Today is the first Beer Blogger Friday--a day when beer bloggers from around the world unite! In honor of St. Patrick's Day, we will be reviewing stouts. The only rule is that it cannot be "your father's Irish stout." My thanks to Stan at Appellation Beer for setting up the event. It looks like Al over at A Good Beer Blog will be hosting the next event.
I decided to review one of my all time favorite seasonal beers, Brooklyn Black Chocolate Imperial Stout 2006-07. Simply put, this stuff is amazing. As with many seasonal brews, the recipe for this beer changes each year and I have to say that Garrett Oliver has really outdone himself this time.
Weighing in at a whopping 10.6% abv, this beer is certainly unrelated to any of the beers my father drinks. Despite the high alcohol, I find this beer exceptionally, almost dangerously drinkable. It pours a rich black tar color with a decent tan head with lots of Belgian lace. Ok, check, this beer looks incredibly appetizing.
Upon pouring, the beer fills the nose with a sweet blend of dark chocolate, mocha, and cocoa aromas. It smells like a great dessert and it very well could be the perfect after dinner winter brew. This beer has a slightly syrupy mouthfeel, but surprisingly finishes a bit dry. Did I mention it was drinkable...holy crap, it goes down way to smoothly, but it carries a comforting warming sensation in the back of the throat.
A wide range of chocolate, cocoa and espresso flavors bounce around the palate with each sip. I have paired this beer with tiramisu, dark Belgian chocolate, and with a Richardson's Dairy Brickle Pie on my 35th birthday (for non-Boston locals, this is a dairy in Middleton, MA that makes all their incredibly rich ice cream on premises with their hormone free cows). Among other things, the pie has a coffee ice cream base and complemented the beer well. I often have this beer as a dessert in itself. This is the last beer I serve in my beer appreciation courses this year.
My advice, light a nice fire, grab a good book and sit back with a couple of these and relax cold winter's night away.
8 comments:
Chocolate, mocha, and cocoa aromas plus a 10.6% abv! Looks like I need to make a run to Kappy's!
For the Red Sox fan:
To fully enjoy this beer I would recommend pouring this fine brew from the crappy Brooklyn bottle that holds it into a clear glass. Cheers!
As you're growing up as a teenager, there are a number of things that you look forward to; getting your drivers license, graduating
from high school, going to your senior prom, having your first date and having your first beer. The problem with this last one is
that the drinking age and the thing you want make it something that you just can't have yet. And still, you want it and will go to
any lengths to get it.
Underage beer drinking is certainly no secret and to try to sweep it under the carpet isn't going to make it go away. But the most
odd thing about underage drinking when it comes to beer is that even after kids sneak their first beer, they still want to have
another one. If you're wondering why that sounds so strange then you need to think back to when YOU had your first beer. It was
pretty nasty tasting. Let's be honest, beer is bitter and is an acquired taste. Very few people, if any at all, enjoyed their first
beer. Many even get sick after it because of the taste or the fact that they're not used to the alcohol yet.
Not sure who this make-root beer is, but I am guessing they are not 21. That being said, I have liked the taste of beer since I was 2 years old. Yes, 2 years old. I used to suck the foam out of my father's empty beer bottles. Beer in moderation is a good thing. Stupid high school kids who drink beer and don't like the taste are well, stupid.
Had this Brooklyn Black two weeks ago in DC and loved it. Didn't catch the effect though until I tried to stagger home. Figured I'd mixed meds or something and went back tonight for another round of this fine elixir and it kicked my ass again. Thus I decided to research it online and found it to be not only the #6 rated microbrew by Playboy Magazine (which I heartily agree with) but holy crap it's got a 10.6% abv? No wonder I'm swooning. Nothing that dangerous should taste so good or go down so smoothly. This brew is wicked pissah!
Wicked pissah, now that says it all. If you are not from Boston, that means really good!
Man, I love stout and this sounds like a good one. Where does a guy in Arizona find this one?
Hmmm...that is a tough call. I am not sure if Brooklyn distributes way down there. The Black Chocolate Stout comes out around early December so keep an eye out for it.
Contact the brewery for distribution information. http://www.brooklynbrewery.com/
Cheers,
Jim
friday is the best day to drink beer cause if you drink to much beer you can crash until saturday.
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