North Coast Old Plowshare Stout
Brewed for Whole Foods. Old Plowshare is a full-flavored Celtic style Stout. Smooth and firm-bodied with the bold flavor notes of dark roasted malts. Because Old Plowshare is organic it remains true to the time-honored Irish tradition of respect for natural ingredients. A great pub classic or the perfect Black and Tan.
3.4
343 reviews
Fort Bragg, United States
Community reviews
Bottle at Bulldog World Beer and Food. Pitch black - light brown head. Licorice. High dryness. Vegetable. Nice hoppy. Burned. High malty. Fruity. A bit simple. Nice.
Bottle from Tanakaya! Smoked corn, wheat, roasted dry malty mouthfeel. Some smoke and vanilla running through the finish line with some cherry cola notes lingering inbetween. Not terribly impressive, but not bad. Drank it once and enjoyed it for what it was...but not something i would jump at next time.
From a bottle poured a dark brown with a fair amount of head. Sweet malty flavor with a lasting aftertaste.
(12oz bottle) clear medium brown with a lasting film of head. Nose of sweet nuts, brown sugar, sweet chocolate syrup. Taste of toasty caramel, sweet nuts, cream, unsweetened brown sugar, bran, and soft carbonation with a creamy but watery body.
Dark black pour from bottle with a beige head. Aroma is chocolate, some roasted coffee and smoke. Taste is sweet fruits, chocolate and licorice. Smooth finish. A decent starter stout for those that have never had a "big" stout.
Thanks to someone for sharing this at a recent tasting. Sorry I forgot who you were.
The beer pours a dark brown color with a tan head. The aroma is chocolate with some roasted malt. The flavor is toffee, chocolate and roasted malt. Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation. Pretty straight forward and not too complicated, but well executed.
Bottle. Pours a dark brown with a medium creamy light beige head that lasts awhile leaving good sticky lacing along the glass. The aroma is a roasted malt with chocolate and nuts. Medium mouthfeel with a sweet roast flavor with caramel and coffee and a nice dry finish. Easy to drink, a very good dry stout from North Coast.
Bottle. Pours a black color with a small off-white head. Has a roasted malty coffee and chocolate aroma. Roasted malty coffee and chocolate flavor. Has a roasted malty chocolate finish.
Pour is a black with a small tan head. Aroma is chocolate and lots of roasted malt. Flavor is the same but nothing wrong with it. Lots of chocolate and roasted malt to go around. Leaves a nice roasted flavor on the tounge as this goes down.
Why do organic beers tend to be somewhat inferior to craft beer in general? My guess is that the Masons in conjunction w/ the secret barley grower union, have genetically modified ordinary barley to be addictive so that non-modified malts simply don’t satisfy. But what do I know? This stuff is pretty good. Looks really nice at first w/ a deep black color and a huge head of medium bubbles. The head diminishes rather quickly though but it does at least leave behind an attractive patchwork of lacing. The nose here is really rich and chocolaty w/ a background of malt sweetness that supports rather than cloys, some notes of raisins and a bit of fresh ground coffee back there too. If the flavor quite lived up to the nose, this would be one fantastic stout. It is, unfortunately, a might bit over-carbonated though which mutes the rich flavors to some extent and creates the impression of wateriness. Still, I would say there is enough goodness here to justify saying that there is nothing about organic beers that necessarily make them worse, at least as far as stouts go; any flaws or lack of flavor can be attributed to the brewer. Organic or not, this is a nice dry, drinkable stout and I could see myself knocking back a pint or for of these fairly regularly if it found its way to the taps at my local pub.
12oz local bottle. Pours a nice dark brown with lively carbonation that builds a huge, tan head. What aroma escapes is mostly chocolate, roasted malt and maybe some earthy nuttiness. Pretty dead on for an Irish dry stout. Light body makes it easy to drink too. Something a little sour maybe in the finish but pretty nice overall. Thanks for buying from organic farmers too!
This beer poured a black color with a beige head. The aroma is chocolate and coffee. The flavor is chocolate, coffee, and some cocoa powder. A nice espresso taste is present as well. What a nice stout this is!
bottle, darker black pour, aromas of roasted malts, pretty simple dry stout aroma. taste is roasted malt, light cocoa, dry finish. nice dry stout but no\thing out of the ordinary
Very aromatic smell. Aroma is of chocolate and roasted malts. Very malty and chocolaty taste. Pours a dark black color with a small light brown head.
2-inch quickly dissolving head
Nose is sweet roasted coffee, chocolate, roasted malt. Little carbonation.
