Brews and Blues Beer and Smokin’ Blues

Young’s Double Chocolate Stout

Here's another incarnation of dessert in a glass.  Today's offering is from Wells and Young's Brewing Company in Bedford, United Kingdom.  The Young's Double Chocolate Stout poured BLACK with a very thick and rich toffee colored head that stuck around and laced the glass for the entire drink.  When I first found this beer, I was a bit afraid what the flavor might bring being labeled a DOUBLE chocolate stout.  I feared it would be too sweet, but upon tasting this brew, the chocolate sweetness would fall into a category of just about perfect in my opinion.  There aren't a lot of beers out there to compare with this one, but it does remind me quite a bit of the Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock that I had a while back.  I won't put this beer at the same level as the Sam Adams offering, but it's definitely an extremely nice brew.  From the website:

Luxurious and at the same time with a hint of decadence, Young's Double Chocolate Stout has it all, delivering a satisfying, indulgent taste without becoming overly sweet.

Chocolate malt and real dark chocolate are combined with Young's award winning rich, full flavoured dark beer to craft a satisfyingly indulgent, but never overly sweet experience.

Pale Ale and Crystal malt, Chocolate malt, a special blend of sugars, Fuggle and Golding hops, real dark chocolate and chocolate essence are combined to deliver a stout with real credentials.

One of the main reasons I decided to try this beer is the simple fact that I'm planning on brewing a chocolate oatmeal stout very soon, and I'm trying to experience several different offerings in this realm before I brew my own.  There are a lot of specific techniques to getting these flavors, and I want to have a full understanding of what the finished products are like before I dig in on my own. 

As you might notice in the photo above, I also picked up a couple new glasses today.  This glass is designed to handle 16-18oz beers.  I also bought another tall pilsener style glass to use with my larger bottles of beer so the photos don't make the glass look so tiny...

Samuel Adams Cream Stout

When we're out and about and looking for a decent beer, Samuel Adams brews can generally solve the problem without having to resort to the BudMillerCoors ranks. I picked up a couple samples of Samuel Adams brews over the weekend, and tried the Cream Stout this evening.

From the bottle:

Who Wants Dessert?

Samuel Adams Cream Stout is brewed with roasted chocolate malted barley. The resulting flavors pair perfectly with a bowl of vanilla ice cream. Just pour a little in your glass and a little over the top of the ice cream and enjoy.

I have never tried this, but I'm thinking more along the lines of a Cream Stout Float instead!