Chocolate Lava Cake Stout
Untitled Art

 

A very chocolately beer—I mean, we're not just talking "notes of chocolate." This is "someone melted a Hershey bar into my beer territory. But I was weaned on egg creams and chocolate phosphates from the local (Jewish!) deli and this is a lot like some kinda cross between those legacy soda fountain drinks and... um beer. Really, it's more like the egg cream, which is swell and very tasty and it'll give you a bit of a buzz. But if you're in the mood for a stout, you might be happier with a beer-flavored beer instead, you know?

Poured moderately hard from a can into a tall goblet, forming a ton of foamy tan head. Deep brown/black body, pretty much opaque. Smell is milk stout with strong chocolate. Taste is a bit of milk stout in the background, but definite rich chocolate throughout. Actually resembles chocolate lava cake, pretty impressive. Medium bodied with a gentle bite of carbonation. Very good dessert stout that isn't intensely sweet, must have for chocolate lovers.

 

Thanks Lauren!

Rich and chocolatey, with perhaps a hint of hazelnut. Perhaps a touch of lactose for the sweetness. Nice and creamy feel, and goes perfectly with a campfire and a brat!

 

The chocolate adventure rolls on with the Chocolate Lava Cake Stout. Another light stout from Untitled in terms of body. It is highly carbonated and has a definitive milk chocolate aroma. The taste profile is slightly burnt chocolate with notable acidity, mimicking the lava cake.

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Pours put dark brown and forms a finger and a half of nice, foamy, khaki colored head. Solid retention, but no lacing really.

Nose is chocolate cake, but more of an artificial version. There's cocoa and malt, and it fits the bill, but it doesn't really capture the true essence of gooey chocolatey lava cake. It almost reminds me of the vanilla scent that exudes from Play-Doh.

Taste is similar. Chocolate, cocoa, some vanilla, providing a cake and pastry like quality. Some malt, but not dark or bitter enough to contrast the mild sweetness. This doesn't taste bad, but like I said before, this doesn't capture what you would expect. There's a weird little flavor that hits initially, but after that, the outro fades onto a nice collection of cocoa, vanilla, and malt.

Mouthfeel is thin for what I would expect from a dessert like stout. Thin-medium bodied with mild carbonation. Lactose brings a smoothness to it, which is welcome, but it still falls short.

Overall this is not a bad brew, but just perhaps a misstep. Its close to where it wants to be but something just needs to be tightened up. I don't know what is giving it that artificial "Play-Doh" scent and flavor, but if that is taken out this brew would excel. Untitled Art has made knockouts before. You can't win 'em all. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

 

Pours jet black with a one-inch fluffy head that recedes to a thick ring after a few minutes, leaving some nice lacing. Aroma is very strong - malted milk balls, chocolate syrup, chocolate soda, pretzels, vanilla. Not exactly "lava cake," but strong malted chocolate character. Predominant flavor is (aggressively) sweetened cocoa powder. There's some of the alkaline bitterness of cocoa powder without the rounder elements that typically help balance that out. The sweetness is cuts through for sure, but doesn't carry other flavors with it, almost like an artificial sweetener. Mouthfeel is thin to moderate, making it again reminiscent of a chocolate soda.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A: The beer is jet black in color. It poured with a quarter finger high light tan head that left a large patch of bubbles on the surface and a narrow collar around the edge of the glass.
S: Moderate aromas of malted milk are present in the nose along with notes of cocoa nibs.
T: The taste has lots of flavors of lactose along with notes of cacao nibs and associated bits of sweetness.
M: It feels light- to medium-bodied and a bit light and "fluffy" on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This beer has a nice, fluffy mouthfeel that I would expect from a lava cake but seems to have more aromas and flavors of lactose instead of chocolate.

Serving type: can

 

Canned 6/15/20; drank 7/26/20 @ the Yarchives.

Black/brown appearance.

A rough pour yielded a big, noisy tan head; almost no lace.

Chocolate frosting & mild vanilla notes in the nose.

Creamy medium mouthfeel.

Chocolate frosting & mild vanilla flavors up front; milk chocolate notes on the finish. No booze heat.

SWEET, certainly; a bit more mouthfeel would have benefited this, but for pastry stout fans you could do a lot worse than this, as it tastes more natural than syrup-y.