Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout

Brewed by Brooklyn Brewery
Style: Imperial Stout
Brooklyn, New York USA

Ask a lady if she likes chocolate and your resoundingly universal answer will be “Yes”. Ask a lady if she likes dark chocolate, and you are more apt to get a more mixed response of “Yes” and “No”. Personally, I am of the “Yes” group and love dark chocolate. Far more complex, rich, and palatable then the overly sweet and sometimes cloying milk chocolate, dark chocolate is a perfect balance of bitter-sweet pleasure; a carnival for your senses. Paired with a stout, dark chocolate rises to new heights of culinary divinity. Stouts already have rich chocolate notes as part of their palate, ranging from sweet and soft milk chocolate to bitter-sweet and vibrant dark chocolate. Understanding this destined combination, each year around the holidays Brooklyn Brewery brings us their Black Chocolate Stout and dark chocolate beer lovers around the world rejoice. I know I do.
She pours like a pitch-black dream of thick black-gold into my pint glass, rising to an almost as dark tan head that seems to have no end. Rich and decadent bubbles rise from the bottom of her midnight depths to join her brethren up top. As her head fades ever so slowly, lace and pockets of foam stick like oil to the sides while rich bitter espresso and massive waves of freshly crushed dark chocolate embrace my senses. All this and I haven’t even raised my glass to my nose to partake of her bouquet in intimate quarters. Rich, dark, and slightly sweet but with overwhelming dark chocolate and bitter espresso dominates. A faint hint of rum lingers in the background. Such a black brew will no doubt be as heavy as she looks; verily not as my mouth and tongue is wrapped in her velveteen and lightly effervescent body. Melted dark and black chocolate mixes with fresh cream followed by freshly drawn espresso and coffee which ends with a lightly dry flourish. The rum I found hidden in the depths of her nose is also present in the recesses of her palate and a slowly pervasive alcohol warmth carries her through my body. Do I detect some wood in her black depths? None too soon, my glass is empty and I bask in my Black Chocolate Stout’s glow. Fresh, rich, creamy and replete with tons of dark chocolate divinity, black espresso, and woodsy rum notes.
Truly divine, Black Chocolate Stout also ages well so I look forward to seeing how my 2008 bottles taste in a year or two. Complex and yet very straightforward, she is extremely quaffable which belies her high ABV and could very quickly get me in trouble. After all, when it comes to ladies and their dark chocolate, restraint is sacrilege; add a beer enthusiast into the mix and newly dangerous territory is treaded.

Bottle. Black with small brown head. Aroma of alcohol, chocolate and malt. Tastes chocolate and coffee beans. Well balanced. It has little too much of carbonation. It’s also to thin for being an imperial stout.

On tap. not at all bad... This pours black with no head...aroma of strong chocolate roasted notes..flavor is more like a strong porter than it is an impy stout...somewhat one-dimensional roasted malt complex..slightly bitter finish...thin for an "imperial". Not as good as expected.

12 oz bottle. Pours black with a medium brown head. Aroma is dominated by chocolate with roasted coffee and dark fruit notes. Possibly a touch of hop aroma. Chocolate and coffee flavor, a bit of vanilla, very nicely done, with a roasty finish and again a touch of hops. Creamy palate. This is a very nice imperial stout, and I’m quite happy to have picked it up at $9 for the sixer.

Wow this is dark! I bet if you put a flashlight up to it that it doesn’t even lighten up a bit. This has hints of chocolate in it along with the normal malt and stout scents. It’s flavor is that of unsweetened chocolate and malts. Nice aftertaste. This is one smooth stout! Great job Brooklyn Brewery!

Bottle pours opaque black with thin tan head. Aroma is sweet dark fruits and little alcohol. First taste is sweet roasted malt and some dark fruits then the bitterness comes in from the roasted malt. Alcohol is apparent throughout the whole tasting and the finish is biter dark chocolate.

Had this on tap at Mad Mex. Very nice for Imperial Stout, perhaps not as big in hops as Stormking but lots of oil and toffee and smoke plus enough hops.

Bottle thanks to ericandersnavy. Pours pitch black with almost no head. Aroma of dark roast & chocolate, signs of citrus tang. Flavor is semi-sweet with bakers chocolate, dark roast. Med-heavy body with medium carbonation. Overall, it’s tasty.