Imperial Chocolate Stout
Mill Street Brew Pub

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Freshly tapped keg sample at Chancey Smith's in London ON- A deep opaque motor oil pour, with a strange head. Initially it poured almost no head, but about a minute after the pour, this beer released about a finger of mocha froth. A delayed reaction of sorts. The aromas here are dark chocolate, cappuccino, chocolate milk, coffee. Tastes of bitter dark chocolate, some vanilla, chocolate milk as well, bitter roast too. Finishes creamy, full bodied, with a dark chocolate bitterness that lasts, and the ABV is not detectable. Very good. Thanks for getting this one in Milos!

On-tap at Chancey Smith's. Pours jet black with a ring of lace that expands to one finger of frothy mocha head after a few minutes. Big globs of lacing on the shaker. Smell and taste are cappuccino, barley, cocoa, vanilla, roasted and chocolate malts, tobacco, and a mildly charred finish. ABV is nowhere to be found. Very good, but too 'light' for the style. Mouthfeel resembles a creamy chocolate milkshake with a trace of bittersweet dryness. If this were a milk or sweet stout, it'd be a great beer. However, as an imperial it doesn't stand up. Still an easy and flavourful drinker though.

This beer appears black, with slight amber edges, and two fingers of creamy light beige head, which has excellent retention, slowly giving up a sheer wall of painted-on lace. It smells of powdered chocolate, and a bit of orchard fruit. The taste is mild roasted malt, bittersweet chocolate milk, and a slight boozy edge. The carbonation is on the low side, the body silky smooth, and a bit less than medium weight, and it finishes with more sweet chocolate malt, but with an increasing drying effect as the glass empties.

A very drinkable and enjoyable imperial stout.

On cask at Volo, served in a snifter.

Pitch black with nary a bubble to be seen, but chocolate? Oh yes, in spades. Heaps and heaps of cocoa in aroma. Flavour is dark bitter chocolate with hint of tartness and ever so slight sweetness. Very slick body with the tiniest carbonation and a lingering finish.

Quite possibly the most chocolatey beer I've had. I don't say this often but this is one that might be improved with a touch of carbonation.

The first beer of four sampled at Volo's Ontario Cask Imperial Stout tasting.

Dark brown in colour with a thin ring of cream-white head around the rim.

Smells strongly of milk chocolate. Lots of vanilla, some caramel, slight coffee grinds. Like a dessert. Pretty nice.

A little thinner tasting than I'd like but still alright. Comes off more as dark chocolate (maybe comparable to 70% cocoa) in the taste than the milk chocolate found in the smell. Light earthy hop bitterness and light minerals. Almost no vanilla coming through, which I was hoping for. Quite different from the nose, sadly. Too watery. A bit dry on the finish. No noticeable alcohol, very smooth.

Much too thin-bodied for the style. As to be expected on cask, the carbonation is very low. Actually, there's almost none at all.

The nose is the best thing about this beer. The rest is pretty meh. Nothing bad but definitely nothing special. Not one to seek out.

Nitro at the brewpub.

Pours an opaque dark brownish black, very thick and creamy light tan head forms, slowly settles down to a thick layer, drops a ton of lace sheets on the glass.

Smell is nice, light cocoa and some caramel, a touch of roast and chocolate milk, some vanilla, brown sugar, fairly one dimensional and light.

Taste is similar, powdered cocoa and chocolate milk, vanilla, some biscuit, caramel sweetness, very sweet in the middle, more chocolate, brown sugar, decent balance in the finish.

Mouthfeel is heavy, full bodied and chewy, low carbonation. Not bad but one dimensional and the nitro definitely hurts it. Apparently this is 7.5%.

sampled on cask at Volo as part of their Black Sunday festival feb 14/2010.

pours black and opaque with a thin ring of light brown head. the head drops fairly fast and leaves a bit of spotty lace. at the thinnest part of the glass you can see that it's crystal clear and shows a but of a ruby hue at the edges.

aroma is good. milk and dark chocolate. bit of cocoa. the chocolate feels a bit artificial. hint of alcohol. whole wheat bread. bit of biscuit. caramel and toffee sweetness.

taste is good. bittersweet and dark chocolate. bit of espresso. milk chocolate and cocoa. again the chocolate feels slightly artificial. not as much as, say, young's double chocolate stout, but it's there. light alcohol. medium-high bitterness level, but mostly chocolate/coffee. dark toasted whole wheat bread. bit of biscuit. earthy and a bit woody. light anise.

mouthfeel is good. nice medium-large body. low carbonation level. the cask presentation seems to work well.

drinkability is good. nice balance. good depth and complexity, just wish it didn't have that artificial chocolate edge. i'd place it somewhere in the middle between southern tier choklat (which is heavily toward the dark/bittersweet chocolate and has no real artificial character) and the young's double chocolate that i mentioned above (which is more milk chocolate/cocoa, but fairly artificial tasting). still, a solid and tasty impy.

On cask at Volo valentine cask fest. Black sith a crowning bubbly off-brown cask head. Promising chocolate aroma, and some roast. Now for the taste, initially, a plain dry Irish stout, then the burnt coffee and bitter chocolate come through.Roast taste continues, it is minimally drinkable though not in any shape or form living up to its title.

Dammit! I didn't realise this beer was on nitro. It arrives with that beautiful cascading head that signals a pretty beer, but with the dampened aroma and flavour that nitrogen wreaks. Its certainly a pretty beer, and its large light tan head leaves sheets of lace, and the retention is predictably perfect, with just under a finger of head left as I drain the glass. The one thing that's off, though, is the colouration. Imperial stouts should be darker than this, and although it is a very deep brown, highlights at the edges betray it with a lighter hue.

The aroma is subdued, as can be expected with the infusion of gas really deadens everything. Light milk chocolate notes struggle out and mix with vanilla. For all the world this smells like the vanilla porter, which preceded it as a seasonal.

Things are back on track with the flavour, and the milk chocolate of the nose is transormed into a decently bitter dark chocolate. A good coffee roast lingers throughout, and becomes especially prominent in an extended bitter finale. Vanilla lightens the flavour somewhat, and a light sweetness helps to offset the bitterness. Its not quite as roasty as an imperial can be, but its certainly passable.

Nitro gives the body a creaminess, but its a thin one and really could do with punching up a little. I can't help but think that this would be a lot better on a regular tap, where the carbonation is allowed to come through more and the gas doesn't piss around with the flavour and aroma.

So, its a decent stout, even if it does taste like an amped up version of their vanilla porter with additional chocolate malt and a sprinkling of cocoa poweder. Certainly worth a try, but I'm not sure if its worth more than that.