As some of you may know, I also write for the Pulse blog and this week I’ve made it out to Seattle to write about the West Coast’s most up and coming electronic music festival, Decibel. It’s been a while since I’ve traveled and I’m stoked to check out craft brews specific to this area! Yesterday after I got settled into my room I went out to Elysian Brewpub on E Pike and tried some tasty brews, including their Dragonstooth Stout.

Dark brown in appearance, almost like cola, Dragonstooth doesn’t look like a particularly creamy stout. Sitting atop this beer is a short head, which left a good amount of lacing, although it wasn’t too frothy. There is a detectable bitterness in the nose with hints of coffee and chocolate. The bitterness dominates, with grassy hops making the beer extra fresh, and the medium mouth feel made this smooth and easy to drink. Although this beer won’t slow you down with a heavy body, it has an ABV of 7.45%, although this high alcohol content isn’t so easy to pinpoint. Malts complemented the hops with bready flavors like biscuits, along with fuller grainy flavors like oats. Drink this beer with dark chocolate to bring out the chocolate flavors, or otherwise it would be a good pairing for mild dark meats and stews.

As for me, I definitely enjoyed drinking this beer by itself, what with the balance of flavors. It’s a well-rounded stout that could lend a much needed liquor coat as the cold weather approaches.

Photo credit: beerblotter.com

• Tag: beer, craft beer, dragonstooth, elysian, seattle, stout