Judge’s Review: 92 Rating – Broad Blade by Shovel Town Brewery

American Stout | Year-Round | USA

By Brian Eichhorn

Judges Rating: 92
Aroma: 22
Appearance: 6
Flavor: 37
Mouthfeel: 9
Overall Impression: 18

Broad Blade by Shovel Town Brewery is being evaluated as a 20B American Stout. I’m pretty excited about this one, as American Stout is one of my all-time favorite styles of beer.
Into the glass, it pours a deep brown-black with a dark tan head. Big and creamy on top. The beer is virtually opaque. The nose is great here, showing rich roast and chocolate with a fruity undertone from the yeast. Stone fruit and plum come to mind, along with some light berry notes. The hops share in the fruitiness and also showcase a piney undertone. On tasting, this beer is super chocolaty. There’s a distinct roasted bitterness as well, but this really feels like it pulls in a lot of chocolate malt and caramel notes, more so than roasted barley. The beer is quite bitter, both from hopping and from the roasted grains. The fruitiness of the nose really pushes through on the palate as well, layering in some yeast complexity from the esters.
This beer kind of treads that line between porter and stout for me, but, no matter what, it is super tasty. The body is just robust enough to pull it into the stout category, but I wouldn’t be mad at a bit more roast/coffee or hop character to really bring this up a touch. The alcohol is well-contained and the beer is super drinkable. Not mad at this one at all!