Hubris ID: IX Mint Chocolate Stout (England: Stout: 5% ABV)
Visual: Black and still. Thin gray dash of a head.
Nose: Peppermint and After Eight mints. Slight sour cream and chocolate shavings. Slight brown bread. Crushed mint leaves.
Body: Slightly thin when chilled. Bready. Malt chocolate drink. Mint. Milky coffee.
Finish: Mint leaves and peppermint gun. Brown bread. Slight milk. Chocolate dust.
Conclusion: Very minty. Very minty indeed. Seriously, if you like mint – here is all the mint you could want. You are welcome. Possible could do with some work on the chocolate side though.
The aroma has the mix just right – lots of peppermint and crushed mint leaves as you would expect, but also a luxurious, kind of After Eights mint like, chocolate character. So, spot on, and at this point I was expecting good things ahead.
The body goes very heavy into the mint character, doubling down and giving a very natural mint character. A lot less artificial and sweet than most mint interpretations; Instead closer to, well, ya know, mint – the whole leafy, green thing in nature. Normally something less artificial would be something I would applaud – I am all for things tasting like what they are, as opposed to the image of it we have been sold in synthetic versions in other foodstuff. However here it makes it a drink that is all mint, and very little stout. There is some chocolate, and a kind of bready base but it is so very far at the back. It feels like the base beer needs a bit more of a robust character to balance everything out, and to match the overall concept better.
So, as mentioned, if mint is your thing then this is epic level mint. Personally I think it needs a bit more work aside from that though – I gave it time to warm, which gave it a tad more body, but it still felt like it needed to grow a little more as it still kind of lacked body.
So very good at half of its concept, not so good at the other half (or third and two thirds if we are including stout as a separate part from mint and chocolate). Interesting but a tad overwhelming due to the mint excess. As always, your mileage may vary depending on how much that idea appeals to you.
Background: Another new local brewery – this one a tiny brewery heading by a previous brewer of Wild Beer co. I’ve tried a few of theirs before, on tap, but this is their first bottled product (I think)– one which I found at Independent Spirit. It is made with cocoa nibs, mint oil and spearmint. This was broken open to chill out after getting back from an awesome Against Me! gig, Absolutely great time, so was ready for something nice to cap off the evening.
