Blog Tracker
04-03-2022, 07:20
Visit The Beer Nut site (https://thebeernut.blogspot.com/2022/03/choc-around-lough.html)
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRPN0G23Hxc7dVaKZwxa-VMVWFmcp0vwmvsD_Op-dvP49lnDH3JziFKxFbfOMWaFEXAvfXakY3VXhTbXOgq5JTZ6Sc 8Rxo4GM4sMAuYNj7e3cD7tozrDSpmpOkZ6mQGpzSnOBjTrnPnJ K_qNld_ZrQMluhL6GNzyvOs_VFeiVKNVK-WGR8rQY=w169-h200 (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRPN0G23Hxc7dVaKZwxa-VMVWFmcp0vwmvsD_Op-dvP49lnDH3JziFKxFbfOMWaFEXAvfXakY3VXhTbXOgq5JTZ6Sc 8Rxo4GM4sMAuYNj7e3cD7tozrDSpmpOkZ6mQGpzSnOBjTrnPnJ K_qNld_ZrQMluhL6GNzyvOs_VFeiVKNVK-WGR8rQY=s2545)Not a wet week after I reviewed that series (https://thebeernut.blogspot.com/2022/02/can-you-dig-it.html) of extremely tasty stouts from Lough Gill, they're at it again. Two more stouts today, a little less full-on, though both including chocolate as a key ingredient.
"Irish Chocolate Stout" is the straightforward description on Ben Bulben, a 6% ABV job whose blurb promises a "sumptuous" and "intense" experience. It doesn't seem so to begin with, looking a bit thin as it pours, with a poor score on head retention. The aroma does say chocolate, though, or at least bang-average drinking cocoa. I was not braced to be impressed. And that's fair enough -- it's not a big and flouncy chocolate stout, but a solid and reliable one, reminding me a little of the Porterhouse's Chocolate Truffle and a lot of Young's Double Chocolate. It is solidly drinkable and pleasingly clean for a chocolate stout, with quite a high carbonation to scrub the palate before the candy grease descends on it. The finish is clean too, leaving a dusting of cocoa powder and a mild hop bite, but no sticky sugar. I expected something much more sickly and was very pleased by what I got instead. For €3.50 it's a bargain. Buy a few.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgm1BADCr5ROE8A43W_rrw_J9GQQ-L0ynhM0rACcg85iMSQOZVmUGSBJOGhDUx2kCThZHFkPAGIiFk3 bLc_vxCKyS_JQb9p4hdI8jQhmgywdrpB44MWw4H_hP53fIpH5d Z4Qto5xFL3BXHNjGZzFedWiUwyP1glGBKPvhjJXqJ61PjGsr75 sqc=w173-h200 (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgm1BADCr5ROE8A43W_rrw_J9GQQ-L0ynhM0rACcg85iMSQOZVmUGSBJOGhDUx2kCThZHFkPAGIiFk3 bLc_vxCKyS_JQb9p4hdI8jQhmgywdrpB44MWw4H_hP53fIpH5d Z4Qto5xFL3BXHNjGZzFedWiUwyP1glGBKPvhjJXqJ61PjGsr75 sqc=s2615)The next one was rather spendier at €6, though it is 10% ABV and brewed with a fancy collaborative partner in Alewife of New York. With Sometimes You're A Nut (indeed, sometimes I am) the visuals are altogether better: a sleeker black colour with a creamy Irish-coffee head lasting all the way down. The name references both coconut and almond in the flavour, though of course only the former shows up in the aroma. I was immediately playing Hunt The Almond. The flavour has warmth and smoothness and plenty of coconut for a dark-chocolate Bounty effect, but nothing I could pin as almond. Oh well. It's still very good though, retaining the balance and approachable quality of the previous one, but adding a rich sippable quality commensurate with the strength. Like the previous set of archaeology-themed beers, this is pure class and effortlessly integrates novelty ingredients that often feel jarring when other breweries do it. One can argue whether "best pastry stout brewer" is a true position of honour, but Lough Gill definitely holds it for Ireland.
Despite the commonalities these are two very different beers. I think that means that Lough Gill can keep churning out chocolate flavoured stouts and I can keep drinking them and still say I'm tasting a broad spectrum of beers. Great! As you were.
