Chocolate Rain
(has 11 batches)
The Bruery in Placentia, California, United States 🇺🇸
Stout - Pastry / Flavoured - Imperial Rotating|
Score
8.15
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Bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout with cacao nibs and vanilla beans
The reign of Black Tuesday was destined to grow with the creation of Chocolate Rain. This decidedly decadent version of our bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout was treated with TCHO cacao nibs and juicy, fresh vanilla beans. Rich in chocolate and vanilla, with hints of oak, it truly puts the “imperial” in imperial stout.
The reign of Black Tuesday was destined to grow with the creation of Chocolate Rain. This decidedly decadent version of our bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout was treated with TCHO cacao nibs and juicy, fresh vanilla beans. Rich in chocolate and vanilla, with hints of oak, it truly puts the “imperial” in imperial stout.
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8.9/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 10
Overall 9.5
Imported from my RateBeer account as The Bruery Chocolate Rain (by The Bruery):
Aroma: 9/10, Appearance: 3/5, Taste: 9/10, Palate: 5/5, Overall: 19/20, MyTotalScore: 4.5/5
5/IV/14 - 75cl bottle @ home - BB: n/a (2014-343) Big thanks to Filip for sharing the bottle!
Very dark brown to black beer, small aery beige head, unstable, non adhesive. Aroma: sugary, sweet, banana, some chocolate, lots of vanilla. MF: quite some carbon, full body, thick syrupy texture. Taste: chocolate, cocoa powder, sugary, vanilla, alcohol burn, banana. Aftertaste: sugary, alcohol, lots of caramel, some chocolate, lots of vanilla, a bit of an alcohol burn.
Aroma: 9/10, Appearance: 3/5, Taste: 9/10, Palate: 5/5, Overall: 19/20, MyTotalScore: 4.5/5
5/IV/14 - 75cl bottle @ home - BB: n/a (2014-343) Big thanks to Filip for sharing the bottle!
Very dark brown to black beer, small aery beige head, unstable, non adhesive. Aroma: sugary, sweet, banana, some chocolate, lots of vanilla. MF: quite some carbon, full body, thick syrupy texture. Taste: chocolate, cocoa powder, sugary, vanilla, alcohol burn, banana. Aftertaste: sugary, alcohol, lots of caramel, some chocolate, lots of vanilla, a bit of an alcohol burn.
Tried
from Bottle
on 05 Apr 2014
at 12:05
7.2/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Bottle at EBF, 3/22/14
Dark brown pour, quite black but showing decent clarity and a small but moderately well retained grey head.
Sweet and rich chocolate, fudge, peanut brittle, vanilla-soaked raisin liqueur and touches of coffee and bit of punchy hoppiness. No alcohol or heat, and despite smelling very richly fudgey, it somehow works well and dosent seem to smell like it’s going to be a sugar bomb.
Yep, sweet as all hell, but I dont know if it’s my newfound tolerance for malt, or this is just somehow adeptly malted, but I can really get behind the chocolate flavors and malt richness. Drawn out vanilla helps balance to some extent, while roastiness and a touch of char, very nicely executed, keep it just balanced enough to keep the chocolatey-rich malt balanced and make you want to drink another sip. Rich, velvety, but importantly, not syrupy texture also exhibits nicely tight carbonation, further helping keep things drinkable. Didnt think I was going to like it, but I’ve got to admit to being very impressed. Probably helped that I was just drinking a sample, but honestly, I would have had another 6 ounces more. Uh oh, I hope my tastes arent changing for the worse....
Dark brown pour, quite black but showing decent clarity and a small but moderately well retained grey head.
Sweet and rich chocolate, fudge, peanut brittle, vanilla-soaked raisin liqueur and touches of coffee and bit of punchy hoppiness. No alcohol or heat, and despite smelling very richly fudgey, it somehow works well and dosent seem to smell like it’s going to be a sugar bomb.
Yep, sweet as all hell, but I dont know if it’s my newfound tolerance for malt, or this is just somehow adeptly malted, but I can really get behind the chocolate flavors and malt richness. Drawn out vanilla helps balance to some extent, while roastiness and a touch of char, very nicely executed, keep it just balanced enough to keep the chocolatey-rich malt balanced and make you want to drink another sip. Rich, velvety, but importantly, not syrupy texture also exhibits nicely tight carbonation, further helping keep things drinkable. Didnt think I was going to like it, but I’ve got to admit to being very impressed. Probably helped that I was just drinking a sample, but honestly, I would have had another 6 ounces more. Uh oh, I hope my tastes arent changing for the worse....
