Nitro Choco Libre
BrewDog

APPEARANCE: Basically black into my pint glass. Fair amount of khaki carbonation and a slight bit of lacing at best.

NOSE: Cinnamon, chili, cocoa, yeah! Diggin’ it.

TASTE: Warming cocoa, with a touch of chili and cinnamon at finish. Smooth of body, subtle and great for chilly winter nights and snowstorms! Very enjoyable.

Dark brown appearance with a foamy dense tan head with good retention and lacing. Bakers chocolate, chili pepper, cinnamon, raisin, espresso. Medium to thick body, medium carbonation.

Poured into a grip shaped goblet: color is black, solid, head is tan with super fine bubbles and that nitro cascade off the pour, head settles to a thin top with light froth on glass.

Smell is roasted malt, cocoa, cinnamon, light cayenne or other spicy pepper note.

Taste is more cocoa forward, roasted malt, cinnamon, light cayenne/spicy pepper, hints of coffee throughout. Really well balanced mix of malt, roast, spice.

Mouthfeel is low/moderate feel of nitro effervescence, moderate sweetness, then light spice and slow creep to spicy; very well done mix of feel/flavor.

Overall a nice spicy stout not over sweet or over spiced and the nitro smoothes the stout/malt/pepperiness.

 

Canned on 9/25/20. 16oz nitro-can poured into a tulip. Pours almost black with a creamy khaki head. It looks like your typical nitro beer, more or less. The aromas are malt forward. Hints of cocoa and oddly enough, banana. Some cinnamon and spices in the mix. The aromas open up as it warms a bit. The flavors are bold but subtle at the same time. Some cinnamon and peppermint. The peppers, heat and spiciness doesn't completely dominate but absolutely leaves its mark and remains the stars of this beer. It doesn't have a brutal lingering heat in the finish. Chocolate does its thing. Malts do their thing. Mild warmth in the finish coming from the heat, but the alcohol is well hidden. Mouthfeel is exactly what you would expect from a nitro beer. Low to zero carbonation. It's full-bodied but obviously thin and watery. It's smooth and dangerously drinkable.

This is a nice "Mexican Hot Chocolate Stout". They nail all of the characteristics without it being over the top spicy. I've had their regular Choco Libre in the past and remember liking it, but I don't remember enough to honestly compare the two. Either way this is well done. They nailed the nitro characteristics as well. I really like it.

Finally realizing what the Irish Dry Stout wanted to be once it grows up, BrewDog kicks the Nitro Stout into adulthood with greater strength, spice, coffee and cream.

Slowly cascading over a jet black austere, Nitro Choco Libre hits the nose with a soothing creamy depth of roasted malt, subtle spice and a vanilla cream scent. As the dark and luscious ale fights through the thick barrier of foam, its sweetness slathers the early palate with sweet condensed milk, caramel, toffee, chocolate and roasted marshmallow consistency.

As the fine mesh bubbles settle down on the tongue, the sweetness and creaminess slowly gives way to the robust taste of dark roasted coffee and the soilish roast that comes along with it. Coffee spice extends into a simmering capsaicin warmth as the stout trends heated, creamy and roasty in a well balanced late palate.

Full bodied, creamy and downright chewy, the nature of nitro beers are to drink them quickly as its gasses escape rapidly and leave the beer lifeless. But at this higher alcohol content, that's ill advised. The residual malts hold onto the bubbles deep into the session and sooth the peppery spice with hint of caramel and kahlua.