Black Is Beautiful
New Orleans Lager & Ale Brewing Company (NOLA)
- From:
- New Orleans Lager & Ale Brewing Company (NOLA)
- Louisiana, United States
- Style:
- American Imperial Stout
- ABV:
- 10%
- Score:
- +8 ratings needed
- Avg:
- 3.03 | pDev: 16.17%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 1
- Status:
- Inactive
- Rated:
- Aug 08, 2020
- Added:
- Jul 15, 2020
- Wants:
- 0
- Gots:
- 0
NO SCORE
-
-
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews.
Rated by animal69 from Louisiana
3.52/5 rDev +16.2%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
3.52/5 rDev +16.2%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
Not sure if I got a bad one, very flat
Aug 08, 2020
Reviewed by Jugs_McGhee from Texas
2.55/5 rDev -15.8%
look: 3.25 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5
2.55/5 rDev -15.8%
look: 3.25 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5
16 fl oz can. Offered in 4 packs for $11.99 USD plus tax.
"Imperial chocolate stout." 10% ABV. Best by 01/04/21.
Acrid roast is tempered by chocolate malt, actual chocolate (yes, this is the rare chocolate stout that is actually brewed with real chocolate), and gooey dark malt sweetness with subsidiary hints of caramel, nougat, Whoppers/malted milk balls, and faint dark fruit in there too. I even get some grape on the finish.
I expected more flourish from the chocolate flavour...apparently, the chocolates were sourced from Piety and Desire Chocolates but the chocolate flavour is very basic...just generic sweetness and milk chocolate, no rich high cacao dark chocolate notes, berries, orange, powdery Belgian chocolate, or the like. At least there's no Hershey's-like butyric acid.
Its high sweetness, gooey texture, and adjunct help shield the high ABV from landing on the palate. I can't say it's very well balanced overall but the well disguised ABV aspect of it is nice. It's structurally imbalanced (too bitter up front and too sweet on the back end) as well as generally imbalanced (it feels uneven and rough around the edges throughout, never quite harmonizing the tug of its sweeter flavours with the unapproachable bitterness at its core).
Lacks the roasty flavours I love in a great imperial stout too, despite bringing all of roasted barley's/carafa's concomitant bitterness to the fore. I love roasted barley's flavour (I mean, Guinness is a stepping stone beer for so many of us for a reason), but it's absent here. If all they were using roast for was its accompanying bitterness, they'd have been better off playing with coffee and/or hops instead.
It's drinkable for its ABV, but I find its imbalance too tough to get past and it fails to best something like Founders' Breakfast Stout which is widely available in the same market as this (or even Young's Double Chocolate Stout). These charity beers are great when the beer is good first and foremost, but this is another one that has devolved into "for good cause" laziness and wankery...when the beer itself is lacklustre, it reflects poorly on the cause they're championing and instead feels like marketing gimmickry. Apparently, the Black Is Beautiful beer collaboration started in early June; clearly, NoLa didn't really plan this one out much. It feels like they rushed it out to meet a deadline for the movement instead of putting the beer first.
I can only presume both Courtyard Brewing's and Parish Brewing's versions are far superior.
Low C- (2.55) / BELOW AVERAGE
***
07/16/20 another can from my 4 pack:
A very lacklustre attempt at an imperial chocolate stout.
Low C- / BELOW AVERAGE
Jul 15, 2020"Imperial chocolate stout." 10% ABV. Best by 01/04/21.
Acrid roast is tempered by chocolate malt, actual chocolate (yes, this is the rare chocolate stout that is actually brewed with real chocolate), and gooey dark malt sweetness with subsidiary hints of caramel, nougat, Whoppers/malted milk balls, and faint dark fruit in there too. I even get some grape on the finish.
I expected more flourish from the chocolate flavour...apparently, the chocolates were sourced from Piety and Desire Chocolates but the chocolate flavour is very basic...just generic sweetness and milk chocolate, no rich high cacao dark chocolate notes, berries, orange, powdery Belgian chocolate, or the like. At least there's no Hershey's-like butyric acid.
Its high sweetness, gooey texture, and adjunct help shield the high ABV from landing on the palate. I can't say it's very well balanced overall but the well disguised ABV aspect of it is nice. It's structurally imbalanced (too bitter up front and too sweet on the back end) as well as generally imbalanced (it feels uneven and rough around the edges throughout, never quite harmonizing the tug of its sweeter flavours with the unapproachable bitterness at its core).
Lacks the roasty flavours I love in a great imperial stout too, despite bringing all of roasted barley's/carafa's concomitant bitterness to the fore. I love roasted barley's flavour (I mean, Guinness is a stepping stone beer for so many of us for a reason), but it's absent here. If all they were using roast for was its accompanying bitterness, they'd have been better off playing with coffee and/or hops instead.
It's drinkable for its ABV, but I find its imbalance too tough to get past and it fails to best something like Founders' Breakfast Stout which is widely available in the same market as this (or even Young's Double Chocolate Stout). These charity beers are great when the beer is good first and foremost, but this is another one that has devolved into "for good cause" laziness and wankery...when the beer itself is lacklustre, it reflects poorly on the cause they're championing and instead feels like marketing gimmickry. Apparently, the Black Is Beautiful beer collaboration started in early June; clearly, NoLa didn't really plan this one out much. It feels like they rushed it out to meet a deadline for the movement instead of putting the beer first.
I can only presume both Courtyard Brewing's and Parish Brewing's versions are far superior.
Low C- (2.55) / BELOW AVERAGE
***
07/16/20 another can from my 4 pack:
A very lacklustre attempt at an imperial chocolate stout.
Low C- / BELOW AVERAGE
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