It's Wednesday night. Not just any Wednesday night. It's time for the February offering in my wife's Beer of the Month club! I didn't realize how close it was to month end (tomorrow is the last day as of this posting) and I almost forgot I hadn't received my February beer. So here it is in all it's glory!
Tonight I'm drinking the Organic Chocolate Stout by Samuel Smith. Now if you're into craft beer, Samuel Smith beers shouldn't be news to you. In fact, they should be old hat. But definitely not a bad old hat that you want to simply get rid of. No, these beers are all fantastic and incredibly priced (this beer cost me $3.50).
I've been a fan of theirs for years, namely for their Oatmeal Stout and the Imperial Stout. Both are still two of my favorite beers I've ever had. When in doubt, an SS Oatmeal or Imperial Stout is always a good fall back option. Hell, even the Nut Brown is a good option if you're not in the mood for the stouts.
But enough of the history. I've seen some feed back on the Organic Chocolate Stout and to say my interest has been peaked would be an understatement. I'm looking forward to this beer for sure so let's get it poured and let's get into it!
The Organic Chocolate Stout pours out a very dark mahogany to black color with some ruby red shades on the bottom of the glass. It's not the thickest of stouts but for the most part, the SS beers are relatively thin. There was a nice finger to just over a finger of a off white head, bordering on khaki. The head vanished pretty quickly and left behind a relatively light lacing, not quite soapy but probably resembling that more than anything else.
The nose on this beer is pretty fantastic. Incredibly sweet, I mean, INCREDIBLY sweet. Big time Vanilla. A lot of a milk chocolate coming through. There's almost like a rum character on this beer. I'd attribute that to the vanilla I'm catching. There's a cake like sweetness on the nose as well. Maybe like a sugar cookie with an emphasis on the sugar. It's pretty nice.
I'm blown away by how this beer tastes. It follows the nose to a T! Right away there's a huge blast of vanilla sweetness. That's followed right away by that milk chocolate and even more vanilla. Middle of the mouth you get a creaminess that I was waiting for. Reminds me a lot of a milk stout. It's very smooth and cleans the palate nicely. Back end of this beer you get more sweetness. More milk chocolate than vanilla. I think the vanilla is just pretty much in the front of those beer and a little in the middle.
This beer is pretty thin and is incredibly easy to drink. The Organic Chocolate Stout comes in at a whopping 5% so it's incredibly sessionable. It's so easy drinking I'd imagine if this comes in a 4 pack you could kill this with no problems whatsoever.
Overall, this is a fantastic beer. It's very easy drinking and packs a lot of solid flavors into a beer that may scare some people away, with the "Organic" in the name and the overpowering 5% abv. I highly recommend this beer and all the others from Samuel Smith to anyone who reads this. They are worth the try and for the price, definitely can't be beat.
Rating: A-
Wife didn't like it but at least found there to be some redeeming qualities. So, all in all, I'll take it as a victory!
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