Thumbprint Blueberry Cocoa Stout
New Glarus Brewing Company

 

12 oz bottle poured into a willi becher. Pours dark brown with a nice tan head. Aroma and flavor feature cocoa powder, hot cocoa mix, dark chocolate covered cherries, dried blueberries, and coffee/chocolate fudge. Kind of weird that it tastes more like cherry than blueberry, but regardless, this works really well. Mouthfeel is smooth and creamy, but not cloying or thick.

Overall, this is a far better beer than it has any right to be. Impressive feat pulling this one off, Dan Carey! It's a pastry stout without being anything like a pastry stout (thick, boozy, cloying, etc.). Wow.

It's ugly, but that's how you know it's got a legit amount of blueberry in it. The head is kinda purple, and the beer is murky brown. However, the blueberry and cocoa work well together, and this is pretty good.

 

Bought a 4-pack on a beer run north-of-the border to Kenosha's Woodmans.
I have a theory on why I like this Blueberry: if you can make a stout combine the tastes of breakfast, it can be a winner.
Proven case: New Glarus' Coffee Stout. In my book, it is a great soft stout because the bitterness of the coffee and the malt (cereal) combine well at breakfast.

New case: Blueberry and cereal also are a classic breakfast combo. (The Cocoa gets in the way of my theory, but let's not let one fact interfere with an interesting theory right now.)

I very much enjoyed Blueberry as dessert tonight. So, I will perfect my theory during a second bottle.

 

Pours a murky brown with a purplish hue and a quarter inch, soapy, taupe-colored head. Nose expresses notes of cocoa and the foreground and blueberry in the background. Taste consistent with nose; however, blueberry really asserts itself and the cocoa peeks out at the finish. Mouthfeel is light in body with a light acidity and a carbonation shy of spritzy. A really interesting take on the style. Very enjoyable.

The sting of the blueberry and the sweetness of the cocoa blend really well.

 

Appearance - The beer poured a brownish black color with an off-white head tapping it off.

Smell - This was a sweet one. It brought to mind sweetened cocoa powder.

Taste - This beer was way sweeter than I expected. The cocoa notes were high octane sweetness. The alleged blueberry was slightly tart and not really distinguishable as a blueberry. The sweetness lingered with a little bit of tartness from the berries.

Mouthfeel - If the label did not tell me this was a stout, I might not have guessed.

Overall - there were aspects of this one that I liked, but it was just too sweet.

Putting blueberry and chocolate together might seem like a bold combination, but in the capable hands of New Glarus, they confidently place their thumbprints all over this fruit and decadent brew.

Dark brown and rising with a tarnish tan froth, Thumbprint Blueberry Cocoa Stout soon reduces to a trickle of lace. Above it all floats a deep and devilishly sweet scent of caramel and chocolate with equally bold aromas of stewed blueberries close in tow. With spicy hints of cola and coffee behind, the scent soon gives way to a sweeter impression of caramel, toffee and sorghum in its initial taste.

As the dark berries and chocolate swirl together into a fudgy melange on the middle palate, the toasty sweetness and starchy roundness starts to relax to reveal hints of tootsie rolls and bold cola flavors. Finishing sweet and fruit, late impressions of root beer carry a slightly peppery and coffee-like balance late on the tongue.

Full bodied but somewhat relaxed on the palate, the dessert beer is a fun blend of what is dessert-like in taste and what is drinkable like traditional dark ale. The blend is a far cry from today's pastry stout as its drinkability leads to a simplistic but comforting texture as well as taste. A late impression of chocolate liqueur with blueberry puree keep the focus going in a long and plush aftertaste.

 

I tried a bottle of this beer up in St. Germaine, Wisconsin whilst participating in the Eagle River Pond Hockey tournament. It poured an opaque dark with blueish hue...there was a fizzy tan head that disappeared quickly and did not leave any lace. The scent had blueberry and chocolate notes. The taste was tart leaning with berry and cocoa presence. The mouthfeel was lighter in body with good carbonation. Overall it is a decent beer.

 

 

 

Deep brown pour with little head or lacing. Lots of cocoa and blueberry in the aroma. There's a lot going on in here, and for me the flavors are really fighting against each other and it is overly sweet. Thin mouthfeel, first time a New Glarus beer involving fruit just didn't meet expectations.

