Black Oak Double Chocolate Cherry Stout

Brewed by Black Oak Brewing
Style: Sweet Stout
Etobicoke, Canada

Cask at The Victory Café, Toronto - came deep black, opaque, with a medium light brown, chocolatey head. Look great. Aroma is extremely faint, and almost undetectable. Flavour is very subtle as well, with almost everything coming forward right at the finish, lingering a little into the aftertaste. I wanted this to be a lot bigger and more robust, but as it is it’s quite thin in body and light in flavour. I detect almost no chocolate anywhere in there, and only the slightly amount of cherry in the finish. This cask version was nicknamed "Cherry Bomb" as it has more cherry in it than the bottle or keg version - strange. Roasted malts and some milk coffee notes finish this off. It’s certainly decent, but not excellent, while most Black Oak seasonals are. What is going on is nice, but it needs way more presence. Actually, this was strikingly similar to their Nutcracker Porter, but not as good and less flavourful. Looking forward to trying the bottle, which I hear is better. UPDATE - on tap at Magpie, this was much much better. Fuller flavour, roastier aroma, chocolate and cherry notes coming through, but far from overly sweet or intrusive. Nice sour tartness from the cherries. A much more distinctive stout than the cask version I’d sampled previously. My rating now reflects this keg version.

intresting beer, some head, not alot, dark choc brown, coffee nose, some cherry on aftertaste, intresting flavour mix. Not my fav black oak but still nice. on Cask at Volo

Tasted a sample (150ml) at Volo. I’d agree with the rater who said it was slightly medicinal. Pleasant in a sample, I don’t think I could stomach a full bottle.

A strange combo of flavours indeed. The chocolate and malts were not as noticeable as the sour cherry juice leaching underneath the concoction. Nothing like Black Forest cake, more like artificial chocolate mousse mixed with a coulis. Not unpleasant, but doesn’t quite work -- didn’t help that this tapped beer had no body whatsoever. Worth a rerate someday.

Tasted in Toronto on draft at C’est What. Tasted in english pint. Appearance is a deep reddish hue with thin white head. Aroma is slightly acrid, a little pungent and difficult to pick up on chocolate or cherry elements. Flavour was initially muted. I think the beer was too cold. Letting it sit for a short while allowed more of the falvourful elements to become defined. Slightly sweet coco flavour (instant hot chocolate) with a barely detectable cherry sourness. Subtle. Would have been better bigger and bolder.

On tap @ Volo, Toronto
2007 Version , fresh cask. Pours brown with good top.
Felt much richer than old 06 version . Plenty of chocolate, roasted malts less so cherry.
Old: Sweet brown malts dominate this scene, hint of euro continental hops behind.
Full , matured dark ale. Good , full bodied . For Starbucks lovers think of Raspberry Mocha but with cherry accents. Great improvement vs. batch one. Good brew. Clean slightly vinous . Pleasant, neat woody bitter touches. Late fruit finish. Brewmasters excellence and detail oriented techniques are well shown. Almost perfect as dunkel goes just a bit boring / mainstream .

Very dark brown with a foamy half inch of tan bubbles. Rich roasted malt and a hint of cherry. Sweet roasted malt flavors mingle with mildly sweet cherry juice. Somewhat like eating a dark black forest cake. Seems quite simple, but no real flaws. Thanks jerc.

Bottle. Pours black with an average size light brown frothy head. With a bit more head I would have given it a 5 for appearance. Aroma of chocolate, espresso, roasted malts and, of course, cherry. Smells delightful. Flavour is roasted coffee, chocolate, a touch of cherry and a nice amount of hops. Thankfully it’s all very well balanced and it’s not too sweet. This is a very good stout, kudos to Black Oak.