Bare Knuckle Stout

So there I was this evening, seated at the bar at Summit’s Wayside Tavern. I was ready for a beer, as you might imagine. I perused the brew menu, as I am wont to do, in search of a new beer. What’s this? Bare Knuckle Stout, form Missouri? Hadn’t had that before. So I naturally gave it a try.

Admittedly, I was skeptical about this beer. It is an Anheuser-Busch product after all, and for those of you who have been hiding in a cave for the past hundred years or so, this is the company that brings us Budweiser. So how good could this stout be?

Before I go on, I need to add that this is a stout poured on nitrogen to give it a creamy, smooth and luxuriant head. Extra credit to you if you can guess where Anheuser-Busch got the idea for that. Can you say Guinness? I knew you could.

Guinness is truly the 800 Gorilla among stouts. So I suppose it’s natural that Anheuser-Busch would go after a share of their market. But how successful can they be? Guinness drinkers are a loyal breed after all, and if they aren’t drinking Guinness, they just might be drinking Murphy’s or Beamish.

But a stout brewed by an American megabrewer? Let’s see what Anheuser-Busch has to say for themselves:

Stout lovers all over the world will appreciate its smooth Irish character and strong American spirit - a domestic stout of the finest quality, using only the best ingredients to achieve its rich taste and creamy head. .

I can honestly applaud Anheuser-Busch for wanting to make a stout. I really can. After all, we beer geeks constantly complain about the large brewers making “dumbed-down” lagers that have no flavor. We admonish them for selling swill to the public. So, when they try to make something with a bit more flavor, shouldn’t we be happy?

Bare Knuckle Stout certainly has more flavor than just about any beer you’ve tried from Anheuser-Busch. It pours to a deep black color with a thick creamy tan head from the nitrogen pour, and lots of Brussels lace clings to the side of your glass all the way down.

As you sip, there’s a touch of roasty flavor here, as well as a little bit of chocolate. The flavors are fairly restrained for the most part, however. The beer is creamy and very drinkable, and in the finish it has just a touch of roasty bitterness to balance it out.

But Guinness has nothing to worry about, I think. Bare Knuckle Stout is thinner in body, much less roasty, and lacks the light sourness that makes Guinness so quenching. You’ll never mistake a Bare Knuckle Stout for a Guinness.

Still, kudos to Anheuser-Busch for the effort. Imitation, they say, is the most sincere form of flattery. And with just a bit of tweaking, this decent and drinkable stout could give the Irish stouts a run for their money yet. But not quite yet.



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