Mar

08

Young’s Double Chocolate Stout

By Andy Murphy

Rate this article: (3 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

 Loading ...

After drinking the now retired Young’s Oatmeal Stout yesterday, tonight’s Young’s Double Chocolate Stout seemed a natural progression.

It’s impossible not to compare these two stouts. Both Young’s brews have similar bottles — though the Double Chocolate Stout is a bit more regal with its purple label. And the pour looks much the same, black and oily, with a thick head; but where the Oatmeal Stout put up a patchwork with huge bubbles, the head on the Double Chocolate Stout was whipped, creamy and smooth.

They also begin to differ with the aroma. Both seem understated, but the Chocolate Stout is sweeter and less roasted. You can also detect some mild hops that mellow the sweetness — at least, they became apparent after half the beer was gone and the aroma found room to collect in the glass.

It’s a very tasty stout, and an excellent Chocolate Stout. On your tongue, the beer is silky and smooth, with a light carbonation that begs you to hold this stout in your mouth just a touch longer before swallowing. The charred malts and a touch of hops are present, but the sweetness is the dominant character. Having so recently enjoyed last night’s roasted Oatmeal Stout, I kept expecting the taste of charcoal to bat down the creamy sweetness. But it didn’t take over the flavor. Instead, the roasted malts joined with the mid-tongue hops and simply policed the sweetness from afar — making their presence known without taking overt action.

Here’s how the Wells and Young’s website describes this stout:

Luxurious and at the same time with a hint of decadence, Young’s Double Chocolate Stout has it all, delivering a satisfying, indulgent taste without ever becoming overly sweet. Pale Ale and Crystal malt, Chocolate Malt, a special blend of sugars, Fuggle and Golding hops, real dark chocolate and chocolate essence are combined to deliver a stout of with real credentials.

Wells and Young’s makes a great Double Chocolate Stout — I call it that because the flavor is complex, melding a sweet stout with roasted malts and hops and complimenting the overall taste with a blend of chocolate that never detracts from the stout.

So far, I’ve liberally compared this stout with its older brother, the Oatmeal Stout. They look alike, they act alike, but they have different personalities. What’s more interesting, to me at least, is comparing the Young’s Double Chocolate Stout to other chocolate stouts.

The only chocolate stout in the same league as this Young’s brew (at least, that I’ve tasted) is Southern Tier’s Choklat. Southern Tier does a better job of capturing the sense of chocolate, with a rich mouthfeel and sweetness, rounded out with bittersweet coffee. But Young’s takes the opposite approach, highlighting the bittersweet malts and hops while layering in the decadent if more subtle flavor of chocolate.

If you could make the Young’s a touch more “chocolate”, or the Southern Tier less sweet, you might create the best chocolate stout in the world.

But you might just as easily ruin them both. Why mess with perfection?

Related posts:

1. The Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout
2. Bourbon Barrel Stout
3. Highland Brewing Oatmeal Porter
4. Bad Penny Brown Ale

Rate this article: (3 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

 Loading ...

Categories : Beer a Day