Bare Knuckle Stout
Traditionally brewed using a blend of roasted barley, pale and caramel malts, Bare Knuckle Stout is balanced with robust hopping to provide a rich and flavorful stout, with a smooth and creamy head.
2.6
332 reviews
St. Louis, United States
Community reviews
Draft. Pours a darkish brown with minimal off white head. Nose is light roast and water. Palate is thin. Flavor is light chocolate, water.
Not bad attempt by Budweiser but overall not very good in the stout category.
Poured from the tap into a pint glass.
The color is dark brown to acomplete black with a foamy white head.
The smell is not very strong. Some hop flavor with some roasted malt feel.
The taste is creamy, some roasted malt flavor that also gives the beer a tiny bit of a coffee flavor. Also has abit of a chocolate feel to it as well.
AB attempt at a stout and it was not bad. Not unlike a Guinness.
Sampled at Binnys South Loop. Pours black with a small tan head. Aroma is of absolutely nothing. I got nothing out of it. Taste starts off with absolutely nothing, and ends with the slightest bit off coffee. The body is very thin and the mouthfeel is watery. This is one of the most insanely bland beers I can recall. Tastes like an aborted homebrew attempt.
To sum this one up, I’d call it something like Guinness Lite. Bare Knuckle has very similar attributes that make it akin to Guinness, such as a huge, frothy head, rich, dark color, burnt grain aroma and a taste of chocolate and coffee. The only difference is that I find all the attributes of Guinness simply more robust than this stout. It’s good and a little "easier" than Guinness.
Not much of a stout. Very plain jane. Can see through it if you focus and concentrate, how can that be good? Not much aroma. Not much complexity. Sorry, pass.
On tap at the Yard House, Waikiki - nitro pour. Murky dark brown, beige head. Almost no nose - a bit of chocolate. Interesting flavors - mostly milk chocolaty, bready, but finishes with a dry wood smoke. Empty finish. Coulda been better...
Black chocolate pour, big nitrous head, and lace, yum. Chocolatey beery aroma. Chocolatey woody smokiness, with a slightly dry winy finish. The lack of carb doesn’t hurt this at all, amazing dry stout, chewy, sweet, and slightly bready. This is made by Anheuser-Busch? Well done?
Draft. On nitro. Black body with creamy nitro-driven head. Aroma of burnt grain and husks. The slightest hint of chocolate. Not much else. The flavor is lightly sweet and finishes lighty acidic and lightly bitter. Thin body with a watery texture and lively nitroination in a soft nitro sort of way. A Guinness knock-off. There are some hops in the beer. Otherwise, bland.
I think they named this beer "Bare Knuckle" because you’ll want to fist the dumb skank bartender that suggested you this beer.
I had never heard of this before. And was dumb enough to pay for a pint.
It was watery, flatter than your average nitro, and completely flavorless.
It tastes like someone was walking their dog in the rain, got him, shaved their dog, and then rang out it’s coat into a kettle.
I’ve never had a beer so void of flavor.
I hope I never see this beer on tap anywhere again or I might just try and punch a cervix.
On tap at the Baer’s Den. Pours like a Guinness - they even take the time to nitrogenate it. In spite of these efforts, it falls quite short. Aroma is completely absent except for a very faint Pilsener malt quality (what the hell? I think). Taste is of Pils malt and roast...much more like a screwed up Schwarzbier than a dry stout. Anheuser Busch must only take the time to buy one type of malt. Pils + Black malt only does not make a dry stout. Pretty bad, at least American Ale took a half swing at the style.
It really tries to be decent, but fall way short.. looks promising on the pour but that about it. Overall weak in ever area.
Stout? Really? You really can’t macrobrew a stout and expect it to be good. Somewhat creamy, but overall lacking in every area.
Probably one of the worst stouts i have ever put in my mouth. Weak in flavor, almost like a watery body. Very unimpressive for a stout. Hey AB let the micros make the stouts and porters you stick to you mass produced lagers.
Tap. Light aromas all around, roasted and coffee for the malt, resin and maybe earth for the hops and yeast. Head is large, off-white, creamy with good lacing and is fully lasting. Color is dark brown with a red tint. Flavor starts lightly sweet, moderately acidic and a touch sour, then the short finish is lightly acidic and bitter. Palate is watery, light to medium and has a soft to lively carbonation. An interesting attempt by AB. Looks good, tastes weak.
