In Moreton Bay, rock oyster season has begun. And at Straddie Brewing, Big Rock Stout season has begun.
They’ve done this stout a few times before (each time for the beginning or end of oyster season), but for this iteration they’ve gone bigger: more booze, and more bitterness.
Pour Big Rock out and you see this thing is black. No matter how much light you throw at it, none gets through. It just reflects back off your beer glass like it’s a solid piece of polished obsidian. As for the head - it’s huge and dark brown and lingering. It reminds me of when sea foam washes up onto the shore but it's too thick for the waves to take away again, so as the sea recedes, the foam remains on the beach.
While this is an American-style stout dosed with Centennial hops, I didn’t pick up the same citrus zing I got with last year’s version; the eight malts in the mash bill made for an intense but multi-layered dark party. I soaked up plenty of roast and char, with bitter coffee and sweet burnt caramel around the edges. The other day may wife made smoked almond praline - as in, praline with smoked almonds - but for the first batch she accidentally left it on the stove too long and it went darker than she planned, so when she put it in the oven to crisp up it went too crunchy and picked up some slightly burnt notes that she wasn’t going for. Now, I’m well aware “slightly overdone smoked almond praline” may not stored away in everyone’s flavour memory bank… but this beer brought that back to mind for me.
If you’re an oyster person, pour some of this onto your oyster and you’ve basically made it Kilpatrick - no smoky bacon or Worscteashosttecheire needed.
Mick Wust
Published October 4, 2024 2024-10-04 00:00:00
