After being relentlessly hounded by a spamming ice cream marketer — which conjured up horrific mental imagery of biting the bottom of an ice cream cone off and the chocolate ice cream covering the white shag carpet — we are capitulating. We will inform you that today, Wednesday, June 7, is National Chocolate Ice Cream Day. In the spirit of National Chocolate Ice Cream Day – which has yet to be declared an official holiday – Peaks & Pints is playing to your craft beer. Luckily for us craft beer lovers, there are many delicious and unique chocolate beers being crafted by U.S. breweries — just in time for this national day. We present an in-house flight of chocolate beers — a flight we’re calling Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: Chocolate.
Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: Chocolate
Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout
5% ABV
Samuel Smith’s has always brewed the old-fashioned way and the British operation still pulls water from its original well dug in 1758. Its Organic Chocolate Stout pours dark brown with a thin, khaki head. Light oatmeal and bready aromas lift to the nose, reminiscent of rising dough. On the tongue, this brew’s complex and, with its oatmeal character, has a decidedly cookie quality to it: It’s silky-smooth across the tongue, but also deep and grainy in the flavor. It’s velvety and delicious, with creamy chocolate milk, chocolate syrup and cocoa powder dancing on the tongue. The brew sinks into the mouth and finishes sweet and full.
Rogue Chocolate Stout Nitro
5.8% ABV
Rogue Ales’ award-winning Chocolate Stout is brewed with 10 ingredients: Northwest Harrington and Klages, Crystal 135-165 and Beeston Chocolate malts, Cascade hops, rolled oats and roasted barley, natural chocolate flavor, free range coastal waters, and PacMan yeast. The mellow flavor of oats, chocolate malts, and real chocolate are balanced perfectly with the right number of hops for a bittersweet finish. The addition of a nitro charge to this Rogue classic blends up chocolate and malt flavors into a smooth creamy chocolate experience.
Silver City Kwik Stout: Mocha Milk Stout
8% ABV
Milk stouts originated in Europe in the 1800s. They are sometimes called cream stouts or sweet stouts. Many brewers add milk sugar (lactose), which is unfermentable, to give it additional sweetness and body, such as Silver City Brewery’s Kwik Stout: Mocha Milk Stout. The Bremerton brewery brought back its Kwik Stout this spring enhanced with a hearty dose of cocoa, freshly roasted coffee, and a hint of vanilla. It goes down like a glass of milk that had been used for dipping Oreos, sweet and smooth — although let it warm a bit for more flavor.
Front Porch Cosmic Brownie Bday Stout
11% ABV
In December 2017, James Flynn, Drew Peccerillo, Ryan Voytek and Tiffany Ulrich opened Front Porch Brewing in Wallingford, Connecticut. Flynn, who began homebrewing in 2011, brewed Cosmic Brownie Bday Stout imperial pastry stout for the brewery’s 5th anniversary. Inspired by brownies, this stout is brewed with cacao nibs, vanilla, brownie, and fudge.
Pelican Father Of All Tsunamis
11.2% ABV
“Father [Of All Tsunamis] was initially born when we imagined how fantastic it would be to age an imperial version of Tsunami Export Stout in whiskey barrels to create an incredible imperial stout,” says Darron Welch, founding Pelican Brewing brewmaster. “Father offers a stout black color, dark chocolate, coffee-like roastiness combined with the inherent spiciness of the rye to make a pretty darn special beer.” Indeed. Rich roasted malt aroma with notes of dark chocolate, vanilla, earthy rye, caramel, oak, and whiskey hits before a wave of rich roasted malt, caramel, dark chocolate, and vanilla. The Tsunami pounds until smooth and decadent earthy rye, oak and whiskey flavors announce the end of the storm.
LINK: Peaks & Pints cooler inventory
