Brooklyn BreweryI didn't plan on this being a 9/11 tribute beer, but while watching tonight's live Jay-Z benefit concert, the headliner asked the crowd before Brooklyn: Go Hard, "is Brooklyn in the house? is Brooklyn in the MFing house?". the crowd cheered to reveal that Brooklyn was indeed in the MFing house and to my surprise, Brooklyn was also in my MFing house too - in the form of Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout. I have kept this lone bottle in my fridge since last winter and finally all things pointed towards drinking it. I should denote that I generally love stouts. for me, the two best things about fall and winter are sweaters and stouts. so, I may be a bit biased in my opinion. that being said, let's look at this bottle.
this stout poured like most, extremely dark with a thick 1" head. the head wasn't as fluffy as say a Guinness, but it performed the same, in that it lasted the duration of the tasting. the aroma came off a bit sweeter than expected. there are, of course, chocolate notes along with some burnt coffee, plums, and caramel. with the colour of used motor oil and an ABV of 10% (!!), this imperial-style stout may send liver shivers to some, but I couldn't wait to put pint glass to mouth. the deep roasted malts hit you first, then the malts sweeten up for a second and there's a nice little bitterness at the finish. I definitely tasted coffee and some chocolate, but the finish left a Marmite taste with me (a good thing, in my books). I'm guessing that there is a huge amount of hops used in the brewing process to counteract the heavy roast malts, but it never feels that way. I liked the overall balance of tastes at play in this one and made this as smooth an imperial stout as I have had (even at 10%). a visit to the Brooklyn Brewery has now been added to my Brooklyn to-do list after first going to Williamsburg to make fun of hipsters and then seeing a Mos Def show in his home borough.
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I should mention that in addition to this being a great beer, it is of exceptional value too. I picked up this 355ml bottle at a BC liquor store for $2.75. if you break that down into a price to alcohol ratio (and the Scottish side of me will), it is the same price as the cheapest beer sold in BC.
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You are brilliant! I laughed my butt off in my MFing house.
ReplyDeleteThat was the best introduction to a beer review I have ever read. I read it out loud to Curtis and he had no idea I was reading from the Tippler until the words "Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout."
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