Characteristics:
Pitch Black Stout shouts stout … deep colour and rich hints of chocolate and coffee ,yet dry enough to want another pint. This is an excellent beer to match with chocolate cake and seafood like Bluff oysters. Can be served either chilled or at 10-15 º C for full hit of flavour.
Tasting Notes:
It may be called Pitch Black but when poured into a glass and held to the light this beer shows flashes of red in the darkness beneath its frothy, tan-coloured head. The aroma and palate are rich and inviting with suggestions of sweet caramel and milk chocolate combining to produce a ‘Milo-like’ effect. Smooth and creamy in the mouth, a late coffee-like charred roastiness and hint of hop dryness combine to cleanse the palate in preparation for another sip.
Black Story:
First brewed in 1999 Pitch Black was a made-to-order match for the iconic Southern seafood which, due to a sponsorship clash, was left at home in the vat while Nally’s Cider attended the Bluff Oyster Festival in its place.
Happily, the bridesmaid brew found sufficient favour further afield to secure it’s future. Pitch Black went on to inspire a stable of stout variants. Falling somewhere between the dry and sweet style classes accolades eluded it for many years, until the drought was finally broken in 2007, since then it’s consistently medalled on both sides of the Tasman (despite still occasionally getting an “out of class” tick on the judges notes.)
Although you still won’t find Pitch Black at the oyster festival – visitors to Bluff can still sample the perfect pairing – just ask at the Anchorage Hotel or Lands End.
