Guinness Foreign Extra Stout

From the famous brewery at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland.  This 7.5% ABV stout is the Guinness export version.  For many years it was exported to other parts of the world, and it is finally again available in the United States.  It was previously available in the United States from 1817 until Prohibition.  It has extra hops, which in the days before refrigeration were meant to help preserve the beer on its export journey.

This beer pours coal black with a large head of brown foam.  The aroma is predominantly aromatic, floral and fruity with a slightly smoky, dark roasted malt in the background.  The taste reverses the aroma.  The malt is predominant in the taste which is creamy, dark, roasted, coffee, bitter, with the floral and fruity notes that are primary in the aroma appearing on the finish in the taste. 

This is much more complex in its flavor than regular Guinness.  It has hoppy notes that remind me of those in the Meantime IPA, but it is not vinous in character and of course has the stout malt going on as well, which changes the hop notes somewhat.