Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence

Brewed by Brewery Ommegang (Moortgat)
Style: Stout
Cooperstown, New York USA

Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence is an opaque brown-black ale with a huge, fluffy, lumpy light brown head. The retention and lacing are outstanding. It smells like roasted chocolate with a touch of green, leafy, grassy hops. It’s pretty full bodied, smooth and minerally with a slightly astringent finish. It tastes lightly sweet and lightly bitter. It’s well balanced. There is a dry, bitter chocolate flavor with a touch of fruity sweetness, kind of like eating dark chocolate. It’s very good, but it doesn’t seem too polished. [Sampled at the 2009 Flower City Brewers’ Fest at Frontier Field, Rochester, NY]

Pours a opaque black color with a brown head. Aroma is bitter chocolate, fruity, plum, roast, some Belgian phenols, caramel, brown sugar, and some earthy tones. Flavor is roast, caramel, bitter chocolate, earthy, plum, and a bitter spicy finish.

Bottle at Københavnske Øldage 2009
Black color, small head. It tastes more like a bottom fermented dark beer in dirty water than anything else. A lot of roasted malt; dry. Not good.

Murky dark brown pour with slight highlight of brown-gold, with dense creamy fine foam that is a darker shade of tan. Aromas of cocoa, dark roast coffee, molasses. Taste is sour-bittter coffee/cocoa following on with a nice dark malt sweetness showing really great dark & lightly tart dry fruit. Minerally feel. Cola or Sarsaparilla - old school herb-based candy. Hint of tar and leafy hops.The initial impression of ’mushroom’ and ’slight offensive sourness’ may have just been my palate after dinner, as this beer shapes up as a VERY tasty and subtle Ommegang with long, lingering finish of cocoa, fruit, cola, lightly dry hops.

Form a 750 corked and caged bottle this poured a very dark brown with a fat tan head and thick lacing rings. Nose is very strongly of chocolate and vanilla, with smoky malts. Smooth and silky mouthfeel. The flavor is mostly roasted malts with some smoke, and bitter-sweet chocolate. Finish is bitter-sweet as well. A very nice stout.

Draft at International Beer Garten (Lutz, FL). Pours a dark brown color with a tan head. You are inundated by dark chocolate and roasted malt in the aroma and flavor. Bittersweet chocolate aftertaste. Very interesting but best in small doses.

Bottle. Dark brown, almost black pour, plenty of cookie colored head. Aroma of rich dark chocolate and vanilla. Flavor is tons of smoky/toasty malts, bitter chocolate, oily and somewhat thin on the finish. Decent, but worth the $11-12/bottle price.

Bottle. Beer pours a redish black with a thin tan head. The nose is rich with coffee and chocolate. The taste is burnt chocolate and roasted malts the mouth feel is round and creamy.