Cherry Chocolate Stout
Stone Brewing in Escondido, California, United States 🇺🇸
Collab with: Tröegs Independent BrewingStout - Pastry / Flavoured Special Out of Production
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Score
7.47
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Collaborators: Jason Fields & Kevin Sheppard, Homebrewers / Jon Trogner, Tröegs Brewing Company, Harrisburg, PA / Mitch Steele, Stone Brewing Co., San Diego
Sitting in the Frankfurt airport terminal waiting for a plane to Turin may not be the most inspired location to write this label, but we jetsetters do what we must to meet deadlines....
This was a ton of fun to brew. So far, the most memorable part about it was sampling the first wort which had been mashed with lots of specialty grains and about 250 lbs of pure cocoa. It was amazingly smooth, velvety sweet, and rich with chocolate. I felt like I was tasting the luscious sweetness of a chocolate river. There’s gotta be a market for this, I swear!
I can’t wait to taste this finished creation that sprang forth from Jason Fields and Kevin Sheppard’s delicious homebrew. The cherries, a blend of dark and tart, will be added in a few days, and should make this a truly remarkable stout. It couldn’t have been done without the help and expertise from John Trogner, brewer of great things at Tröegs in PA and longtime friend of our own Bill Sherwood. It’s our second time brewing with fruit, and our second time brewing with chocolate. Second time’s a charm (just like the first time)!
Sitting in the Frankfurt airport terminal waiting for a plane to Turin may not be the most inspired location to write this label, but we jetsetters do what we must to meet deadlines....
This was a ton of fun to brew. So far, the most memorable part about it was sampling the first wort which had been mashed with lots of specialty grains and about 250 lbs of pure cocoa. It was amazingly smooth, velvety sweet, and rich with chocolate. I felt like I was tasting the luscious sweetness of a chocolate river. There’s gotta be a market for this, I swear!
I can’t wait to taste this finished creation that sprang forth from Jason Fields and Kevin Sheppard’s delicious homebrew. The cherries, a blend of dark and tart, will be added in a few days, and should make this a truly remarkable stout. It couldn’t have been done without the help and expertise from John Trogner, brewer of great things at Tröegs in PA and longtime friend of our own Bill Sherwood. It’s our second time brewing with fruit, and our second time brewing with chocolate. Second time’s a charm (just like the first time)!
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8.9/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Bottle at home in London. Pours dark brown with a thick, luscious brown head. Heavy roasted malt, dark chocolate aroma with nips of tart, dark cherries. Medium to big sweet flavor but not at all cloying. Great roast character, chewy, lovely cherry notes providing a light tang, some bitter cocoa and mocha. Medium to full in body with average carbonation and oily texture. Mild warming finish, lasting roasted malts, slight burnt malts, more rich chocolate, chocolate-covered cherries, mild earth. Delicious.
Tried
from Bottle
on 30 Aug 2011
at 11:26
7.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Rather average looking stout, but oh the taste, oh the taste. Full nosed aroma cherry, chocolate and roast grain. Balanced full bodied flavour, something to sing about. Cherry finish. Worth seeking out.
Tried
on 23 Aug 2011
at 20:09
7.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7
Bottle @ home. Deep black appearance with a dark brown head. Roasty, milk chocolate, fairly mild cherry cordial, a touch tart aroma. Fairly roasty, not quite dark but a darkish milk chocolate, vanilla, mild cherry flavor with a slightly more pronounced candy cherry taste on the finish. Roasty chocolate aftertaste. Pretty tasty beer but the cherry flavor is fairly subdued.
Tried
from Bottle
on 21 Aug 2011
at 19:52
6.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 7
Pour is black and slightly viscous - kicks up a thick tan head, but it disappears completely within a minute or so - nose of earthy, semi-tart cherries, bittersweet baker’s chocolate - overall aroma is very much like a cherry cordial or truffle - flavor is very tart up front - a lot of natural cherry flavor, but it is mostly of the bitter skins and pits rather than the sweet meat of the fruit - this is coupled with strong bitter chocolate and some ashy character - overall quite bitter and moderately acidic - slick mouthfeel - a bit of sweetness on the tail end balances the bitterness a little bit, but this is a bit out of balance for me - smells great, though.
Tried
on 17 Aug 2011
at 20:54
9.2/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 9
Flavor 10
Texture 8
Overall 9
Enjoyed on tap at Acre Restaurant in Chicago, IL as part of a Stone Tap Takeover. Appearance a fantastic pitch black with rich, tan bubbly head. Aroma of equal parts cherry and chocolate, not really milky, just a touch sweet, just smells very ’natural’. Taste is incredibly smooth, like wow smooth, like drinking cherry mash and melted dark chocolate in a glass. There are those candies that are filled with cherry jelly, and these brewers have found a way to make a beverage that tastes exactly like that. Maybe the best ’session’ stout I’ve ever had. Awesome stuff.
Tried
from Draft
on 16 Aug 2011
at 17:40
7/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Bottle thanks to a Cali trading buddy. Pours black with a deep wooden brown that dissipated completely. Aroma starts with a bit of cherry but mainly has roasted malts and dark grains that were slightly bitter. Flavor begins with some stone fruits but is quickly taken over by dark grains and roast to round out the beer.
Tried
from Bottle
on 14 Aug 2011
at 12:04
8.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 9
Texture 10
Overall 8.5
Bottle from Bottle Barn in Santa Rosa, CA. Pours very black with a 2 finger dark tan head. Rich aromas of chocolate and dark burnt malt. Med+ body. Flavor is lots of chocolate, some burnt malt, and damn if there doesn’t seem to be some astringent cherry in the finish. Side note: Enjoying this is in a De Molen snifter from Bierkonig in Amsterdam. We will not get into details regarding the magnificent lady who gave me the snifter at no charge. Love the snifter. Love the beer. There’s a very slight burnt malt aspect in the finish, and some sour cherry. Great frickin beer.
Tried
from Bottle
on 13 Aug 2011
at 19:54
7.2/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Bottle. Pours with a near black body and deep tan head. Head slowly fades to a ring and leaves good lace. Aromas of slightly sweet/slightly tart cherries, nutty, earthy, fudge, bitter chocolate and cocoa. Very light grainy, bready, base malt character in the background. Flavors are a little bit sweet, earthy, fudge, ashy. A bit smokey. Light cherry flavors and some vanilla. Really bitter chocolate notes. A bit dusty. Clean fermentation character. Medium to low carbonation. Full bodied, creamy, lightly warming.
Tried
from Bottle
on 07 Aug 2011
at 19:01
7.1/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Pours very black with a mocha head. The aroma is dark chocolate, cola, cherries, burnt caramel, vanilla, oranges and a touch of acetone. The taste is a cleaner, punchier mix of sour cherries and dark chocolate. It’s medium sweet, but the cherry tang and a mild roast-hop bitterness calms it down. The finish extends that same chocolate-cherry note. Mouthfeel is thick, though a bit less so than expected. It’s an interesting beer but doesn’t quite jibe with my taste.
Tried
on 03 Aug 2011
at 00:06