Cocoborealis
Chaos Mountain Brewing

 

 

 

I don't see any bottle date listed.

Appearance: The body pours medium-dark brown into a glass where it forms completely black. It has a small head but it quickly fades out leaving just a few rafts and only a crescent moon instead of a ring. It doesn't have the greatest appearance for a beer of only 6% (as indicated on the label).

Aroma: I get some coffee aroma and a light burnt wood scent. The beer claims that it is a "triple chocolate stout" but there is no chocolate aroma. The spicy coffee aroma is nice though.

Taste: I get a lot of burnt charcoal flavor up front. In the middle there is this nice coffee berry flavor which gives it a very light tart flavor.

Mouthfeel: The beer is pretty harsh with bitterness and it has a dry finish.

Overall: The beer has good flavors but it is in no way a chocolate stout. It tastes more like coffee and burnt wood than anything else. For stout lovers who enjoy a lot of roasted grain flavor and burnt wood character I would recommend this. For decadent chocolate lovers and even bitter dark chocolate lovers I would recommend passing on this.

Dark Stout, nice dark cocoa smell. The flavor was strong and toasty, but not overpowering. The finish was just a little dry.

 

 

Dark brown in color with thin head. Aroma is of cocoa and taste is a bit lighter than expected. Chocolate makes itself known but the cocoa powder leaves a dry, well....powdery feel. Hops are balanced well with this one

Overall: Not as smooth, creamy, decadent or stout-like as I was expecting. A thin stout with a chocolatey presence that falls behind a more noticeable hop presence and grassy bitterness.

Pours a dark murky brown. Thin ring of sudsy head. Some lacing.
Smells like chocolate and cocoa powder. A little coffee like. A little sweet.
Taste follows the smell, except for a surprising hop bitterness that lingers almost unpleasantly on the back of the tongue. A bitter, roasty, grassy aftertaste.
The mouthfeel is disappointingly thin for an American Stout. It just flows down with little character.

 

 

 

Pours black but plenty of ruby around the edges when held to the light. Two finger sized tan had that places well.

Aroma is roasted malts, plenty of chocolate nibs along with touched of dark fruit. Smells kind of dry.

Taste is like the nose roasted malts lots of chocolate nibs and dry coco powder. Finish has light liquorice notes and hop notes. Pretty normal regular stout with added chocolate notes.

Mouthful is only medium, carbonation medium also.

Overall mind of expecting a big stout due to label calling it Triple Chocolate Stout. Not bad for normal stout.

In a vacuum there is nothing wrong with this beer. My problem is the taste does not match the description of triple chocolate stout. On the first sip I picked up cascade hops which is something you would never taste in a traditional stout. In mys opinion the only way this beer qualifies as a stout is through its color. Its not bad though as just a generic dark beer, with a reasonable price and pleasant flavor. I will say It is a bit of tall order to extract the flavors of chocolate and coffee purely through the proper roasting of malt but that is the whole reason I enjoy this style of beer, not just its color. I theorize that you could include this beer in a blind taste test of IPA's and no one know find it to be out of place. Personally I think there is an issue with the overuse of cascade hops in the microbrew world.

A: This poured a nearly opaque cola with a little tan head.
S: It smelled like dry dark chocolate, with some roasted coffee and cream.
T: It tasted like bitter dark chocolate, with some espresso beans and metallic hops. It had a mostly clean bitter aftertaste.
M: It was thick with moderate carbonation. Nice big body.
D: This was a decent chocolate stout, but there wasn't much depth or complexity to it. The flavor wasn't super delicious either. The body was solid, but the finish was not as smooth as I would have liked. Really not a bad beer, but seems generally unrefined.

 

 

 

Nice stout, though I was mislead by the label calling it a "triple chocolate stout" since it is a normal--not an Imperial--stout. The "triple" refers to the number of chocolate additions (chocolate malt, cocoa powder, and cocoa nibs...). It's a good solid stout, lots of lacing on the sides (always a good sign) but the body and feel reminds me more of a Scharzbier (black lager). To me that isn't bad, as Schwarz is my favorite style ("hail to the Scharz!"). Good refreshing and dark flavor, not at all sweet or cloying (again, like a Schwarz). I had thought it might be like Brooklyn Black Chocolate (at what, 9%?) ...but it isn't. Just a good solid standard stout.

Anyway, nice beer from this new brewery from SW Virginia. Great to see good stuff coming from that neglected part of the state.... Cheers!