Rogue Brewing Company's Chocolate Stout

If you have someone you're trying to introduce to good beer, but aren't quite sure which way to go, try this one.

Pours deep, opaque black with a big brown head that stays well with good carbonation.

Obvious chocolate smell. This is not the chocolate you get from roasting the barley a certain way, like Brooklyn's Black Chocolate Stout (which is also a very good beer). It tastes like sweeter chocolate, and has an obvious cocoa taste. It's not over the top though, like Young's Double Chocolate Stout (which is not a good beer), and strikes a good balance between the desire for a chocolate taste but still having some semblance of beer flavor to it. Young's is like drinking a chocolate cake. Brooklyn's is like drinking beer with deep, unsweetened, dark chocolate. This is more like beer with a sweeter chocolate, but still beer. No discernible hops flavor, but the bitterness comes out a bit in the aftertaste. Great, smooth feel to it, because the cocoa gives the feel of lactose, without that cold lactose taste.

It makes a great dessert beer. It was the first of many I had, because I was starting someone off slowly on about a dozen beers that were strong ales or heavier, but I'll have to keep some around just in case I ever get to have more than beer for dessert.