Match Maker Chocolate & Strawberry Stout
Empyrean Brewing Company in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States 🇺🇸
Stout Regular|
Score
6.69
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Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
Bottle. A- Roasty, cocoa, slightly acidic. A- Dark brown color, dark liquid, tan. T- Roasty, berry, chocolate, slightly dry. P- Medium body, average texture, average carbonation, roasty finish. O- Okay. Quite a bit of berry but tastes more like raspberry. Lots of dry roasty chocolate. Not very sweet at all. Fair.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Got in a trade with The-Adjunct-Hippie. 12 ounce bottle into pint glass, best before 5/18/2018. Pours very murky very dark brown color with a 1-2 finger fairly dense and fluffy khaki head with awesome retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Nice dense foamy lacing clings on the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of juicy/lightly tart strawberries, milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, and toasted dark/brown bread; with lighter notes of coffee, nuttiness, smoke, dark fruit, herbal, grass, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of strawberries, cocoa nibs, dark/roast/bready malt, and light earthy hop/fruity yeast notes; with solid strength. Taste of juicy/lightly tart strawberries, milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, and toasted dark/brown bread; with lighter notes of coffee, nuttiness, smoke, dark fruit, herbal, grass, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Light herbal/grassy/roast bitterness and berry tartness on the finish. Lingering notes of strawberries, milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, toasted dark/brown bread, coffee, nuttiness, smoke, dark fruit, herbal, grass, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Nice complexity, robustness, and balance of strawberries, cocoa nibs, dark/roast/bready malt, and light earthy hop/fruity yeast flavors; with a nice roast/hop bitter/sweet and fruit tartness balance; with zero cloying/astringent flavors after the finish. Light-moderate increasing dryness from bitter/tartness and carbonation. Medium-high carbonation and medium body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/bready/grainy, and lightly sticky/chalky/acidic balanced mouthfeel that is great. Zero warming alcohol for 6%. Overall this is a nice fruited English stout. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of strawberries, cocoa nibs, dark/roast/bready malt, and light earthy hop/fruity yeast flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the mellowly tart/bitter/drying finish. Their English house yeast was not quite as clean as I hoped for, but it's not overwhelming. Really well balanced between all flavors. Lower carbonation would have been better, but it wasn't detrimental to the mouthfeel. A nicely enjoyable offering.