a better stout.  It looked and smelled great, but it just didn't go all the way for me.  4/10

Have you had Heart of Darkness?  What did you think?  Did you have a better experience than me?  Let me know in the comments! 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Dogfish Head Positive Contact

Frankenstorm is on it's way.  Bread: Check.  Candles: Check.  Ice: Check.  Beer: Check!  The big storm is supposed to strike land here in NJ late Sunday night into early Monday morning, and last until late Tuesday.  Kerry and I live in the western part of NJ, so we should be safe from most of it, except for local river flooding.  Tonight I'll be reviewing Positive Contact from Dogfish Head.  This is their collaboration with Dan the Automator (who I honestly had never heard of before this collaboration). I poured Positive Contact into my Yards Brewing tulip glass.  It poured a pale orange, golden color with a two and a half finger width head.  Apples, bananas and peppers hit my nose right away.  The smell is incredible and strong.  The Positive Contact is full of flavor, and reminds me of a smooth drinking Belgian tripel.  It tastes immediately of fruity esters, mainly banana.  The finish is peppery.  I'm not getting any apple flavor.  This beer is light bodied, with

BJCP: Strong Scotch Ale (9E)

This is the first article in a new series of posts, where I will periodically choose a section from the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) style guidelines , write about the style, and then drink and publish my tasting notes from some of the commercial examples given by the BJCP.  Now, I'm not sure if I will ever actually take the exam to become a beer judge, but I think this will be a fun exercise to learn more about beer! Fair warning, I will not be doing the sections of the BJCP style guidelines in any sort of order.  Whichever kinds of beer I am craving is what I will be writing about! Strong Scotch Ales (also known as Wee Heavy) comprise sub-category 9E in the BJCP style guidelines.  They range between 6.5% and 10.0% ABV, and have a light copper to dark brown appearance.  Obviously, strong scotch ales are all about showcasing the malt.  While studying this style, I found it quite interesting that the brewers ferment out the wort at cooler temperatures than other

The Six-Pack Project: New Jersey

Welcome to the Six-Pack Project!  The idea of the project is to create a six-pack of beer that would best represent the current beer scene in your respective state.  For me, that is obviously New Jersey.  The Six-Pack Project was created by Bryan over at the This Is Why I'm Drunk blog.  Check out his introduction to the project here ! 10 years ago, beer probably wasn't the first thing that came to your mind when you were thinking about New Jersey.  However, times are changing, and it's an exciting time to be a beer drinker in the Garden State.  Every year, more and more bars are starting to serve a greater variety in beer.  Even more importantly, new breweries haven been opening in NJ each year, and lots more are in planning Today, there is a wide variety of beer brewed here in New Jersey.  Choosing six beers to best represent the state was no easy feat, but I was up for it!  Hopefully, the following will clue you in a little bit more to some o