Welcome to LivingSocial: Beer

It's been awhile since I've reviewed a beer. Hopefully that means this review will be a good one! The most recent brews I've had from Brooklyn Brewing Co. have been their #1 and #2 ales. The Local #1 was really good and the #2 was up there too even though I'm not the biggest Belgian fan. This time I picked up their Black Chocolate Stout. It's getting cooler and darker outside every successive day, so I, and everyone else, need to be drinking beers for the season. Most chocolate stouts I've ha... (show more)

It's been awhile since I've reviewed a beer. Hopefully that means this review will be a good one! The most recent brews I've had from Brooklyn Brewing Co. have been their #1 and #2 ales. The Local #1 was really good and the #2 was up there too even though I'm not the biggest Belgian fan. This time I picked up their Black Chocolate Stout. It's getting cooler and darker outside every successive day, so I, and everyone else, need to be drinking beers for the season. Most chocolate stouts I've had are decent but not great. Most sacrifice overall flavor and robustness for the chocolate flavor. No me gusta. Anyway, that's enough NOT talking about the Black Chocolate Stout! As Charles Barkley says, "Lemme tellya sumthin", I knew this would be a good beer as soon as I poured it and my nose became tingled by the chocolaty, roasty, liquorice aroma. Color is like a very dark chocolate and it turns a lighter brown/chocolate color around the edges when put up to light. The head on it was frothy and tan. A thin film of frothiness stays for awhile on top of the beer. Unlike most other chocolate stouts I've had, this one has a more cocoa chocolate taste to it. It's not too sweet. It's actually got quite a bit of bitterness that took me awhile to understand and get used to, but the overall flavor is pretty good. At first tasting you are hit with the chocolate bitterness and alcohol. The bitterness later on is balanced with the sweeter chocolate and a roasty coffee flavor as well. I'd prefer that there be less chocolate/coffee bitterness at the beginning, but this is one of the better chocolate stouts I've had. (show less)

8oz glass at Horse Brass. This is nothing like the 90 minute IPA; this is like a little glass of honey thinned out with bong water and vodka. Ok that sounds bad.
While it is bitter it doesn't have the overwhelming bitterness I expected; the hops are kept in check by an almost cloying sweetness and the alcohol clouds some of the more subtle hoppy characteristics. But I guess this isn't supposed to be subtle. What you do get of the hops is a thick, extremely resinous nose that, along with t... (show more)

8oz glass at Horse Brass. This is nothing like the 90 minute IPA; this is like a little glass of honey thinned out with bong water and vodka. Ok that sounds bad.
While it is bitter it doesn't have the overwhelming bitterness I expected; the hops are kept in check by an almost cloying sweetness and the alcohol clouds some of the more subtle hoppy characteristics. But I guess this isn't supposed to be subtle. What you do get of the hops is a thick, extremely resinous nose that, along with the alcohol and sweetness, has a solvent-like quality. That sounds a lot worse than it is. I'm glad I had only 8oz as I didn't really want any more than that of this 18%ABV monster.
Do I rate it based on how much I personally like it, or on whether or not it was executed well? If the former I'd probably give it a 2.5, but I think DFH did what they set out to do pretty well. I can see why they did what they did, even if I don't necessarily want to drink it again right away. Compromise time. (show less)