How did the first batch of Rye Stout turn out? -- Taste Test

After 4 long weeks of fermenting and bottle conditioning, the Rye Stout was ready to drink.

Those Mexican coke bottles make novelty homebrew bottles!

I got a total of 16 bottles from that batch, averaging the cost per bottle to about $1.10 each (with no regard to labor of course). I should also mention that the head turned out fantastic. 

Although this batch came out tasting great, there are some minor adjustments I can make to the recipe to make it more ideal to what I was going for with this beer. It could use a greater percentage of rye malt (and less two row) as the rye character isn't fully where I wanted it to be. I'll also increase the amount of roasted malt a tad to increase the burnt character I was hoping for. If I take out too much two row from it though, I might lose too much diastatic power in my mash.

Great foam!

Now for some some specs. When I originally tested the gravity to determine the alcohol content with my hydrometer, I got the final ABV to be 6.4% (with a specific gravity of 1.020). But I decided to step up my game a step further and run a sample on some actual "lab-grade" testing equipment. The results I got from that told me that the ABV was around 6.95% and that the final gravity was closer to 1.014.  I found this comparison very interesting. I'm curious to know how accurate my hydrometer readings were for my past brews.

For now, I have this brew to enjoy and share. Until the next batch, cheers!