Choco Nilla Stout
Lead Dog Brewing

First consumed in late April 2018.

Pours almost black, 1/3" brown head. Aroma was pastry stout like, plenty of chocolate and vanilla all over it. Plenty of sweetness apparent.

Taste, more pastry stout time. Chocolate then vanilla first. Very little roasted malt perceptible. Lacks bitterness or alcohol heat. Mild nuttiness. Carbonation is where it should be even if lower than your average beer, it lends itself to what is going on here. The commercial tug job calls it Mexican vanilla but I can't discern any difference between that and what I know "regular" vanilla to be.

I'm still struggling with Lead Dog being thought of as a good brewery, but this one did not fall short like all of their ipas do for me. Would be interesting to see if they can make a non pastry adjunct stout. Quite often it seems like they make beer that doesn't taste like the 4 ingredients in beer or for people who don't like those base functions of beer ingredients.

Don't remember where this came from, canned 2/09/18

Pours a mild darker colored fizzy head that fades fairly quickly, a little lacing, some legs even, very dark basically black beer

Nose raw vanilla, a little cocoa dark chocolate, very nutty like peanutbutter, a touch of roast and mild caramel biscuity wafer cookie

Taste creamy vanilla ice cream, some cocoa notes but like a milk chocolate cocoa, quite nutty, peanutbutter, a touch of bitterness with roasted malt notes, but not a ton, more mild cookie wafer thing, some mild hop bitterness as well, a bit of lactose perhaps. Finishes a bit sticky, touch of bitterness and a bit of a imitation chocolate and vanilla thing later

Mouth is med bod, fairly creamy, a bit mild on the carbonation

Overall not too bad, not great though, a lot of vanilla both real and imitation, as well as chocolate, and very nutty, but not a lot of stout beer under it all

 

 

Appearance - Pours near black with plenty of cola brown edging. Tan, half finger width head that displays fair retention before peeling back to a thin, broken layer of suds.

Smell - Chocolatey aroma with a hint of roast and some sweet vanilla undertones.

Taste - Follows the nose. Chocolatey upfront and throughout with a hint of vanilla riding beneath. Hints of earth and nuttiness. Roast comes in at the finish, helping to cut the chocolate and vanilla sweetness.

Mouthfeel - Near full-bodied with low, tingly carbonation. Slick, easy drinker with a smooth finish.

Overall - Nice chocolate stout. You might think this would be cloying but there's just enough roasted malt to keep it fairly well balanced. That said, it's kind of a one trick pony, and doesn't have the complexity that some of the better chocolate stouts display.