Match+Maker Chocolate Strawberry Valentine Stout
Empyrean Brewing Company

Empyrean Match+Maker Chocolate & Strawberry Stout, 6% ABV. Pours black with a hand of tan head. Nose is light strawberry and chocolate, taste is tart strawberry, not much chocolate, and slight bitterness. Decent mouthfeel, and lots of head. Overall almost excellent. Almost like having an Orval, took me a good 5 minutes to pour this 12oz beer in the 16oz glass.

Got in a trade with The-Adjunct-Hippie. 12 ounce bottle into pint glass, best before 5/18/2018. Pours very murky very dark brown color with a 1-2 finger fairly dense and fluffy khaki head with awesome retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Nice dense foamy lacing clings on the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of juicy/lightly tart strawberries, milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, and toasted dark/brown bread; with lighter notes of coffee, nuttiness, smoke, dark fruit, herbal, grass, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of strawberries, cocoa nibs, dark/roast/bready malt, and light earthy hop/fruity yeast notes; with solid strength. Taste of juicy/lightly tart strawberries, milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, and toasted dark/brown bread; with lighter notes of coffee, nuttiness, smoke, dark fruit, herbal, grass, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Light herbal/grassy/roast bitterness and berry tartness on the finish. Lingering notes of strawberries, milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, toasted dark/brown bread, coffee, nuttiness, smoke, dark fruit, herbal, grass, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Nice complexity, robustness, and balance of strawberries, cocoa nibs, dark/roast/bready malt, and light earthy hop/fruity yeast flavors; with a nice roast/hop bitter/sweet and fruit tartness balance; with zero cloying/astringent flavors after the finish. Light-moderate increasing dryness from bitter/tartness and carbonation. Medium-high carbonation and medium body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/bready/grainy, and lightly sticky/chalky/acidic balanced mouthfeel that is great. Zero warming alcohol for 6%. Overall this is a nice fruited English stout. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of strawberries, cocoa nibs, dark/roast/bready malt, and light earthy hop/fruity yeast flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the mellowly tart/bitter/drying finish. Their English house yeast was not quite as clean as I hoped for, but it's not overwhelming. Really well balanced between all flavors. Lower carbonation would have been better, but it wasn't detrimental to the mouthfeel. A nicely enjoyable offering.

 

Appearance – Dark brown clear body with a two and a half finger head.

Aroma – Strawberry and chocolate as promised.

Taste – Coffee and roasted malt first, then berries.

Mouthfeel – Good, and highly carbonated.

Overall – A pretty good beer, thanks to The-Adjunct-Hippie for supplying it!

 

 

 

Pours a rich dark brown color with a towering head of beige, 3 fingers. It destroys the glass. Just huge.

Aroma is of earthy strawberry, faint metallic chocolate, light bakers cocoa, and girl shampoo.

Flavor gives a light sour strawberry kick, like those sour punch strawberry ropes, following up with dirty cocoa, coffee, brown malts, and a finish of faint metallic bubble gum.

Feel is rather thin for a stout, and has a carbonation rivaling a lot of Berliners. Has a heavy dry, roasty character, which follows through to the end.

Overall, Empyrean has some interesting conceptions for their stout. I'm so-so on this one. Try it for yourself.