Starry Night
Bobcaygeon Brewing Company

At my lady Pamela's house; canned and chilled, 473mL, from my favourite LCBO at Tecumseh Mall in nearby Windsor. My eighth beer from the Peterborough, Ontario brewery, and first for 2025.

Another in the set of Ontario stouts received in trade from thehyperduck. This is the base Starry Night Chocolate Stout. It is a dark, dark brown with a tall, persistent tan head. The nose is chocolatey with a light spiciness. A medium body, the roasted chocolate flavour tempered with a little sweetness to take the edge off. Mouthfeel is well- balanced, with the crispness winning out at the end. As it warms. the mouthfeel gets a little slicker and less crispness is noticed. Thanks once again to the thehyperduck for this well-curated group of Ontario stouts!

A fairly sweet offering, but lots of tasty chocolate, so okay. No meaningful orange flavour. Lots of caramel malt flavour, too. Leans tpowards being a dessert type beer. Dark walnut colour, short-lived moderate head. No lacing. Sweet on the edge of cloying. Decent enough as a one off.

 

Look: Pours rich dark brown with a two finger tawny head with tight bubbles. The head has good retention which sits at 1/4 finger across the entire top of the glass at 5 minutes.

Smell: Dark chocolate, with notes of dark pumpernickel bread.

Taste: Rich dark chocolate up front with espresso notes in the middle and back end. The lactose sweetness keeps the bitterness of dark chocolate very low. Very well balenced between sweet milk chocolate and bitter dark chocolate.

Feel: Slightly oily and sticky on the top of the palate. It has a medium body that fills the mouth.

This beer delivers on the billing as a chocolate stout. This is a style I tend to gravitate to and I would certainly be willing to drink this again. It is slightly more oily than the average milk stout, almost like a milk stout crossed with a imperial stout. It earns an A-.

 

 

Competent if marginal sweet stout. Too sweet but sufficient chocolate to make it interesting the one time. On tap at Summerhill LCBO. Ok mouthfeel.

 

 

 

 

473 ml can served at cellar temperature into a pint glass. LCBO purchase for $3.25 CDN. Pleasantly surprised to see this clock in at 6.3% ABV.

Appearance - Very dark brown in color, nearing the almost black with found in some of those bad ass 10% RIS's. Pours a finger plus of frothy medium tan head. Good retention, some streaky lacing. An attractive beer.

Smell - Loads of chocolate (dark all the way), with caramel undertones. Slight bits of coffee and vanilla mixed in but this is a a chocolate malt bomb all the way.

Taste - Plenty of chocolate again, some roastiness mixed in, touches of coffee and just enough bitterness to keep it from being over sweet. More watery tasting than expected, but still good flavor profiles. Flavor intensifies and tastes thicker as the beer warms.

Mouthfeel - Smooth, well carbonated, seems to have a cooling effect on the tongue in a new and unusual way. Medium -light body (especially for the style) and very easy to drink.

Overall - Certainly the best beer I've enjoyed from this brewery, even while being a touch watery this is an easy to drink stout with good flavors and a booze quotient that can sneak up on you. Worth a try for sure for local advocates.

473 mL can from the LCBO; dated Nov 17 2017 and served slightly chilled.

Pours thick and oily, with a deep brownish-black hue; totally opaque, with one finger of dark tan-coloured head rising to the surface and remaining there for three minutes or so. A very slight collar remains, but the surface is otherwise barren. The cacao nibs really come through on the nose, which is comparable to a mixture of chocolate chips and dark chocolate shavings, together with a pleasant roasted malt base. Mocha coffee is a bit fainter in comparison, with hints of raisin being fainter still.

A rather sweet stout on the front end - not very surprising, with lactose listed as an ingredient. Milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate chip flavours are in full force by mid-sip, with more of a bitter cocoa note rising to prominence towards the finish. This carries over into the aftertaste, but milk chocolate and milk sugar sweetness manage to outlast everything in the end. Medium in body, with low carbonation that gently nudges the surface of the palate; very soft and silky-smooth, with no sign of the 6.3% abv whatsoever. That's not much of a concern though, because the brew's overall sweetness is already a strong limiting factor in its drinkability... but damned if I don't like it anyhow.

Final Grade: 4.0, an A-. Bobcaygeon's Starry Night is billed as a chocolate stout, and I don't think anyone can fairly say that they failed to deliver just that. While I do think this is a very tasty beer, it's also perhaps lacking a bit of balance and subtlety. The slick, oily mouthfeel also might not be for everyone, but personally I think it's Bobcaygeon's strongest LCBO release to date. Well worth a try I'd say, assuming milk/sweet stouts and/or chocolate stouts are of any relevance to your interests.