Eclat Cocoa Lager
Victory Brewing Company - Downingtown

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Draft at The Pour Hiuse in Westmont, NJ.

Pours a dark chestnut brown color with mahogany edges and a 1.5 finger frothy off-white head. Great retention, only slowly fading into a lasting ring. Spotty lacing left behind.

Slightly toasty arom with hints of roasted malt, cocoa, toffee, nut and lactic cream. The nitro really takes away from what seems like be a great nose.

Medium bodied with a balance of slightly roasted malt, sweetr notes and lactic cream. The nitro adds a creamy thickness to the body which helps the mouthfeel but takes away from the flavor. Hints of toast, dark malt, cocoa, toffee and hazelnut. Slight sweetness balances things out. Not a bad beer but just kind of average.

 

 

 

 

A - Deep ruby, off white head that retains well with some lacing.

S/T - Like an Irish Dry Stout without the coffee bitterness. More of a dark, semi-sweet chocolateness to it with a touch of earthy pine hops in the finish.

M - Medium to light in body, super smooth nitro tap body.

O - I like what they did with this. I'd get it again.

Nitro tap to imperial pint glass. This beer was released in celebration of Victory's 16th anniversary as a collaboration with a local chocolatier. Made with German malts and the Peruvian Pure Nacional cocoa bean - apparently the world's rarest. Sampled at the pub on 3/17/12.

A: Arrives with a two finger cap of creamy foamy, light brown in texture, cascading with excellent retention. The body is a murky shade of dark brown, almost completely opaque, with a little ruby peeking through the edges when the glass tilts. Lacing is fantastic and solidifies a high rating for the appearance.

S: The nose is wonderful. Full of sweet dark chocolate, with a rich, rendered caramelly background. While the hops were faint, and the lager character hard to distinguish, the overall composition of the nose was quite successful.

T: Good flavor. Mildly sweet, light bitterness and little to no roasty character. Not sweet or substantial enough to stand up to a dessert pairing, but a fine treat on its own.

M: Light to medium-light body with a faint crispyness to the effervescence. Slick and creamy. The nitro adds to the texture (as it so often does) but also takes away from the body. This beer was much thinner than expected.

O: While I enjoyed this beer, and most beers on nitro for that matter, I think this one would have performed a little better on co2 - particularly in the flavor and mouthfeel department. Notwithstanding, putting a dark, cocoa-covered lager on nitro was certainly an interesting concept - and very easy to drink.

 

Pours a muddy and dirty looking brown, beer separates into a few distinctly hues layers, light cap of froth. Scent is extremely light and gives only the faint hint of stale cocoa powder with the oils long turned stale. Taste follows suit, disappointingly light in flavor with little in the way of chocolate than a light dusting of cocoa powder and little else aside from the taste of a macro euro lager. Lighter side of medium bodied with a faint chalky graininess. Wanted to find something to like, but it just didn't work out.