Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing Organic Devout Stout

Um, yeah.....

Why the doubts? Only in that my very first impression of this 5.4%ABV 22-oz'er was pure Mt Saint Helens. Was barely able to get to the kitchen sink in time to keep the spewing foam from falling on to the kitchen floor, counter-top, etc.... Put it into the sink, and let it spew away on it's own, and went about my own business. 10 minutes later, looked like it was all spewed out. Poured a sample into one of my many San Diego Real Ale Festival nonick pint glasses, to try to give this beer some means of redeeming itself.

The very-same musty-metallic vibe I picked up from this brewery's Brown Ale also seems to apply to their Stout. Astringent, and somewhat obtuse in the mouthfeel. An odd Kool-Aide sweetness to the whole affair, that does little to improve my estimation of this beer's overall worth.

This sort of beer gives me flashbacks to the mid- to late-90's. The "microbrewery surge" was in full effect, and every Tom, Dick, and Harry out there with some cash was throwing their names (and cash) into ill-conceived microbrewing ventures. The market was flooded with beers that no homebrewer would put his/her name to, yet alone try to sell commercially. Fancy labels, with cutesy/clever/WTFever names for breweries (in name-only, often), that put more time and effort in to the marketing of the beer vice the beer itself.

Getting back on track, this beer probably could have used some serious peer-reviewing, to send it back to the proverbial drawing boards. In other words, a bit less worry about which artist is going to to do the artwork for the label (Janet Allinger, in this instance, in case you give a rat's ass), and more concern whether the beer itself is workable or not.

Not drain-pour worthy. But damn if there isn't some re-work needed for this beer.....

"Thinkest Organic. Drinkith Organic"?
To which I say, "Passeth This One By...."

//TB