Young's Luxury Double Chocolate Stout

 

Review Date 9/15/2002   Last Updated 7/22/2020  By John Staradumsky

It has often been said that stouts are a great beer to accompany desserts. I heartily agree, but once in agreat while a beer drinker comes across a stout so special, so unique that it actually could be served as dessert on it's own. Young's Luxury Double Chocolate Stout is such a beer. It's brewed with chocolate malt and baker's chocolate to give it an extremely rich and delicious character. It does not have a bitter finish; however, and therefore I feel that many people who don't enjoy beer could still take a liking to this brew. Think of it as liquid chocolate.

I have generally drunk this beer from the bottle (decanted into a glass of course), as that was the only form in which I had seen it. In the past I described it thusly:

Gentle pour produces substantial foamy tan head. Nose is quite soapy, not much else noticeable there. Palate is quite another matter, extremely chocolaty and coffeeish, strongly reminiscent of a Whitman's chocolate-coffee candy. Extremely drinkable, smooth and creamy as the label suggests. A perfect dessert beer, and a great beer all-around.

Tonight I'm sampling a nitro can of this brew. Nitro cans became popular back in the nineties, especially with stouts such as Guinness and Murphy's. Inside the can is a small device that releases gas into the beer when you break the seal and produces a draft-like creamy head on your beer. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Young's had packaged their chocolate stout in this form this evening as I had planned on picking some up anyway. At $5.49 for four cans they are a substantial bargain. Young's places a “best before date” on the cans, this helps give you an idea how old the beer is.

Young's Luxury Double Chocolate Stout is made with an impressive grain bill: roasted barley, chocolate malt, crystal malt, and pale malt. Sugars are added too to give the beer body, and it is hopped with Fuggles and Goldings. What’s really neat is the chocolate: they add melted chocolate bars directly to the boil while brewing. Now that’s something I’d like to see. The brew is filtered before bottling, and chocolate essence is added just after the filtering is completed.

Upon opening the can one hears the "Pffft" sound as the nitrogen is released into solution from the widget gadget. I pour the contents of the 440ML can into my imperial pint glass and watch as the beer slowly, gently cascades to the top and forms a very creamy tan head. The nose yields a little coffee and the same soapiness as I found in the bottled version. The palate is a little smoother here than in the bottle, thinner even, but again it's like drinking a fine chocolate, lots of wonderful dark chocolate flavor. The finish is creamier in the canned version too.

A pint of this wonderful brew and a box of Russell Stover's or Whitman's would be a chocolate lover's delight. I am quite happy to drink it by itself. Give it a shot, even if you don't like beer.

Update 7/22/2020: Now here's a beer I seriously needed to revisit! Apparently I haven't had it since September of 2016, about 4 years ago, on tap then at Taco Mac. Tonight, I'm enjoying a bottle of Young’s Luxury Double Chocolate Stout out on the patio in late July. I picked it up curbside at Sherlock's in Kennesaw for $4.48 the 16.9 ounce bottle. The beer pours to a jet black color with a thick creamy tan head and a luscious nose of milk and dark chocolate. Taking a sip, the beer is medium to full in body with luscious notes of silky smooth milk chocolate and again a hint of dark chocolate, too. The beer is gently roasty, and finishes that way. It is moreish and delicious. Definitely need to enjoy this one more than every four years or so.

And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.

*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.

(B)=Bottled

(D)=Draft

 

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