Beer of the Week: Stone Collaboration Cherry Chocolate Stout

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Finally the last of the Stone Collaboration Beer reviews. This one had been hiding in my notebook, so that is why I missed it. I love stout, I love cherries and I love chocolate and when you put them together well, it can be an out of body experience. Stone got together with Troegs brewing out of Pennsylvania and a couple of San Diego home brewers, Jason Fields and Kevin Sheppard, to produce this beer. From the Stone website:

The rich, smooth stout was brewed in late April, with a blend of dark-roasted specialty malts, Callebaut chocolate liquor, vanilla beans, and 9000 pounds of dark and tart cherries. “Seeing how much the recipe was blown up to brew it on this system is amazing,” Jason chimes in. “And getting to work with everybody… it’s been so cool.”

Single 12-oz bottles
Available in: AK AZ CA CO DE FL IL KY MA MD MN NC NJ NM NY OH OR PA SC TX VA VT WA
7.3% abv, 37 IBUs
2448 cases produced

I paid $4.99 for my 12oz. bottle.

The beer pours jet black with a mahogany head. Copious amounts of roasted malt on the nose with hints of cocoa nibs and a very small amount of cherries if you go looking for them. The beer starts out slightly sweet before quickly transitioning to the roasted malt and finishes long with hints of cherries during the fade. As you make it further into the beer, the cherries become more pronounced and the roast is replaced by a pleasant milk chocolate finish – it reminded me of a Theo Chocolates cherries and almond bar and I was looking for the roasted almonds when I was drinking it.

This beer was fantastic and I really wish that they would brew it again.

I cannot tell a lie, the Stone Collaboration Cherry Chocolate Stout coms in swinging a 5 Cherry Trees out of 5.

Iron Chef Leftovers and the Three Beers

…and now for something completely different…a beer review in the style of a fairy tale.

One day Iron Chef Leftoversy-locks was wandering through the concrete forest of Ballard and he stumbled upon a small brewery on a path called NW 49th street. Curious, he stopped in to find a friendly looking barkeep pouring 3 different porters, all infused with fruit. Thirsty from his long walk, Iron Chef Leftoversly-locks decided to taste all 3 beers.

First, he tried the Populuxe Raspberry Brown Porter. There were strong notes of raspberry with hints of chocolate on the nose when he smelled the beer. Upon tasting it, he noticed slightly tart raspberry that lingered for a long time before joining up with lots of chocolate flavors in a very long finish that kept going and going. Our hero thought “this beer reminds me of eating a raspberry filled chocolate and it was really tasty. I declare this beer received 3 ‘this porridge is too hot’s’ out of 5.”

Next, the friendly barkeep poured Iron Chef Leftoversy-locks a Sour Cherry Brown Porter. Our hero took a whiff of the brew and noticed mild notes of cherry and chocolate, reminding him of chocolate covered cherries. He took a swig and noticed the beer was chocolate forward, with an almost milk chocolate like characteristic, before it moved on to a long cherry finish with a light tartness to balance the light sweetness of the malt. He thought to himself “the finish on this beer reminds me of eating fresh cherries with all of the juice. I can almost picture myself eating a handful of cherries and a chocolate bar while drinking this beer. I give this beer a 4 ‘this porridge is too cold’s’ out of 5.”

Finally, the friendly barkeep poured out hero a Roasted Plum Brown Porter. “Roasted plum?” Iron Chef queried. “It is a traditional Czech jam of caramelized plums that were used in the beer,” the friendly barkeep replied. Iron Chef Leftoversy-locks raised the glass to his nose and notices very light notes of plum and caramel with overtones of chocolate and malt in the foreground. Upon sipping the beer, he noticed light notes of sugar with hints of dark caramel in the foreground before moving on to light notes of chocolate and malt before finishing with a slightly sweet jam taste that lingered at the back of the palate. As the beer warmed slightly and more was consumed, our hero began to notice notes of dried fruit, raisins and plums becoming more noticeable throughout the beer, in a very subtle and pleasant way, complimenting the chocolate notes. Iron Chef Leftoversy-locks declared “this beer is subtle and delicious, with lots of character without being overpowering. I will rate this beer 5 ‘this porridge is just right’s out of 5.”

