Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout

I've been waiting for this one.

Russian Imperial Stout has been my favorite beer for a while, although it's starting to be overtaken by pilsners, for some reason. That's the beer equivalent of switching from pro-life religious Republican to pro-choice athiest Democrat. But it is what it is...

Anyway, this one pours an inky black, with red highlights but only at the extreme edges because of how thick this one is. Not as opaque as Ten FIDY or Bourbon County, but it doesn't have to be. Good sized head on an aggressive pour that's dark brown and fades to a sheet, but stays there.

Great smell. Deep, grainy smell with a hint of chocolate that comes from roasted malts and not the addition of cocoa, as many have to do. Slight sweetness, from the sheer amount of malt--mashed three times, which has to extract just about every last bit of starch--which in turn contributes to the 10% ABV. As the glass empties the lace on the side of the glass throws off a deep smell of dark bread.

Sharp grainy taste. Not sharp in a bad way, but clean for such a heavy beer. The high alcohol probably contributes to that, and although the alcohol is obvious in the taste it's not in a straight alcohol way. It's more of a deep, dark fermented fruit that gives way to the grainy taste, followed by the alcohol. Some hops bitterness, but primarily in the aftertaste. At the end is just a roasted coffee taste that lingers.

Very good beer. I wish there were less of a vinous/fermented fruit taste, but all in all it's one of the best impy stouts I've had.