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.

Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout

Another stout? Sold. Always glad to see more pop up here and there, and of all the styles out there this one is one that I will buy no matter who makes it. It just so happens that Brooklyn puts out some pretty good beer, so this is a low risk one for me.

Pours a completely opaque black with brown highlights and a great, almost cascading, brown head that very slowly recedes.

Solid roasted, raw grain smell. Not bready, just grainy. No chocolate so far, which is good to me because if I want to drink a chocolate cake I'll go for a Young's Double Chocolate. And I don't want to drink a chocolate cake, so subtlety is key to me in a chocolate stout. I also prefer the ones that get the chocolate from the grain as opposed to actual chocolate. I don't know which type this is, but so far it's leaning toward the former.

Yep, strong roasted flavor and a surprising level of bitterness. Very little malt is apparent in anything but the feel. The chocolate definitely comes from the grain, or seems to, anyway, but there seems to be a milk stout feel, but not taste. It just has a bit of a silky feel to it that lactose can give. There's also a bit of an alcohol bite, which is surprising given how strong the other flavors are.

You know, I like this and would choose it if I was out and there was a fairly limited selection of beers, but I much prefer a straight up stout or a non-chocolate variety. Well, I don't know about 'much,' but I do prefer them. The roasted flavor is just a tad twangy and too roasted for the type, to me. But, it is better than Young's, which I will forsake forever.

Very good beer. Any criticism above is just relative to my favorites, not other beer as a whole and shouldn't really be taken as a criticism, just a comparison with my favorites. Think of it like a hot soccer mom next door. You want her, but not as much as the hot coworker who wears the tight skirts and has big ol' fake boobs.