For those looking for a Valentine’s Day alternative to flowers or fancy foodstuffs, the Sankt Gallen Brewery has kindly produced a chocolate beer, the special edition brew going by the rather grand name of ‘Imperial Chocolate Stout’.
Supposedly made with a generous amount of chocolate malt, the manufacturer claims that the stout has a mellow, sweet taste, and is rich in flavour compared to average, non-imperial beverages.
However whilst hardened boozers might try and dismiss this limited edition offering as nothing but a namby-pamby gimmick, an alcohol content of 8% puts it in the arena of the ‘street drink’. Meaning carefree quaffing could quite easily lead to a decidedly less than amorous evening.
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I hail from microbrew country, better known as the Northwest US, and I would just like to say that chocolate stout is generally fabulous. If you can’t find this stuff, try Rogue Ales. You won’t regret it, unless you are the type that thinks Coors is an actual beer.
Brooklyn Brewery made an Imperial Chocolate Stout last winter for one of it’s limited runs. It was alright, comparable to more bitter guiness.
I thought it was bad enough that Germans put fruit in their beer.
Oh great, as if ordinary beer wasn’t fattening enough they invent chocolate beer.
To get things straight:
- Beer is fabulous, especially Belgian beers.
- Fruit beers are not disgusting, they’re fabulous, especially Belgian fruit beers.
- Chocolate is nice, especially Belgian chocolates.
- Chocolate fruit beers are disgusting and a product of deranged minds that can only flourish in places where people eat raw fish or fantasize about raw fish violently exploiting innocent young girls’ bodies.
What about beer flavoured chocolate?
I’ve found ‘cheddar & beer’ flavoured crisps (chips for the American readers). They are available from the Kettle Foods people and actually taste pretty good.
Chocolate malt does not necessarily mean there is chocolate in the beer. Chocolate malt is barley malt that has a roasted bitter flavor that is similar to dark chocolate thus the name. Some stouts do add a bitter chocolate in addition to using chocolate malt. It does not mean there are Hershey bars in the beer.
Looks a bit expensive for the average ‘street’ drinker, mate. It’s in a glass bottle for a start.
Imperial chocolate stouts are lovely if well made and a great way to end an evening’s drinking.
Sankt Gallen = inconsistency with their brews but their imp choc stout is one of their better beers, along with their brown porter, amber ale, XPA (it’s an IPA) and occasionally their barley wine, the el diablo. The ocmpany is now run by 2 brothers, at least one of which spent time in the States.
I find Rogue too sweet these day and slightly cloying (again the sweetness). Used to love them but not so much these days.
The drinker in Japan has so much more fantastic choice now, in bars across Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Hokkaido, etc. and in beer stores or online.
For an example of the fantastic choice in craft beer that you can find in Tokyo and Yokohama, just check out this blog:
http://boozelist.blogspot.com/
Listng what’s on tap at about 70 craft beer bars!
All the best,
Chuwy.