Tried
from Bottle
on 29 Mar 2014
at 15:28
6.9/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Bottle from International trade; red/brown pour with thin tan head, massive bourbon aroma, big bourbon taste, a hint of chocolate that is mostly overpowered by the bourbon, very sweet candy sugar, viscous thick mouth feel.
Tried
from Bottle
on 29 Nov 2013
at 01:03
8.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Bottle share. Pours black with thin off white head ring. Nose and taste of vanilla, chocolate liqueur, molten chocolate cake, chocolate syrup and charred oak. Full body. Slight bourbon chocolate burn.
Tried
from Bottle
on 02 Oct 2013
at 10:51
9.5/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 10
Flavor 9
Texture 10
Overall 10
75 cl. bottle @ home. 2013 Vintage. Another gusher, wth is it with this bottles, serious?! Also the wax looks beautiful but is a whole mess to get rid off. Obtained in a trade with stupac2. I usually always keep bottles like this for shares, trading, whatever,… This time, I looked at the bottle & thought, f@#k this, I just want to drink it, like any other beer, no reason, occasion or anything. I actually want to try a whole bottle instead of my regular ticking. If this is against the sharing part of RB or whatever ehh… I have coming much worse crimes in my life, seriously I mean it. I am just drinking this with there being no reason whatsoever being my only reason. I did wind up sharing a little bit of this. Anyway drank almost room temperature. Pours black but not really very darkest black, quite some wine hue coming through here, no head whatsoever past the pour. I get almost no legs on this. Smell becomes immediate once you open the bottle. Booze thick vanilla oak, big bourbon, vanilla sticks, molasses, huge brown sugar, black chocolate, faint roast, very sweet, even more molasses. Taste is a huge mouthfeel of molasses, very thick, sweet brown sugar, chocolate, vanilla sticks, incredibly thick, warming, bourbon, syrupy, slight bitter roast, dark chocolate, it is pretty hard to express how thick & syrupy this is, huge oak, I get some cocoa powder. It is slightly more complex than Black Tuesday but still not that complex. It is definitely way better than, that beer was. You don’t get the vodka alcohol like finish but you can feel the strength of this. I feel like I am doing a bottle of strong liquor. Very thick syrupy, it has this molasses, syrupy, quality to it, I can feel it sticky to my mouth, it is unbelievable sticky, virtually nothing in the way of carb. It is better room temp than colder. It is a fun beer to do, it is certainly pretty good. Still it is far too simple & considering the rarity, cost of obtaining this etc. Yeah there is better stuff to get that requires a similar effort. One is certainly better of getting a Thornbrige RIS at a fraction of the cost. I must say that whilst I thought that a 75 cl. of this would be very hard to do, it turned out to be pretty easy. Bit of a downer on that end. The Black Tuesday was great for blending with lambic so I had to check out with this one as well. I have nothing truly special so I opened a 2011 St. Lamvinus, not my favourite Cantillon. The bottle turned out way better than I expected, very vinous, huge red grape character. Chocolate Rain still dominated the smell, the St. Lamvinus totally dominated the taste, so this was way less for successful for blending than Black Tuesday. Still pretty happy that my bottle turned out better than expected (the Cantillon). Seriously I got a big old red grape, red tannins, Big red grape profile, only then I got the Chocolate Rain, not a successful blend, this worked better with Black Tuesday. It was overall very fun.
Tried
from Bottle
on 25 Sep 2013
at 14:41
6.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
Bottle shared by Kyle at my wedding, thanks! Pours an oily black with a thin dark brown head that dissipates quickly to the edges. Aroma has strong sweet dark grains, raisins, sweet chocolate and vanilla with a hint of roast. Flavor is cloying with sweet dark grains and sweet chocolate with underlying raisins and vanilla. A bit overwhelming.
Tried
from Bottle
on 23 Sep 2013
at 19:39
8.9/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 10
Flavor 9
Texture 6
Overall 9.5
Tap at Stein’s Bruery Takeover. Pours opaque deep brown, not quite totally black. Small brown head that dissipates with some lacing. Aroma is wonderful, chocolate, whiskey, roasted malts, vanilla. Flavor is medium to very sweet, lightly bitter, very chocolatey with a chocolate vanilla finish. Medium plus body, quite hot, but actually not bad considering the ABV. This is special beer with a wonderful aroma that is worth (most) of the hype around it.
Tried
from Draft
on 02 Aug 2013
at 17:33