Just then Iron Chef Leftoversy-locks wife came through the door, Iron Chef Leftoversy-locks ordered a Plum Porter and a Blond (for Mrs. Iron Chef Leftoversy-locks) from the friendly barkeep and they went outside to drink their beers in the warm Seattle summer evening.

The End.

Roll Credits…

The Actors:

Iron Chef Leftoversy-locks……….. Iron Chef Leftovers
Mrs. Iron Chef Leftoversy-locks……… Mrs. Iron Chef Leftovers
The Friendly Barkeep………Jiri Zatloukal
Cast of Thousands……… Peter Charbonnier, Amy Besunder, Judy Scarcia
Prince Charming………Johnny Depp
Four Headed Alien………Betty White
And introducing………… Populuxe Brown Porter as Raspberry Brown Porter, Sour Cherry Brown Porter and Roasted Plum Brown Porter

This has been a cheapseateats.com production in association with Populuxe entertainment.

No animals were harmed in the making of this production, but there were a couple of cute standard poodle puppies on set. Plenty of beers were consumed however.

Editor’s note: All 3 beers were based on the same Brown Porter with the fruit added at the very end of the process. These beers were only done in 5 gallon batches, so watch Populuxe’s Facebook page to see when they are on tap.

Beer of the Week: Fremont Brewing Cherry Almond Dark Star

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I really like Fremont Brewing – they have great beers, a dedicated mission to reduce their carbon footprint and a really great tasting room located just a couple miles from the Iron Chef abode. One of the benefits of their tasting room is that they carry some one off beers on cask. The downside of this is that they tend to be very small production and are gone almost as quickly as they show up. A recent trip to the tasting room yielded a Cherry and Almond version of their very tasty Dark Star Imperial Oatmeal Stout. It was a blustery day when I visited so something dark was in order and how could I pass up a beer with two of my favorite things – cherry and almonds.

I couldn’t find any info on the beer online, so here is what the regular Dark Star is described as:

Roasty, chocolate tones swirled with oatmeal smoothness and dark as the night. The Dark Star crashes, pouring its light into ashes, so follow as the Lady of Velvet in the nights of goodbye. This one is too smooth…and at 8.0% ABV, dangerous.
Down & Dirty: 2-Row, Roast Barley, Crystal-60, Chocolate, & Carafa-2 malts with Flaked Oats and Magnum, Wilamette & Cascade hops. 8.0% ABV
Availability: Year-Round

This beer pours jet black with the faintest hint of cream on the head, and was served at room temperature. There is lots of roasted malt and grain on the nose with a background of almonds, so subtle that you may not notice it if you were not looking for it. Taking a sip of this beer is an experience – lots of malt and roasting coffee initially, giving way to almonds, chocolate and dried cherries in a very long and lingering finish, which is good, since this beer is a bit boozy and a couple will do you in. There was also a bit of bitterness in the initial few sips, which might be off putting to some, but I thought was a nice balance to all of the flavors that were in the beer, and the bitterness did eventually disappear. There is a pleasantly mild residual almond flavor that lingers on the tongue between sips, and overall the beer makes me think of an unsweetened cherry almond dark chocolate bar – so much so that I could actually imagine it in a solid form.

This version of Dark Star was a very fun drinking experience and wish it was more widely available. My only complaint is that I would have liked a bit more cherry flavor on the finish, but that is a personal preference as I love the combination of cherry and stout. Other than that, this was a great beer and you should rush down to the Fremont tap room if it does make another appearance.

Cherry Almond Dark Star pulls is a heavy 4 gravity wells out of 5.