Wye Valley Dorothy Goodbody’s Wholesome Stout

ABV: 4.6%
Origin: Stoke Lacy, Herefordshire, England
Website www.wyevalleybrewery.co.uk

Originally published in BEER October 2007 as part of a review of that year’s Champion Bottle Conditioned Beer of Britain winners. For more see previous posts.

Wye Valley Dorothy Goodbody's Wholesome Stout

Wye Valley is another name well-known to fans of British RAIB, especially for its Dorothy Goodbody brand – named after a fictitious blonde bombshell whose 1940s-retro image graces the brewery’s flagship brands. Its cask beers are also well-appreciated, but this year’s joint silver medal is its first CBoB award for bottled beer, and not before time.

Wholesome Stout, brewed from Maris Otter pale, crystal and chocolate malt plus roasted and flaked barley and hopped with only Northdown, is a very dark brown beer with a thick creamy fawn head, and an amber tinge in the light. There’s firm malt, roast and coffee in a tangy, fruity aroma.

A classically roasty dry stout palate has good acidity and an early hop note, while a mild and fruity underlying maltiness is slightly kinder than the Titanic beer. There’s still plenty of edgy roast dryness on the lengthy finish, with a rooty hop bite again softened by malt. Memory may be unreliable, but I can’t recall ever tasting an old-fashioned Guinness as rich and complex as this.

For more Champion Bottle Conditioned Beer of Britain winners, see next post.

Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/wye-valley-dorothy-goodbodys-wholesome-stout/5808/