Shenandoah Chocolate Donut Stout

Brewed by Shenandoah Brewing Company
Style: Stout
Alexandria, Virginia USA

12 ounce bottle from the brewery, though props to goryskewych who also sent me a bottle that I looked for but can’t find right now. Pours a dark brown color with a thin tan head. Fair head retention and lacing. Aroma of chocolate, butter and something a bit odd. Taste is cocoa powder, caramel, bread and faint fruitiness. Medium bodied. The flavors and aromas are a bit overwhelming and blend very oddly. Weird.

Sample @ DLD09. Pours dark brown with a small beige head that disappears quickly. The aroma is roasted malt, caramel, chocolate, and a slight hint of coffee. The flavor had roasted malt, chocolate, and slight coffee, but I couldn’t get the metallic powdery sensation out of my head. Something didn’t click with this beer.

Bottle thanks to hopdog
Dark brown, large cream head. Chocolate and slightly-off lactic notes dominate the flavor. Slightly sour twang on the chocolate and doughy flavor, hints of roast as well. Thin finish, balanced between the sweeter chocolate and butter roast. Not bad, but not as extreme as the name makes out, and its definitely past its prime with the odd notes here and there.

Bottle (Thanks Jake!) Pours a dark brown muddy color with no head. The nose has a dose of maple and sweet caramel and molasses, some toasty biscuit malts as well in the nose. The flavor has a nice chewy body and a rich chocolatey character. A bit overdone in the sweetness department because it’s not fried to offset it. Good experiment, I like the pizza beer better.

Sampled from 12-bottle and shared at Dark Lord Day 09 at table 2. Pours a clear dark brown colored brew with a thin off-white head that quickly dissipates to a thin ring. Aroma of toasted dark malt, chocolate, some floral hops and a touch of coffee. Taste is slightly metallic, with flavors of toasted dark malt, powdered bakers chocolate, some light coffee and a hint of pepper. Finish is slightly chalky with some chocolate and toasted dark malt aftertaste.

This is yet another brewer that I have never come across that I was able to experience at PilsnerPeter’s Spring Gathering. Add to that the fact that I’ve wanted to try this beer for some time now. Bottle. Pours very dark brown with a massive, nearly explosive tan head. That’s not a good sign. Harsh metallic aroma with a few wisps of chocolate managing to sneak through. The flavor confirms it: this beer is infected. Harsh metallic flavor with some mild chocolate. Dammit, that is very disappointing. Rated as it is for now and hopefully I will have another opportunity to sample this beer.

Bottle at PilsnerPeter’s Spring Gathering. Pours a deep black with a medium beige head comprised of clunky soda bubbles. Smells of rubbing alcohol and cocoa powder. Something is either wrong with this bottle, or wrong with me, because this is quite bad. I’d been looking forward to this beer for a long time and was amazed to see it turn up... but man oh man... it was bad. Couldn’t finish it, and nearly spewed it right out of my mouth... I had worse beers, but nothing that I couldn’t put down. This was a big disappointment. A big chocolaty disappointment.

Bottle. Dammit this is freaking infected tasted like moth and metallic tin with a coffee head. I’ll give this a middle score just because I’m sure its better than the 0.5 drain pour that i wrote, until i have a chance to revisit this in its proper serving state.