Stoutmaker.beer

Seen this barrel getting put up as I walked in. Never seen it before, so here we go.

All I know going in is it’s a Fox City Brewing’s Hugh’s Chocolate Crawler Stout.

It pours  completely Black, not dark brown. No light get through this at all. I don’t even get highlights on the edges.

Just sitting there I can smell chocolate and coffee from two feet away. But that really is all I can get. Huge aroma, but it’s probably smothering everything else out.

The compact dense head is light tan, but does fade pretty quick. Gonna assume this is from either chocolate or the coffee.

Whoa. It’s so chocolaty you can feel it in the texture. Coffee notes are a bit less than the aroma, but not much. There is a decent roast malt base here but is not the major player here.
So it’s not sweet per se, but it sure the hell is a chocolate bomb.
A slight bit of caramel, but no hops or yeast is beating out that chocolate.

Do not get any perceived bitterness at all and the body is not anywhere near as heavy as it looks.
But there is just the start of that veggie/celery thing there that goes with coffee beers.

It’s definitely boosey both in taste and numbers. And that’s probably why the head fades. It’s only labeled as 7% but it has legs on the swirls.

I’m not sure I would call this a sweet stout.. more of an Irish extra stout with major editions.
And while it is very upfront in chocolate, I like it. And I will be back for more.

For now I’ll go a 4/5.