Guinness and Co.
Dublin, Ireland
Imported by: Diageo-Guinness USA
Norwalk, CT
Available: nationally
Foreign Extra Stout is the strongest beer in the Guinness line. It is carbonated, rather than nitrogen-dispensed, and makes up 45 percent of global sales.
ABV: 7.5
ABW: 6
Color: 66
Bitterness: 65-71
Original gravity: 1072
I don’t remember another beer just like this...and that’s a great thing. FES has a beautiful nose of malt, coffee, and fruits; a swallow gives a malt bittersweetness that hits sweet and fades bitter, with a touch, a hint of sour twang. The strength isn’t hidden, nor is it obvious: it’s just honestly there. Give me chicken mole and chocolate torte, and a dinner party.
This is the brand that launched a thousand beer quests, finally arrived on North American shores! An ebony ale, it offers a black licorice-accented nose filled with aromas of roasted malt and burnt sugar, but the flavor seems...rather simple? Over-roasted coffee bean up front, followed by campfire embers and fatally dark chocolate, with an almost-sour edge throughout and a finish bordering on acrid. Fifteen years ago this might have wowed me, but with shelves now stacked with strong stouts, many of them excellent, its arrival seems a bit anti-climatic.
Lew Bryson writes about beer and whiskey from his home in southeast Pennsylvania. He has a family and two dogs. That's all you need to know.
Once described as “beerdom's Brillat-Savarin,” Stephen Beaumont is the author of five books and countless articles on beer, spirits, food, travel, and how it all goes together.
