Today I picked up a case of Brooklyn Brewery, Black Chocolate Stout. With an unmistakable nose, and sweet chocolate malt flavor, Black Chocolate Stout has remained one of my favorite brews for years. Despite everyone who makes a stout slapping a five dollar price tag on it, Brooklyn Brews remain under two dollars a bottle. This year's is excellent, while not the best year ever, it's close. Given a year or two in the bottle this is a brew that becomes perfect. Currently I have three years of Black Chocolate Stout cellaring. Black Chocolate Stout is a rich malty stout with a robust roasted malt profile. The thing about Garrett Oliver, he is not a big beer guy. All of his brews are very balanced. This caused me disappointment when I tried Black Ops, unlike Nate Walser and Jeremy Kosmicki he is just not an over the top 'lets add more bourbon and maple syrup' guy. So while I won't be seeking out any Bourbon Barrel offerings from Brooklyn Brewery, Black Chocolate Stout continues to hold it's own on top of my Russian Imperial stout world. Catherine the Great just doesn't know what's she's missing.
