17 February 2018

Choc & Orange Stout (Morrison’s @BlackSheepBeer) By @SpectreUK


It's no secret that I make a beeline for the soft centres in any box of chocolates. Cinabar and her mom have given up losing so many soft centred chocolates that they now buy me boxes of chocolates solely made up of soft centres. That's a great idea, but I still steal their's as well!

Here is a novel idea from the Black Sheep Brewery which is to make a soft centred stout, so to speak. This is a chocolate and orange stout. Chocolate orange is one of my all time favourite soft centres, next to strawberry of course. I've tried orange peel beers before and many many chocolate stouts and porters in my time, but I don't think I've tried a chocolate orange stout before.

This stout was brewed with real dark chocolate and orange peel, as well as roasted dark malts and Cascade Hops for added citrus zest. It sounds like a pudding beer to me, one that could be served after dinner all year round, rather than a spiced chocolate and orange stout which could be considered a winter warmer.

On opening, this 6.1% volume jet black stout certainly packed a fulsome aroma of dark chocolate and roasted malts, with a little orange suggestion at the back of the smell. On taste the roasted dark malts sprang to the fore merging after a time with velvety dark chocolate and then a touch of citrus bitterness from the hops, and a little orange zest into the aftertaste. I must admit with the heavy flavours of dark malts and some dark chocolate and then the kick of alcohol at the end of the flavours, the orange peel was a little lost on me. The flavours from the roasted dark malts dominated this stout, which was no bad thing. Mixed with the dark chocolate and a little suggestion of citrus hop and orange peel at the back of the flavour made this an ideal pudding beer for those that love their stouts flavoursome and warming, for this is a winter warmer with a cheeky soft centred end.

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