After reading a beer sort of girl's post about 75th Street's Chocolate Stout, we decided to stop by for lunch on Saturday and see for ourselves all about this caucophony of chocolate. I have to be honest - I expected a pretty sweet chocolatey stout, almost like Young's Double Chocolate only not quite as good.
Instead, what I got was a pint of delicious stout that had a wonderful bitter chocolate flavor to it. While its richness convinced me to drink only one pint of it, I thoroughly enjoyed that pint. Mouthfeel was right about where an American Stout should be - a bit soft and velvety, but not too fluffy. The chocolate flavor was not sweet at all, but imparted a gentle bitterness from initial sip to aftertaste. It was, in fact, reminiscent of good dark chocolate.
I highly recommend their chocolate stout, and am even more disappointed now that I missed it on Firkin Friday. Now more than ever, I'm looking forward to their Imperial Stout in February.
We also sampled Dan of Gone Mild's Triple Sugar Tripel, which we tried with initial reservation due to a suspicion it would overwhelm us with sugary sweetness. I was delighted to be wrong about the Tripel; this is a fantastic beer. Well done, Dan! It's appropriately attenuated for a tripel, giving off just a hint of sweetness, the warming effect of a tripel, just a hint of hoppiness, and a great lingering Belgian-yeast aftertaste.
My only disappointment is that there was nothing in the brewery (that I saw) giving Dan any sort of recognition, or even mentioning that this beer was the winner of their annual homebrewers' competition. Hopefully this was just my oversight, and appropriate recognition was given.
I thought the tripel was much sweeter than Belgian versions, which is typical of US versions.
ReplyDeleteYeah, now that I think about it, you're right. I also forgot in my original post to mention the pretty prominent honey flavor
ReplyDeleteI wasn't a huge fan of the Tripel, but I do like the Belgian yeast beers. Just a little to sweet for me.
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