Beer Review: Southern Tier Choklat

Evening All! Since it's my birthday next week I decided to treat myself early. I picked up a bottle of some rare and intense beer tonight. The beer is called Choklat, it's brewed by Southern Tier in Western New York state. It's part fo their limited Imperiel BlackWater series. Choklat is a big Imperial Stout brewed with pure chocolate resulting a beer so rich you'll think you just poured Hersey's syrup in a glass. This one is dangerous, it's 11% ABV.

A- Dark black, very little to no light coming through the edges at all. A small, creamy off white head forms about a finger thick and falls.

S- This is where it starts to hit you. Your first sniff, "woah!" Hersey's all up in the nose like it's never been before. There's so much cocoa in the nose you can't really detect any other scents!

T- I dare you...I'm waiting...BAM! Smooth, rich creamy chocolate hits you right up front. Then the richness of the beer rears it's beautiful head. It's slightly overwhelming to the taste buds. The sweetness is almost unbelievable, how can this even be a beer?! This is the third time I've had this beer (third ever release of it) and it never ceases to impress me. There is a slight bittering on the back of the tongue, but it's mostly bitter chocolates, only a little roasted cocoa bean. Most stouts have roasty everything, this one is puuuure chocolate, unbalanced as ever.

M- Very smooth, very rich and extemely coating. This one envelopes your mouth like drinking molases almost. Guiness isn't even in the same spaceship as this one.

D- Umm, share this beer with company as an after dinner drink or dessert accompaniment. If you want to try to go toe-to-toe with the whole 650 ml. bottle on your own, good luck. Drink lots of water with it!

This is the third ever release of this beer, it's been around for three years now. I must say that as powerful as this beer is, a lot of people have been saying it seems as though Southern Tier pulled back the throttles on this years batch from what it was the last two years. Having now tried this year's batch, I think I'm going to have to agree. It's still unmatched, but lacks that absolute knock-you-to-the-floor ability as the last two.

It runs about $7.89 a bottle, and only comes in bomber form (650 ml.). Try some!