Bottle reads '0102 1341'; consumed on 1/8/22

Pours a murky, almost milky brown body with subtler violet highlights and is capped with three fingers of dense, creamy, beige/ultra-pale pink foam; solid head retention leaves a half-finger of lush cap, a larger, frothy collar, and a well-established, webby spatter of lacing encircling the walls of the glass.

Aroma opens to twangy blueberry with a sweeter chocolate undertone, developing quiet milk chocolate tones as defined blueberry syrup dominates the middle; soft tannins are present, and largely overcome all but a sliver of roast, leaving notes of fresh fruit to ultimately prevail thoroughly.

Taste offers dominant blueberry juice upfront as tinges of mocha roast remain intermittent; a wisp of cocoa over the mid-palate cedes to blueberry jam on the back end, a strong and unyielding overtone through the finish.

Mouthfeel shows a medium-light body with a brief, moderate fluff of carbonation, dispersing steadily with mild acidity building to a brightly tart, soft twang integrated over the palate; an inherent dryness is revealed into the back end, leaving a paradoxically juicy and crisp sensation on the finish.

The blueberry here is arguably too intense an undertaking for this sort of fruited stout, all but entirely muting the cocoa (and to an extent even the roastier aspects); New Glarus does fruit with the best of them, so while this was undoubtedly an easy and flavorful drink, it lacked much nuance and balance from the stout side.

 

 

Pours a cloudy brown color. it actually looks like there is a powder mixed into this or something - thats the best way I can describe what the consistency of this actually looks like. Thick, velvety mocha colored head forms and then lingers on the beer. The aroma on this is interesting - so its got the cocoa coming through really strongly with this swiss miss cocoa aroma, hints of blueberry syrup, roasted malts, and that sweet cream you get from the lactose.

The taste follows the nose with the roasted malts, cocoa, swiss miss cocoa mix coming through before this tart blueberry note comes through with a syrupy sweetness - its like tart blueberry syrup. There are notes of vanilla and sweet cream in the profile. Underneath all of that is a very nice traditional milk stout. There are some earthy hops providing a light bitterness on the back end. Feel is medium to full bodied, smooth, powdery. Mild carbonation.

Overall this is the rare miss from New Glarus for me.I just do not like the tart blueberry syrup and the cocoa stout together. Not saying its bad its just not for me. Underneath that blueberry, there is this lovely traditional chocolate milk stout that would be great by itself.

 

 

Look - Fantastic dark brownish with a big tan head, possilby some purple in there
Smell - blueberry chocolate
Taste - same as the smell, sweet but not overly done
Feel - for being a low abv, great creamy medium body
Overall - Really nice fruited Stout

Tasted in a Rastal Teku glass from a 12 fl oz on December 9, 2021.

 

 

 

 

 

Blue-black color. It looks like wine in certain light. The smell is blueberries, cocoa, vanilla ice cream, graham crackers, and lavender. The taste is vanilla ice cream with massive amounts of blueberries and chocolate sauce. The mouthfeel is silky-smooth. The perfect amount of tartness. Not too sweet. More carbonation than expected for a stout. Overall, this is a unique, very flavorful beer, that exceeds high expectations!

Pours a tawny brown with ample tan foam, rings of drippy foam and lasting head retention.

Aroma is odd, a little metallic and sweet, with a more defined cocoa note when swirled. Honestly not getting much blueberry.

It’s oddly tart, and the tart blueberry juice overwhelms the mild cocoa note in the background. Not very balanced, a bit thin and certainly not a full-bodied rich stout, but thankfully not cloyingly sweet like many of NG's fruit infused beers lately.

More of a blueberry cocoa fruit beer, which makes sense coming from New Glarus, but it’s really lacking any stout characteristics and is purely adjunct driven.

 

 

Poured a brown to slightish purple. Almost no head, it disappeared rather quickly. The nose is excellent, heavy blueberry aroma interlace with cocoa. Smells like a baked dessert. However, the taste is interesting. Very heavy sweet berries take over, pushes a sweetness a little over the top. Cocoa and it’s stout character pretty much hidden. It’s almost, just almost like a boarder line sour. Mouthfeel: slick and smooth, just little carbonation. Overall, the aroma is solid, best part of the beer. Maybe if it was just a little less sweet. Still a good beer nonetheless.