Diesel is Sixpoint's answer to the winter seasonal. This is the Brooklyn-based brewery's sixth canned release of 2011 and one of their oldest recipes. The brewery continues to push forward with cans and we can't wait to see what will be coming down the canning line in 2012! 

From the Sixpoint site:

"Diesel stout has actually been offered each winter since 2005, the year after Sixpoint was founded. Rich, robust and deep brown-black, this beer will linger in your mouth like a streak of tar. Yet it’s surprisingly sessionable and effervescent, too. It starts with nutty roasted malts, which get combined with Columbus and Northern Brewer hops. Another dose of Columbus in the dry-hopping stage gives it a defiantly hoppy character. Poured in a glass, the head becomes thick and cappuccino-like, with lacing down to the last sip."

Here we go...

Pour -  inky black flowing into the glass and ultimately settling in a pitch color with a rather thin espresso-colored head that leaves some lacing inside the glass. Looks mysterious and delicious.

Aroma - cocoa powder, coffee grounds, citrusy hops, molasses, brown bread dough and 

Taste - first sip brings about some dry, bitter roasty flavors. Definitely some French roast coffee and bitter dark chocolate notes here. The maltiness is not all that sweet and this has leanings towards hoppiness that may come as a surprise. Diesel also has a brineyness to it, sort of a soy sauce like aftertaste from the hopping that isn't altogether unappealing but its not a sweet finish like some stouts. Reminds me a bit of a pretzel dipped in dark chocolate.

Overall - nicely put together American stout with a Sixpoint touch that makes it their very own. A malty and hoppy brew that goes down nicely on a winter evening. Love the black can as well. We're looking forward to Sixpoint's announcement on their upcoming spring seasonal release. We've heard a rumor about it being a saison. We shall wait and see..

Note - the back of the Diesel can has a short poem that was written by American poet Gary Snyder. It reads:

"Each dawn is clear

Cold air bites the throat.

Thick frost on the pine bough

Leaps from the tree snapped by the diesel"

- Gary Snyder