Black is Beautiful
Western Collective

16 oz can from Brewers Haven. Dark brown pour, spotty heige head, ring. Aroma vacillates between chocolate and strawberry , like 2/3 of the Neopolitan ice cream. Strawberry is a bit stronger in the taste, more candy than fruit. Dark chocolate flows underneath the sweet. Nicely layered beer.

i love the cause here, cool to see so many breweries making one of these, but after repeated attempts to get into western collective, i think i am just going to have to admit that they kind of make mediocre beer across the board, i keep wanting to like everything they put out, cool place and nice folks too, but the beer is consistently disappointing, and this is no exception. i had it at a restaurant too, surprised an establishment would buy this after seeing and tasting it, its just so unrefined, homebrewy in a bad way. this is murky dark brown from the tap with almost no head by the time it gets to the table, hazy in a weird way, unappealing looking. aroma and flavor are pretty solid, not too sweet with either fruit or chocolate, almost more raspberry than strawberry to me, definitely a chocolate dipped vibe to the fruit, but natural enough too, lightly jammy, but absolutely pushing up through the dark grain in aroma and flavor to the point where its a leading element. there is something a little weak or incomplete about the fermentation here, like its not quite done, and i wish they had let this dry out and clean up a little more. as raw as it is, it still has potential, and seems to me sort of valentines day appropriate. not overly sugary, but flat and heavy still. i wish these guys would put a little more energy into quality though, its becoming a commonality across all their beer that its just not very well made most of the time, a shame because i think this recipe has promise. for now, the mission is the reason to buy this, not the beer itself.

16oz canning poured into a pint glass; pours an opaque black with a fizzy but fluffy dark khaki head that doesn’t lace all that well; strong impressions of dark roasted malt mixed with strawberry syrup; jammy, I suppose, with notes of espresso, roast, and a dusting of dark cocoa. Finishes fairly bitter and dry. Worth it to try a sub-$3 chocolate-strawberry stout, but not much to write home about.