Young's chocolate chocolate Stout
Written: Nov 21 '02 (Updated Nov 22 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Dark, smooth and luxurious
Cons: One pint at a time is enough
The Bottom Line: Chocolate smoothness in a glass
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| proxam's Full Review: Young's Double Chocolate England 16.9oz |
Need a beer? or are you a chocolate junkie? WHAT! You're an alcochocoholic!!!! Then have I got news for you, Angus. Here's a little product that can satisfy both those cravings in one fell swoop. But first, a word from our sponsors......
Young’s is a traditional family brewery which is famous for it’s cask ales and has been in business at the Ram brewery in Wandsworth, London since 1831. Deliveries are still made by horse-drawn dray and the brewery is home to geese, peacocks, and the company mascot, a ram. You could be forgiven for thinking that this was a review for London Zoo.
For more information about the brewery, and their range of beers: http://www.youngs.co.uk
The beer we are tasting today is Young’s Double Chocolate Stout.
But what is a stout?
Well, it’s a dark brown to black beer made with highly roasted grains and is traditionally top fermenting. Sweet stouts are usually associated with London and hoppier, dry stouts, with Dublin.
And the chocolate?
Chocolate malt is the result of heating, almost burning, the barley to around 200 C. This generates a complex array of roasted flavours and a dark colour.
But wait, there’s more to it than that. Young’s Double Chocolate Stout was the first beer to to be made with added chocolate, both as bars and as essence, and was introduced in 1997. In fact the label, with the scrolled capital C in the word chocolate, and the rich purple background colour, is reminiscent of a well known British milk chocolate bar.
The chocolate bar is nice enough but I’ll choose the beer every time.
Young’s Double Chocolate Stout is brewed with Chocolate, Crystal and Pale malts along with Fuggles and Goldings hop varieties. They then add chocolate bars while brewing and chocolate essence before bottling.
I'm still not sure where they got the name from though.
-----------------------Intermission------------------
A guy goes into a pub and asks the bartender for a drink. Then he asks for another. After a few more drinks, the bartender notices the guy looks worried.
"What's the matter?" the bartender asks.
"My wife and I got into a fight," explained the guy "and now she isn't talking to me for a whole 31 days."
The bartender thought about this for a while. "So, what's the problem?" he asked.
"Today is the last day."
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Open the bottle time....
* The Pour *
Not quite black - but as close as makes no difference - with a good, foamy, light brown head which lasts quite well and leaves a decent amount of lace on the glass. There’s a hint of spice on the nose, with a deep, rich, dark malty flavour and a slightly sweet, treacly tone. Not much in the way of hops though.
* The Taste *
Full-bodied, and with an extremely silky-smooth texture, it has a lively mouthfeel. The spicy aroma transfers to the tastebuds as ginger but it’s very subtle and not overbearing. Upfront it tastes creamy and a little like fudge - very sweet, but again, not sickly sweet. The finish is balanced by the bitter chocolate leaving a very satisfying and comforting aftertaste.
* The Verdict *
At 5% ABV, this is a big beer but not too strong. The use of chocolate may surprise many people but it’s not really that strange as malts with a chocolate-like flavour are very often used in stouts. This makes them an ideal after-dinner beer, rather like a liquid dessert. This beer in particular lends itself to that end very well.
It’s certainly not a session beer and I don’t think I’d really like to drink more than one of these of an evening. I don’t think it would particularly enhance a meal like poached salmon either.
I’m not a huge fan of chocolate, I can take it or leave it, but stick it in a beer and I think I prefer to take it.
Thanks for reading,
Sláinte
©proxam2002
Recommended:
Yes
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Alcohol & calculus don't mix. Don't drink & derive
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