Smooth, creamy mouthfeel but not overly thick. Smokey, sweet molasses and nutty up front with a bitter hop finish that makes this very tasty. Very sessionable at <6%, I will be revisiting this for sure.
Dark brown in color. With a light but just good enough foam. Smooth easy going polished dry stout on the palette. Light bodied because its so clean for a stout. Very pleasant notes of roast, coffee. Some boozy aromas though. I like this guy a lot. Too expensive though.
Dark reddish-brown pour with a tan head. Aroma of roasted malt, almost a bit nutty. Taste is roasted malt, a little watery, some nuttiness to it. Has a little dry aftertaste.
Bottle. Pours a clear dark mahogany brown with a 2 finger foamy light tan head. The nose is roasted malt, dark chocolate and light hops. The taste is ashy malt, cocoa and bitter coffee in the finish. Medium bodied. Not bad.
A dark, red beer, transparent. The head is fluffy and pretty great looking. There is a lot going on in the nose for a beer with an abv of 5.7%, but it’s only good relative to the quality stronger stouts. The beer tastes pretty good but doesn’t live up to the nose. Not all of the coffee and chocolate notes come through on the tongue. Partly, it’s due to this funny metallic taste that’s coming through for me. The feel and drinkability suffer for this metallic taste, as well. It’s not a bad stout. It’s just not a great one.
Dark brown with flat head. Toasty chocolate caramel aroma. Mild chocolate sweetness mild roast mild dark fruit mild MILD! This is a gimmick beer for organic people. Almost a combo of a brown ale and a wimpy stout. I love North Coast, but this blows. Watery.
Pours brown almost black with a thick creamy tan head. Aroma of roast malt, toffee, vanilla and chocolate. Taste is sweet caramel with some bitter burnt malt and hop finish. Full texture, carbonation is high but not bad. Coffee bean finish.
Bottle. Poured dark reddish brown with a tall, creamy beige head. Nose is roasted malt with lighter notes of coffee and anise. Thin body with watery mouth feel. Flavor is medium sweet with hard roasted or burnt malts, weak coffee, anise, and mild hop bitterness. Finishes with more burnt malts. Not a huge fan, I like the idea of organic beer but this could have been done better IMO.
Pours dark brown with no head. A little fizzy arouma of some smoke and chocolate. Palate is a bit thin and watery and finishes with some coffee. A little thin and weak but bad.
12 oz. bottle, $1.89 single at Binny’s. Pours starts with a nice cola note upon pouring. Then a lot of graininess, and some sourness. Appearance is in fact cola colored: deep brown/black with easy to find brown edges and puffy brown foam. I’ve had this bottle a few months, but it’s still pretty fresh tasting. A deep bitter coffee component. I can pick out some hops immediately, just a slightly more than average load of hops for the style. A bit of orange "stock ale" sourness. Grainy texture, but not too much. Seems to have been force carbonation (no yeast sediment in the bottle) and that kind of pushes the palate away. Alcohol is a little on the upper end for what could be a fine session beer.
Bottle at Paul’s tasting. Pours a clear brown to black with a thin white head. Light sweet caramel and roast with light chocolate. On the thin side of medium, but the carbonation helps it out a bit. Chocolate and a touch of thin roast. Finishes roasty with some coffee. Smooth and tasty.
Bottle shared by ZDK. Pours a deep coppery brown clear- not even close to being black- thinning head. Aroma is sugary sweet brown sugar, toast, light dry roast and some nuts- low chocolate. Flavor has some light sweet chocolate- some tootsie roll, dry roast, hints of stale coffee, and light herbal and grassy hops and a watery finish. A bit weak even for a dry stout.
Bottle.
Poured dark brown with a small tan head. Roasted malt, coffee and chocolate. The same in the flavor.
Medium body with a quite bitter aftertaste. An ok brew.
This stout poured a deep black colour with a nice, creamy brown head. To the nose there are scents of cocoa, coffee, burnt malt and a little grain/bread. First swig was very smooth and creamy with a awesome, creamy mouthfeel. Flavours of chocolate and caramel with a slight roasted coffee flavour was delicious. Finish is roasty with a little coffee and malt lingering.
Small frothy head. Dark dark chocolate brown body. No light passes through when held up to my computer monitor. Aroma of cocoa powder dominates the nose. Roasted malts predominate flavor. Starts out soft, moving towards bitterness in the aftertaste. Almost slightly smoky-ness too. Could perhaps use a slightly more body, but overall a very nice dry stout.
Dark amber brown pour into thick foamy tan head that slowly dissipates into sticky lacing that melts down the glass. Aroma of dark roasted malt and black coffee. Initial flavor of dark buttery chocolate malt fading to a slightly bitter, roasted nutty finish.