Bottle at home. Dark brown black colour with small golden head. Aroma is unsurprisingly chocolatey, ovaltine, oaty, milkiness, kind of hint a hot chocolate. Taste is similar, high on the chocolate, bit of vanilla creaminess, slight hint of smoke or spice, and some dark fruit. Pretty straightforward, but at the same time pretty decent. Second time, much more fruity. Boozy kick too. Scores about right still though.

Bottle from Tanakaya. Pretty light roasted malt nose with mostly milk chocolate aromas. Average carbonation with a slightly silky mouthfeel. Some chocolate covered raisin action on the palate. Smooth finish, but the body might be a little too thin. Still a very competent sweet stout. --- Beer merged from original tick of Chocolate Stout on 31 Jan 2016 at 21:25 - Score: 6. Original review text: Nice basic stout from Baeren.

Bottle at the RBJG 2 Grand Tasting, thanks TimE. Black colour with a small beige head. Aroma of dark chocolate, malt. Smooth chocolate, fruit flavour.

2016 Version Baeren’s Chocolate Stout 6.5% This is their normal version, the vintage version has recently been released online but I’ve yet to see it at any shops. It pours a deep brown verging on black with a beige head. The aroma is quite interesting: bready cocoa butter and chocolate. The taste is nice bitter roasty chocolate syrup on a medium body. Paired with a chocolate cookies I got a vision of coco puffs which was kind of funny. This goes for less than 500 yen and is what I’d call a classic example of the indigenous Japanese Valentine’s Chocolate Beer Style.

----- 2013 Rating ---- Bottle direct from the brewery via Rakuten. The ABV has changed as is now 6.5% It poured a dark brownish black with an ok head of lightly brown foam. The mouthfeel was light/thin for a stout but the flavor was nice and the beer was quite easy to drink. The aroma is one of bitter roasted chocolate with some mild coffee/caramel notes. It wasn’t all that sweet but was a well balanced chocolate beer. My wife liked it and she thought it wasn’t so strong so she was surprised when I said it was 6.5%.

Bottle from Yamaoka in Kyoto. Good woody aroma with lots of chocolate, some coffee and caramel. Flavor similar, though not quite as rich as the nose. Good chocolate and coffee, plus smoke, milk. Palate is a little thin for a stout. Generally very tasty, though.

Dark brown with a firm, chocolate milk-colored head. Bittersweet chocolate, roasted malts, milk. Lightly roasted malts, chocolate, some smoke, and milk. Finish is roasted malts, and bittersweet. Nice, smooth body. Not the most complex stout, but easily drinkable and rather tasty.

Draft: Pitch black color, frothy brown head, dark chocolate nose. Not too strong. Silky smooth mouth with dark chocolate, whisky, cherries and a touch of nuttiness. Palate is very smooth, but lacking roasted character I wanted. Smooth chocolatey finish.