Newport Storm Cyclone Series: Henry
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(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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Coastal Extreme Brewing Company made an appearance on this site earlier this year, with its Newport Storm Hurricane Amber Ale.
I enjoyed the Hurricane Amber and promptly bought two more Newport Storm brews, one of which I opened up to drink tonight. Unfortunately, I’m not nearly as impressed with their Munich Dark.
The brewery describes Newport Storm Cyclone Series: Henry as:
. . . an 8% abv Munich Dark Ale. With over 75% of the malted barley in this beer being of the Munich Malt variety, the body and flavor of this beer are unmistakable. The full bodied and malty seet backbone is married to plentiful amounts of roasted malt to give this pitch black ale balance. A variety of German hops are used to add further balance to this unique version of the style.
My first quibble is with the description of the ale as “pitch black”. The beer poured the reddish brown color I expected of a Munich Dark, not the black color that had me so intrigued.
My expectations for the style were set by Harpoon, with its Harpoon Munich Dark. But where Harpoon sailed through beautifully, Henry had me looking for shelter from the storm.
Okay, so it wasn’t that bad. But my first impression was quickly sullied, and not by the color. I was admiring it’s thick head and breathing in the aroma when I caught of whiff of something funny. Most of the aroma was malty and sweet, but there was a sourness peaking around the edges of the aroma. On a whim, I tasted some of the foam — and tartness made me grimace.
Keep in mind — a funky sourness could signal a bad bottle of beer. But the flavor was never strong enough to make me think the beer had gone south. Most of the taste was centered on roasted malt, and a fruitiness that wasn’t quite like raisins or figs but in the same neighborhood. But always in the background and at the edges of the flavor lurked that sour first impression.
Even without the sourness, I’m not sure I’d be excited by this beer. There didn’t seem to be much happening with it — not bad, but not great either.
I’d love to hear what other people think of this beer, particularly New Englanders who may have had the Henry and could tell me if they detected a tart / sour note, or if it was just my bottle.
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