Samuel Smiths Organic Chocolate Stout

Brewed by Samuel Smith
Style: Sweet Stout
Tadcaster, England

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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550 mL bottle split with some bras. Pours black with a tan head. Big aroma of milk chocolate, along with a bit of coffee and roast. Flavor is milk chocolate, with a creamy kinda lactic mouthfeel. Smooth, clean, and very tasty. The first "organic" beer I’ve had that I can say I really enjoyed.

Having had several chocolate stouts, I can say definitively that this is the ONLY one that goes beyond hints, aromas, overtones and subtlety, The darn thing tastes of chocolate, and almost to a grit. Would you ask - is it overly sweet like a sugary milk chocolate? Nope. Is it under sweetness like a heavy, imbalanced dark chocolate? Nope. This is the only chocolate beer I’ve had that I would say is worthy to be called ’chocolate’. (p.s. I love Young’s Double Choc. in it’s own right - but.. nope.)

It’s bad enough that my favorite brewer has succumbed to the "organic" nonsense, but to have a chocolate stout? Come on! So I approached this with intrepidation, fearing the worst. And you know what?! It was worse than I expected. Horrible. Sickenly sweet. An abomination. Could barely finish. Ghastly. Samuel Smith’s, please don’t ruin your reputation with this attempt at competing with all of the other chocolate stouts out there. Just do what you do best...Taddy Porter and Oatmeal Stout.

Beer has a near black color with a beige head. Aroma of a chocolate and vanilla. Taste is more chocolate with some bitterness. There is also some roasted caramel.

Bottle. Pours a clear dark brown, almost black, body with a nice one finger frothy light brown head that receded to a thin covering. The nose is a mix of Stout-like notes of roast and then a boatload of chocolate syrup. Smells like they dumped half a bottle of syrup in the beer. It smells good in a dessert/candy like way, but not especially like a beer at all. The flavor is very sweet with tons of chocolate syrup up front, other than the chocolate syrup I can’t say that I taste much else. Maybe a touch of roast and a light yeastiness on the finish, but really this is a one trick pony. Medium bodied, a bit clingy, soft carbonation. I like my chocolate fine enough, but I think this one is a bit of flop. I’ll stick to Young’s Double Chocolate Stout if I want a decent chocolate stout.

Pours dark brown with generous tan head. Terrific chocolate aroma with hints of sour milk. Flavor is the same with silky effervescent mouthfeel. Delicious.

(500ml bottle) Pours a black body with a medium cream head. Aroma of chocolate, toffee, toasted grain, vanilla, and graham cracker. Flavor of chocolate, graham cracker, roasted grain, plum, and light almond milk with moderate dry, mildly bitter finish.

Cocoa and a little nut in the aroma. Flavor is chocolate cake batter with just a tiny bit of cocoa bitterness in the finish. Wow--this is more like hot chocolate than beer. Exactly as promised--a truly outstanding dessert beer.

Pours a super dark red/burgundy with a tan/khaki head. Aroma is mostly milk chocolate and coffee. Roasty malts, and caramel. Taste is heavily milk semi-sweet chocolate, toasted malt, milk chocolate and a bit of dark roasted coffee on the finish. Light mouthfeel, medium carbonation. Wonderful balance for a lightish stout. Plenty of chocolate and coffee.

Bottle, shared with my wife. Deep dark brown with a big beige head. Aroma is incredibly chocolatey, like rich cocoa and fudgey syrup. The palate thankfully does not translate directly, as it would be too much (I’m thinking of the BNL stout from Flying Monkeys). There is certainly chocolate in abundance, but any sweetness is balanced by a combination of dark roast and a dry peanut skin bitterness. Medium bodied, and quite bitter, beyond just astringent roast. I am becoming increasingly reticent to try these chocolate beers, as they are clearly dependent on striking the right balance with the chocolate, and that ain’t easy to do well, but I liked this one.