#68: Rogue Double Chocolate Stout

It’s been a long few weeks at work… a very long couple of weeks, with more to come…
So when a mate of mine asked me if I wanted to come round and do nothing other than geek out about beers, and look at our next brew it sounded like a pretty fantastic idea!

We muddled around with some new brewing software (just btw for any budding brewers – Beersmith is the way to go!!) for a while, and as it generally happens when you discuss such things, the thirst began to take hold…
The intention was to keep it light, just something to quench the thirst, so we polished of a Liberty Yakima Monster, which was much mellower in the bottle than I’ve had on tap …but that kind of worked for it…
Moving into the Sierra Nevada Torpedo, which was gloriously hoppy, and oh so satisfying.
…but we just couldn’t help ourselves, we moved onto something a little more …delicious is the only way I can think to describe it… The Rogue Double Chocolate Stout.

It’s a beer that I have been staring at on the shelf, which may have a little to do with the fact that it is in a bright red PVC covered bottle, but the beer inside… well where to start…
Pours dark, very dark, almost black with about half a finger of mocha coloured head that disappears pretty quickly. The nose is like a mixture of dark chocolate, milk chocolate and darker chocolate …and if you try hard, there is some more stout-y, espresso like aromas. But overall very chocolate-y.
In the mouth, it’s got a great full body, almost like drinking 20/40. Big chocolate flavours dominate the palate, big sweet milk chocolate at first, but after a couple of sips it becomes more bittersweet, a little sweet dark coffee bringing up the rear. There is just enough hop bitterness to dry out the finish so that it’s not cloying.
I was trying to find a way to sum it up, when Harley – the friend I was drinking with – came up with something quite fitting:

“How could they make this beer better? …they can’t”

A pretty big statement, and I have been lead to believe there are other Imperial stouts that are as good if not better… Nonetheless it is a

courtesy of joesixpack.net

fantastically rich beer that was almost to easy to drink at 8.7%ABV. The kind of thing that could pair well in the winter with something hearty and beef-y, but for my money just the ticket for the stout float. If you don’t know it, get ready to have your mind blown!!
It’s a pretty simple, think just like a coke float, except replace your cola, with a big rich stout! The creaminess of the icecream compliments the sweet chocolate-y flavours of the stout, while the vanilla accentuates the coffee …yuuuuuuuummmmmmm! …Finally a manly  dessert!!