For the second beer of the night, I had to go with the Rogue Chocolate Stout. On recommendation of Shea on the Young’s Double Chocolate Stout post, I just had to see what this would bring me.
As I poured the first glass, I took a deep breath and could actually smell the chocolate undertones that were in this beer. That was a good indication of what to come, but it came about differently than I expected… more on that in a minute. My first swig took me a bit by surprise. While I knew it would be strong, I didn’t realize how strong. The taste hit me full force as mixtures of chocolate, malt, and burnt hops all collided on my tongue. I say burnt hops, although I am not sure if that is really what it is because it reminds me of Starbucks Coffee a little bit. They have that burnt undertone to their coffee like this beer has.
I actually started to get a bad taste of this in my mouth, though, as I finished my first mug… almost ready to give it a Middle of the Road review, to be honest. That is when I stumbled upon the key (at least for my taste of this beer). I left the remainder of the brew in the bottle and headed upstairs to give the young un’ a bath. By the time I came back down (15 minutes or so), the beer had warmed up to just the right temperature to really, really mellow out. At this point, the colliding tastes had simmered down and were now just kind of dancing together instead of treating my tongue like a mosh pit.
Overall, the final experience was a good one, but I will note that I won’t serve this beer ice cold in the future.
JBB6 Rating: Will Buy Again
JustBeer: A simple beer blog... 
Yep, you hit the nail on the head here. I actually never drink stouts at fridge temperature. They all demand room temperature. It’s the same principle as wine: if a red wine (and also really full bodied whites like Chardonnay) is too cold it shuts down the flavours. Dark heavy beers like stout and big porters lose complexity at fridge temperatures. Glad you liked it. This was one of my favourite beers for a long time. I still like it a lot, but several other Pacific Northwest microbrews have caught my attention as of late (Elysian and Great Divide to name two of the best).
You learn something every day, that is for sure. 🙂 I will have to pull my bottle of Wrasslers XXXX Stout out of the fridge well in advance. That one is being saved for a special occasion, though…
I’ve also found that the darker the beer the warmer you can drink it. Cold cold dark beer simply hides a lot of the flavor. Let it warm up to just below room temp and that’s about right.
Glad you were encouraged to experience my beer… try Rogue Chocolate Stout paired with blue cheese (esp from the Rogue Creamery), or pour some over a scoop of ice cream (coffee is my fav) for a beer float… It is also a great beer to blend, try it with Rogue Chipotle Ale for a Mole’ style blend of chilis and dark chocolate!
Thanks ChipperDave… I think I learned this again with my white beer tonight. 🙂
Thanks Sebbie! I continue to love the fact that you are out participating in the blogger space. Just one more reason to love Rogue! Great site, as well… your recipes will be used for sure. 🙂
Ahhh, Sebbie! I am 3/4 of the way through a bottle of Auld Acquantance Happy Holiday Ale, and you are talking about beer floats. Something I have never tried, but am now intrigued by.
I also happen to know there is a pint of Ben & Jerry’s in the freezer, and I am sorely tempted….
dangit, I was gonna buy a Young’s Double Choc stout or even the Rouge… however…umm, I got to get a gas blender, cause pushin them out with just CO2 apparently isn’t good.
So, I settled for a Newcastle keg this time… still in the hunt for a used gas blender… I can’t afford $500 bucks for one.
Newcastly isn’t half bad… 🙂 Now might be the oportune time with the economy what it is… happy hunting!