Rother Valley Cocoa Hops

Brewed by Rother Valley
Style: Stout
Northiam, England

Cask conditioned gravity dispense at Merton Winter Beer Festival 16-02-07. Imagine the scene in Scarface where Al Pacino is sat behind a desk, in front of him sits a huge mound of cocaine, his head flops forward and he’s immersed in the stuff, now imagine that mound of cocaine is a huge mound of cocoa powder, seriously that’s what this stuff is like you get a real great hit of Cocoa powder and it has a wonderful creaminess to it, it really is a stunner. I found this beer to be a real grower, there were other beers that were more instantly likeable but this I kept coming back to and like a top class racehorse it just crept up on the opposition to sneak what looked like an unlikely victory to be my beer of the festival. It was nigh on black in appearance with a rich creamy head, and the aroma was both roasty and bitter chcolate, but the taste was super and that silky rich milk chocolate came flooding through, in fact Co co Hops is a great name because just for a second you got that Kellogs Coco Pops milk going chocolatey taste. There was more to it than the chocolate, but for me that was all I really kept coming back for, you see it did exactly what it suggested with the name, there was nothing particularly complicated about it, you want chocolate you’ve got chocolate. Choctastic!

Gravity, Merton BF. Black with just a gleam of brown highlights--a nice contrast to the just off-white foam. Wonderful brown roast aroma, rich and tawny; just a touch of coffee. Roast brown flavor, dry and clean. A touch of cream in the finish. Lingering husky grain. Palate is just right for a beer of this strength--substantial, but not overly chewy. A lovely stout, really firing on all cylinders. I could drink this every day.

Cask conditioned at Merton beer Fest 07. Black beer with cream head. A beautifully crafted stout with lots going on, Initial nutty aroma with a full bodied roasted malty base and sweetish fruit. Coffee and chocolate notes. An absolute corker and my beer of this festival.

Kent Beer Fest. Creamy. Sweet. Dark. Mild milky cocoa. Bitterness in the finish to clean away the sweet milk and prepare for the next full cream swallow. Heavenly. It was a stunning moment to have this on the table alongside Liefmans Kriekbier and de Molen’s Engel. The combination of flavours was beautiful. Beer of the festival. Beer of the month.

Cask gravity at Kent BF 2006. Black beer with fading beige head. Powdery cocoa, smooth in mouth, very good choc on end. Just a bit too powdery.