Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout

Brooklyn Brewery – Brooklyn, N.Y.

Style: American stout

Serving temperature: 55˚F, 13˚C

Alcohol content: 10.1% abv

            Despite its name and flavor, this stout contains not a single ounce of chocolate.

            Brewed in the style of a classic Russian imperial stout, it takes three separate mashes - with no secondary runnings – to produce enough wort for this monster. The grain bill includes roasted barley, black barley, black malt and chocolate malt, but nothing remotely related to cacao. A substantial amount of Willamette and American Fuggles hops provides the needed balance.

            “Each one has a particular role in creating the flavor profile,” says brewer Garrett Oliver said. “The interesting thing is that the beer becomes much more chocolate-like over its first year in the bottle.”

             Though the stout can stand on its own as a cold-weather sipper, it’s a flexible partner at dinnertime. It complements strong cheese, and plays well with fudge. Oliver frequently presents it as Exhibit 1 in that great debate: Which is better with food, beer or wine?

            It’s black as ink with a tight brown head. Sweet chocolate and dark-roasted malt in the nose. While cocoa does not dominate, other chocolate-like characters of bitterness, espresso, dark fruits and burned toast are recognizable. Hugely satisfying with a strong, challenging alcohol kick.

-Joe Sixpack