Double Dark Chocolate Biggie S'mores
Three Notch'd Brewing Co. (Craft Kitchen & Brewery)

 

This is most definitely a dessert beer!! Surprising fidelity to the S'mores flavor. Poured from a 16 oz. can into a pint glass, this beer has some milkshake like qualities. Appears "thick" in the glass. The lacing is more like a "dirty glass" after a malted milk or milkshake - filmy chocolatey residue with some actual solid bits. The beer pours a murky, medium brown color with a big frothy khaki or light brown head. Head retention is good. Aroma and taste feature chocolate, lactose, vanilla and biscuity graham cracker. The vanilla cuts the sweetness to where it is not cloyingly overly sweet. The nose actually features the S'mores characteristics even more than the flavor. Overall it tastes pretty good as a sipping beer - definitely not something to have with dinner. Mouthfeel is a bit like a milkshake - thick and milky. The vanilla sharpens things up a bit. An impressive "novelty" beer, worth trying but not a regular "go-to" brew.

 

 

12oz bottle poured into a snifter

A- pour deep black in color with a one-finger creamy khaki colored head that has good retention after the pour

S- smells like a s'mores in a glass; huge chocolate and graham cracker notes, with undertones of toasted marshmallow, vanilla and booze, as advertised

T- lots of chocolate up front, followed by graham cracker and a creamy vanilla note, undertones of mocha coffee, the finish gives a bit of a marshmallow note but comes across a bit bitter on the finish, lingers of more chocolate and graham cracker

M- medium heavy body with moderate carbonation leads to a foamy mouthfeel and a slightly creamy finish

O- the taste doesn't quite nail it like the aroma, but still very enjoyable

06/07/18 stamped on label
Black with healthy beige head with decent retention and respectable lacing.
Incredible aroma of s’mores with strong graham cracker component and dark chocolate. Graham is so strong it overwhelms a bit but it is very enjoyable.
Flavor is a little extract-y with strong graham cracker and dark chocolate flavors but weird extract aftertaste. Sweet but not overbearing.
Feel is a little tacky and medium body.
A decent effort but the extract flavor doesn’t belong.

Bottle:
Since many have mentioned it ,I'm thinking that without serious decanting you're going to have globules in your deep brown bodied beer. Head is a nice tan color, and ample before fading to a medium collar. Lacing is fairly strong with streaks and spots.

Nose has a peanut-butter cup aspect to me. I think a slightly coffee edge to the ample dark chocolate is turning the graham cracker scent a tad sideways to my olfactory sense. Either way, add peanut butter into a s'mores and you might get this - dark chocolate, peanut butter, light char, graham, little bit of vanilla.

Flavor is a bit more straightforward; it is a pastry stout, but the dark roasted malt aspects hold up decently well. The dark chocolate is a bit stealthy, but near the end it comes out quite nicely, actually. At first, a soda-influenced stout note that has a vanilla sweet lean, but not too badly. Lighter than I'd expected - medium just leaning fuller, with a muted carbonation. Slight licorice note before the dark chocolate comes on. It's actually quite interesting how the dark chocolate hits my palate, it seems to smooth the beer out and I almost get a silky feel in the end - that is until the globules started gettign involved.

An interesting beer - I've had the base and the BBA version, and like both. This one was a different beast with the nose and that dark chocolate ending.

 

 

 

 

 

On-tap at The Cask Café and Market, Richmond, VA

A: The beer is jet black in color. It poured with a half finger high tan head that consistently left a short head covering the surface and lots of rings of bubbles around the sides of the glass.
S: Moderate aromas of chocolate and S'mores are present in the nose.
T: The taste follows the smell and has lots of flavors of chocolate and S'mores with a touch of associated sweetness.
M: It feels medium-bodied and a bit smooth on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This is a very nice dessert beer—you can get all of the S'mores flavors of chocolate, marshmallows and Graham crackers.

Serving type: on-tap

Poured a black body with great tan head that sticks around a while. Aroma is dark chocolate and powerful (notes of bread). Thick yet not cloying, heavy body, woody, chocolate taste is dominant flavor to point it tastes like a chocolate bar; clean, easy finish with hidden booze and enjoyable as a dessert beer.

 

We were very surprised by the floating junk in the beer. Other than that, dominate chocolate taste.

 

Bottled 06/07/18

L-The beer pours a dark brown to black with a 3 finger tan head. The head recedes t a thick film leaving spotty lacing in it's wake. A great pour right up until the bottle took a huge dump in my glass with what I have to hope is chocolate or residual marshmallow. The residual head looks like when you put powdered Quik in your milk and it clumps up on top. Pray for me...
S- The nose is up front with huge chocolate and sweet marshmallow. Behind all of that is a fairly strong alcohol presence.
T-As expected the taste follows the nose with big time chocolate which wavers between sweet milk and bitter dark chocolate. Overall it leans to the sweet side due to the marshmallow. This one is dessert stout without a doubt.
F-Mouthfeel is on the lighter side of medium and carbonation after the initial pour is very light.
O- The beer delivers on it's promise of huge chocolate. Unfortunately it suffers for this in the appearance which was decidedly off putting after the initial pour. Its not a bad beer if your can get past the appearance, but is decidedly too sweet to be anything but a nightcap dessert beer.