Fort Collins Chocolate Stout

Brewed by Fort Collins Brewery
Style: Stout
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

This had, as could be expected, a strong chocolate aroma. It poured a very dark brown but there were parts I could see light through. The head was of average size but nothing spectacular. It had strong chocolate notes on the taste but was also a bit watery. It was dry and just slightly bitter on the palate.

12 oz bottle from the brewers lunchbox. Poured a dark black with a three finger brown head. Aroma was malty with a hint of smoke. This beer wasn’t heavy for a stout, a little creamy. Flavor was the roasted malt and smoke. Very little chocolate to my tastebuds. Kind of disappointing, but still an average beer.

12 fl. oz. bottle via Lubiere, served cool in a tulip glass.

App.: Black with a fair light mocha head. Aroma: Tangy and vinous, slightly smokey and metallic, lots of molasses, hints of coffee, chocolate and vanilla, slight dark dried fruits. Palate: Medium+ body, sparse but sharp carbonation, kinda slick. Flav.: A bit of the tang and vinous qualities, some smoke, more black coffee than the nose, molasses, a touch metallic, a hint of vanilla, not really getting any chocolate; dry with some bitterness and a little lingering black coffee.

Doesn’t live up to the name, but tasty nonetheless.

Bottle. Drank this last night in a haze towards the end of the night. Thank god, because I think sober this beer would not have been too impressive. Half drunk, however, it tasted pretty good. Sweet and chocolately, somewhat thin, but more of a session type stout than anything. I could drink alot of them, and actually they were not as sweet as I was thinking it was going to be. That was a relief. Not a bad beer, just not great. The double chocolate one is much better.

12oz bottle(courtesy of RSRIZZO)-Pours a pitch balck body with a huge tan head which emits an aroma of burnt malt, coffee, and chocolate. Taste is of the same with the chocolate being prominent in the middle and the coffee and burnt malt on the back end. A nice tasting stout.

Bottle. Dark brown with a beige frothy head. Aroma kind of a slightly soapy Bosco chocolate with bran cereal underneath. Nothing really exciting in terms of flavor...Light roast coffee/chocolate malt, a bit husky and grainy with a body that thins out too quickly. Not terrible for a beer, but not really recommendable as a "good stout."

Chocolate beers are a dicey proposition, but I decided to try another after my early Young’s fiasco. Fort Collins Brewery has a mixed reputation with me, so I expected it to go either way. A medium dark brown head caps an eclipsed, black body. The aroma holds an expectedly heavy dose of dark chocolate, the smell of a dusty, old basement (cobwebs?), a creamy, sweet, coffee ice cream and chocolate covered coffee beans. In essence, a somewhat well synchronized match between bitter and sweet. The flavor drops the chocolate, and adopts a raw, ligneous and cooked coffee bean profile. Disheartening for my fructose obsessed palate, but still distinctive and tasty. A touch of brown sugar sweetness and molasses steps in to try and make up for the lost chocolate sugar, but mostly fails, instead making the brew a little richer. Not bad, but still does poor justice to chocolate. I’d rather separate two products and enjoy each at its own pinnacle rather than combine the two and attempt a synthetic masterpiece.

Pours dark brown, with minimal head. Aroma is roasty but minimal. Nothing overwhelming. Palate is a bit thinner than expected, and a little too fizzy on the swallow. Flavors of malt and caramel, with just a bit of chocolate. Not as up front with it as some chocolate stouts. There is also a metallic taste to it, which isn’t common to me with stouts. Overall a good beer, but not a stout to get excited about.