Great appearance. Malts were roasty and refreshing. Not a lot of depth to the beer, but an average overall stout.
I had this on tap at the Wintergarden Bar in Livonia, MI. A friend actually got it for me, as it was there beer of the month, and I had never heard of it, but it only took one sip to realize that this wasn’t some small time beer. I think it’s AB’s attempt at competing with Guinness. It certainly looked the part, and in a blind test, I would be lying if I said I could tell them apart. Oh well..
The Library Bar in Des Moines was democratically selected by an unbiased panel to have the best nachos in Des Moines. I can attest that this is very much true, and that the Nachos are amazing. The quality level of the beer at this tavern has had far less consideration, perhaps they were too focused on Nachos. I freaking love seeing this stuff on tap though, I remember for like three months in 05’ when every bar got it in then immediately took it off tap. There are a rare few pubs that still serve it and well I guess I let nostalgia get the best of me the other day. The stuff pours dark, like any of the other nitro draught stouts, but they couldn’t even get the head right on this stuff not terribly tight, a little too fizzy and way too thin, leaving very little lace. The aroma is faint a little musty but hints at some chocolate notes maybe a little wet hops, maybe I’m just imagining things. The flavor is largely bland and light but there are some nice things happening in the background, certainly some coffee and no doubt some weird burnt notes.
The palate skips right past creamy and dives headfirst into wateriness.
Just another wonderful failed attempt by AB to exploit a particular demographic.
Draft at Phia Airport. Poured a nice black with a tan head. Aromas of roasted malts and coffee. Had a weak stout taste. Low carbination and and solid flavors. Not a bad stout but lacks some robustness I was hoping for. Not bad though.
black cascading foam pour with 2 finger brown head.aroma of roasted malt with malt coffee taste, harsh hops finish.
Note: at time of tasting i had no idea this was a product of anheuser! we done.
Draft. Heavy blackish brown body with a good amount of solid stout head. Aromas typical of stout-heavily roasted malt, but with some out of place high alcohol notes. Fairly smooth mouthfeel, slightly astringent. Good amount of bittersweet chocolate with a little coffee. A decent stout.
On nitro tap. Poured a black color with a fluffy tan head. The aroma was roasty, with a bit of coffee present. The flavor was roasted malt, coffee and maybe some bitter chocolate.
Tap at Celebration Town Tavern in Celebration, Fla. Dark brown colored pour with thick dark brown head. Sweet, roasted malts aroma. Malty, watered, carbonated finish. Very average.
On tap at the A-B Colorado Brewery. Pours a dark black with a large tan head that slowly fades. Taste is of roasted malt, caramel and coffee. Is kind of sweet. Similar aroma. Easy to drink and goes down smooth. Overall, not a bad, beer.
On Nitro Tap. I have had 12 different beers today and this is the first one I have yet to rate. Pours the typical Nitro Stout. Rising brown head black body and sheets of lacing. Aroma of vanilla, Chocolate, roast, and leather. Overall the aroma is pretty weak and you have to search for those elements. Taste is vanilla, roast, chocolate, leather and plastic... Very drinkable. Slight burnt hairdryer taste as it warms. Smooth nitro tap mouthfeel as expected.
On tap, never heard of it before. It certainly has the look down, complete with cascading foam. Palate is nitrogen, for better or for worse. Light roastiness. Watery, to be sure, but still pretty decent as a light session stout.
I remember this one. Crushed it at a Celtic fest in Michigan a few months ago. On Tap. I think it was labled "Dark Beer" or something. I had to press some people to tell me what it actually was. Figures its from AB. Pours dark with a fake creamy head. Aroma is very light coffee, maybe some chocolate milk powder. Flavor is very thin, very weak coffee. Some plastic off flavors as well. Not good. I would not ever pay money to drink this again.
Tap at Zeke’s. Dark opaque black with artificially stable level of head. Lame metallic, bland aroma but no sourness. Has some cocoa in the back of the nose. Soft nitro mouthfeel. Roasty after the sweet entry. just drinkable
Dark brown with a thick, artificial head. Faint aroma is thin, spent coffee grounds, not much else. Light chocolate taste but this does not have pleasurable flavours and the nitro seems to mute anything positive that may otherwise be lurking.
Completely underwhelmed. I should have known what this was...the name sounded familiar but I couldn’t place it. The bar I went to (an ironic trucker bar) said it was "like Guinness", which on its own sounded unappetizing, but the beer turned out to be way worse than Guinness. Oh well.