Surefoot stout is a small-batch beer from Mountain Goat brewery in their special long neck bottle and overly complicated bottle. Their last special beer was excellent, so let’s see what this special stout tastes like.

This bottle is all about standing out on the shelf. In some ways it goes towards the beer nerd, but I think Mountain Goat are just having some fun in there by putting together as many nonsense things that they can on the label, funny diagrams and drawings. One of their labels is in Danish for example. Quite fun, and different, certainly stands out.

Black as tar in the glass, and a beautiful light brown head. The head is quite chunky and breaks down quickly, but other than that, the beer looks just like a normal stout.

The aromas coming off this are quite spectacular, and also rather sweet too. Mildly tart and acidic, there are also aromas of sugar and flour, baking soda and raisins. I was not sure if I was smelling a beer, or smelling a cake. Quite unusual for a stout.

Tasting this beer, it does not hit you with the deep rich flavours until later, and that I like in a stout. Mountain goat could have overloaded the beer with a hit of malt initially, but with this you get an initial tartness, which rolls over into a very smooth body, and finishes off with a slight sweetness together with a burned wood flavour on the aftertaste. There is an overall smoothness to this stout, which is very hard to get right, and the mix of flavours is very well done. I really like the smokey flavour at the finish, that is very well presented.

Summary. A very smooth and creamy stout with excellent smoked flavours, but the initial sour aroma and taste makes it 4 rather than 5 stars. Still a hit.