Rogue Chocolate Stout

Brewed by Rogue Ales
Style: Sweet Stout
Newport, Oregon USA

22oz Bomber / I’ve enjoyed this beer many times before and will enjoy many times in the future. The bittersweet balance of malts, hops, and chocolate are about as good as it gets. Really, this treat never gets old.

On tap at Pizzeria Paradiso. Pours a deep brown with ruby highlights. A massive rocky, dark tan head leaves big lacing. Aroma is intense artesian dark chocolate with milk chocolate ganache. Taste is bitter chocolate with a big hop presence balancing. Bitter, quick finish. Very good.

Bottle. Poured black with a thick brown head. Aroma had notes of chocolate as well as an underlying coffee aroma. Flavor was dominated by chocolate notes with a bit of a bitter but towards the finish.

Pours black. Actually, it appears to be such a deep dark brown that light will not penetrate it. Three-finger head of dense light brown colored foam. Excellent retention and massive lacing. Probably some of the best lacing that I’ve ever seen, at this point. The chocolate really stands out, in this one. It brings a big toasted maltiness with it. Nice roasted coffee notes. Hints of vanilla and caramel. A little bit of smoke. The chocolate is still big hare, like in the nose. The coffee stands up next to it, though, to give it some balance. Big roasted malts. Not much hop presence, at all. Just a touch of vanilla cream. Good medium body, here. Not quite full. Just a touch too waterey, for me. Would like it to be a touch creamier. Very tasty brew, all-in-all. Nice stout with some good chocolate flavor. Very drinkable. Would be good for a cool night. With the economical pricing of Rogue beers, this would be a great one to have on hand, most of the time.

Pitch black with a surprisingly big, brown head that settles into great looking lacings. The aromas is basically just of sweet chocolate mixed with distinct yet not overly powerful roasted malts. Some chocolate syrup, chocolate powder and a faint milky note. Not bad, but certainly not very complex. Very distinct flavor of sweet chocolate from start to finish. The chocolate flavors aren’t that luxurious though, they taste more like cheep dark chocolate, milk chocolate and chocolate syrup. Some dark toffee. Just a hint of dark fruits (plums?). Plenty of roasted malts, not very powerful though and they certainly are overshadowed by the chocolate. In the finish coffee flavors make a fairly good attempt at balancing the sweet chocolate flavors and gives the beer somewhat of a mochaccino edge to it. Some very gentle chocolate bitterness and mild grassy hops in the finish as well, and of course more chocolate. Unfortunately, the finish came out a bit short and boring to me, nothing really takes the lead and the taste just fades away too quickly. Medium body, actually thinner than I had expected. Quite a lot of carbonation. However, it seems like some time in the snifter serves this one well since it gets a little rounder and and the mouthfeel gets somewhat smoother after a while. A good beer, but I don’t think it managed to live up to my expectations. Indeed, there is a lot of sweet chocolate flavors going on here and that’s the way it should be, but it would have been nice with a little more complexity and a bigger body. Still recommended, though. Serving type: bottle (Copy of old Beer Advocate review)

Similar to the Rogue Shakespeare stout only with more pronounced chocolate flavors. This was very enjoyable.

Pours deep brown/black. Nose is loads of chocolate, sweet malts and roasted malt. Flavor is big roast, light smoke, cocoa powder and sweet molasses.

See, I was planning on doing a proper rating for this beer, but I poured it and drank it all before I had a chance to give it justice. Anyways, it’s very very good, this is a beer that you should never turn down.