Southern Tier Brewing Company Choklat Oranj

**Aroma:** “Chocolate chip ice cream, covered in Hershey’s syrup, topped off with a chocolate wafer. I can even smell the bready aroma of the sugar cone. Light fruit esters (pear or passion fruit). Chocolate fudge, cocoa powder, toasty. Very intense milk chocolate.” **Flavor:** “Aroma tricks you into expecting sweetness, but the flavor delivers more balance. Sure, it’s still just as chocolaty, but hops and roast malt do their best to upstage it. The roast flavor pulls the chocolate toward mocha. There’s an earthy/citrus hops flavor and then a powerful bitterness from a tag-team combination of roast and hops. Both sweetness and bitterness linger into the finish.” **Overall:** “Nice roasted barley base, layered with sweet chocolate and some coffee notes. Lingering sweet chocolate finish. Sip this to keep warm all winter long.”

**Aroma:** “Hops! Fruity passion fruit, orange, lemon, grapefruit, dank resinous in the background—if I didn't see the color, I’d expect an IPA. Some dark roast and chocolate sweetness sneak through once your nose is dead to the hops. Light tart note. As it warms, a slight molasses note starts to mix with the hops.” **Flavor:** “High hops flavor up front with bit citrus notes. Moderate chocolate with big roasty notes support the hops. Quite sweet up front. Sweetness slowly fades into a low bitterness. Toward the end, slight smoke note but big hops that continue into the aftertaste with a mix of roast. Dry, bitter hoppy finish. As it warms, the smoke turns into a burnt molasses note. Very fruity: passion fruit and pineapple. Finish is sweet and lingers. Rich chewy body that doesn’t come across as thick. Big pine and orange flavors from the hops. Chocolate from the malt gives it a chocolate orange flavor. The sweetness comes together with all the different bold flavors and finishes with a slightly dry finish.” **Overall:** “A nice balance of stout and hops, but if you don’t like hops, this stout is not for you. Strong flavors all around with a touch of alcohol warming in the background to fill it all out. Good balance of hops flavor and bitterness. This is a very different take on a stout—kind of a black IPA more than a stout. This beer tastes like a better, less sweet version of those chocolate-covered orange candy sticks, but with a heavy dose of pine richness. Very tasty!”