The Hard Work & Struggles Were Worth It!
It’s summertime stout season here on the home front, and some thoughtful visitors wished me Godspeed* with a house and heart warming gift of this nitro dry stout from none other than Godspeed Brewery. A greatly appreciated and most appropriate gift for a COM who loves to DB. The COMDB translation department doesn’t deal with Japanese on a regular basis, other than the sushi from Sobey’s, but they were up to the task and provided some value-added service. They tell us Kurō 苦労 means “hard work”, something our translation department rarely sees. The brewery defines it as “struggles”. But coincidentally, perhaps inadvertently, or maybe inscrutably selected, Kuro 黒,(macron over the “o” conspicuously absent) means “black”. TMI from the translation department. It’s time to blow this nitro stand and pop a top.
Nitros are pop-ular, but this Nitro has no pop! Where’s my pop? I think I am entitled to a pop or a poof or at least a pfft. A click and pour will have to do. And just like it’s macronless namesake, this brew is black, boot black black. And none of the topside tan head that we usually see. Roasted malt on the nose, coffee and cocoa in there somewhere, no doubt it’s a stout. First swig is a watery mild roasted malt coffee with some caffeine bitters and some slight sweet on the finish, rather than in harmony, they all seem to be competing for my attention. Now each of the flavours gets into position and a more substantial mouthfeel develops. This brew quickly evolved into a tasty treat. Good balance with a somewhat mild sweet coffee bitter dry finish. It grew on me slowly but surely, like a 5’oclock shadow.
It started mild, dare I say weak, but grew into a solid flavourful stout, as balanced as the scales of justice (figuratively not literally). Lasting impressions trump first impressions every time. Godspeed Brewery tell us this was the first beer they brewed and they figure that all the hard work and struggles were worth the effort. Agreed.
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