More... (https://thebeernut.blogspot.com/2022/03/choc-around-lough.html)
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRPN0G23Hxc7dVaKZwxa-VMVWFmcp0vwmvsD_Op-dvP49lnDH3JziFKxFbfOMWaFEXAvfXakY3VXhTbXOgq5JTZ6Sc 8Rxo4GM4sMAuYNj7e3cD7tozrDSpmpOkZ6mQGpzSnOBjTrnPnJ K_qNld_ZrQMluhL6GNzyvOs_VFeiVKNVK-WGR8rQY=w169-h200 (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRPN0G23Hxc7dVaKZwxa-VMVWFmcp0vwmvsD_Op-dvP49lnDH3JziFKxFbfOMWaFEXAvfXakY3VXhTbXOgq5JTZ6Sc 8Rxo4GM4sMAuYNj7e3cD7tozrDSpmpOkZ6mQGpzSnOBjTrnPnJ K_qNld_ZrQMluhL6GNzyvOs_VFeiVKNVK-WGR8rQY=s2545)Not a wet week after I reviewed that series (https://thebeernut.blogspot.com/2022/02/can-you-dig-it.html) of extremely tasty stouts from Lough Gill, they're at it again. Two more stouts today, a little less full-on, though both including chocolate as a key ingredient.
"Irish Chocolate Stout" is the straightforward description on Ben Bulben, a 6% ABV job whose blurb promises a "sumptuous" and "intense" experience. It doesn't seem so to begin with, looking a bit thin as it pours, with a poor score on head retention. The aroma does say chocolate, though, or at least bang-average drinking cocoa. I was not braced to be impressed. And that's fair enough -- it's not a big and flouncy chocolate stout, but a solid and reliable one, reminding me a little of the Porterhouse's Chocolate Truffle and a lot of Young's Double Chocolate. It is solidly drinkable and pleasingly clean for a chocolate stout, with quite a high carbonation to scrub the palate before the candy grease descends on it. The finish is clean too, leaving a dusting of cocoa powder and a mild hop bite, but no sticky sugar. I expected something much more sickly and was very pleased by what I got instead. For €3.50 it's a bargain. Buy a few.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgm1BADCr5ROE8A43W_rrw_J9GQQ-L0ynhM0rACcg85iMSQOZVmUGSBJOGhDUx2kCThZHFkPAGIiFk3 bLc_vxCKyS_JQb9p4hdI8jQhmgywdrpB44MWw4H_hP53fIpH5d Z4Qto5xFL3BXHNjGZzFedWiUwyP1glGBKPvhjJXqJ61PjGsr75 sqc=w173-h200 (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgm1BADCr5ROE8A43W_rrw_J9GQQ-L0ynhM0rACcg85iMSQOZVmUGSBJOGhDUx2kCThZHFkPAGIiFk3 bLc_vxCKyS_JQb9p4hdI8jQhmgywdrpB44MWw4H_hP53fIpH5d Z4Qto5xFL3BXHNjGZzFedWiUwyP1glGBKPvhjJXqJ61PjGsr75 sqc=s2615)The next one was rather spendier at €6, though it is 10% ABV and brewed with a fancy collaborative partner in Alewife of New York. With Sometimes You're A Nut (indeed, sometimes I am) the visuals are altogether better: a sleeker black colour with a creamy Irish-coffee head lasting all the way down. The name references both coconut and almond in the flavour, though of course only the former shows up in the aroma. I was immediately playing Hunt The Almond. The flavour has warmth and smoothness and plenty of coconut for a dark-chocolate Bounty effect, but nothing I could pin as almond. Oh well. It's still very good though, retaining the balance and approachable quality of the previous one, but adding a rich sippable quality commensurate with the strength. Like the previous set of archaeology-themed beers, this is pure class and effortlessly integrates novelty ingredients that often feel jarring when other breweries do it. One can argue whether "best pastry stout brewer" is a true position of honour, but Lough Gill definitely holds it for Ireland.
Despite the commonalities these are two very different beers. I think that means that Lough Gill can keep churning out chocolate flavoured stouts and I can keep drinking them and still say I'm tasting a broad spectrum of beers. Great! As you were.
More... (https://thebeernut.blogspot.com/2022/03/choc-around-lough.html)