Chocolate Rain Question

its not nearly as hot as you think its going to be. in fact the 2011 bt wasnt hot at all.

theres going to be some heat after 12 usually, but these guys do a fantastic job keeping it down.

what are some big beers that you enjoy?

 

Black Tuesday hides the alcohol but not the sweetness, Mikkeller Black hides the sweetness but not the alcohol, Double Black hides both

imo

 

I recently had a 2010 CR, and have decided that it is probably not a great idea for cellaring. It tasted amazing, but I feel that the flavor additions which differentiate it from BT had lost a lot of their intensity. Basically, over time I see it pretty much just turning into black tuesday, which isnt a bad thing, but it loses its uniqueness.

 

Ive never found any vintage of bt or cr to have been particularly hot, but with a year on it, it is very drinkable.

 

A couple weeks ago, CRb1 was still hotter than I'd expected going into it. The cocoa was very, very present in both the nose and taste. Vanilla was there as well, but I can't remember how much it has changed.

BT'09 is the only BT I've recently had that I found to be awesome. The other years are very hot right now. I reviewed both the BT'09 and CRb1 if you feel like digging up some additional thoughts.

They are both certainly sweet. I guess you can only get so smooth when the ABV% is +15. BT'09 is the smoothest of the bunch by a long-shot.

 

you can tell that bt and chocolate rain are big beers, but they don't taste like 20% booze bombs, if that's your concern. there is some burn, but part of the reason they are well-liked is that they drink much smoother than they actually are.

 

That's the 20 malts effect

 

2009 black tuesday has 20 different malts in it, compared to the other vintages which have 17-18 or something like that.

 

The later vintages are more like 4. The 20 malt thing was a running joke for a long time, but I'll be damned it 2009 isn't still by far the best one. The "20 malts" thing is legit, I have concluded.

 

Is there significant bottle variation with the 2011 batch? The one bottle I've had so far expressed notes of everclear and rubbing alcohol, neither of which I particularly care for, and half of which was dumped down the drain despite there being 6 people to drink it.

To the OP: if you're interested in drinking a 18ish% beer that tastes like a 15-30% (between the 2010 and 2011 releases), trade for some 2010 or 2011 BT. If you're interested in drinking a 19% beer that drinks like a 8-10% beer, trade for the 2009.

 

You seriously poured it down the drain? How many more do you all have? I will take all the rest off your hands...

 

I actually let the host of the tasting do the honors. I intend to drink 1 more to see if it was an off bottle, and then decide what to do with my last bottle.

 

Well, if you decide to look to get rid of that last bottle, let me know