Get Your Easter Chocolate

Beer O’ The Week: April 21

Look for Young’s stout in your basket

Wamp’s Wisdom

(STAFF PHOTO: J.T. WAMPLER) Young's Double Chocolate Stout is a 5.2 percent alcohol offering from Wells and Young's Brewing Co. in the United Kingdom.

Young’s Double Chocolate Stout is a 5.2 percent alcohol treat from Wells and Young’s Brewing Co. in the United Kingdom.
Chocolate beverages date back to the Mayans and Aztecs. Color is black with a caramel colored, thick head that leaves sticky lacing. Aroma is of burnt coffee and bubble gum with a hint of toffee. Roasted barley and dark chocolate hit the palette first with a hint of coffee. It finishes leaving a dark chocolate aftertaste that isn’t sweet but pleasant nonetheless.
This is a great stout and the addition of chocolate is actually quite good. If you like stouts, give this one a try. It’s not the chocolate bomb I was expecting, but a nicely balanced stout from a company with a brewing tradition that dates back to the 1500s.
Pair with a rich dessert or have a pint instead of dessert.
Rating: 4 caps

Rico’s Reaction

This stout has consistently been at the top of my list for favorite treats.
I first ran into Young’s Double Chocolate Stout in the mid ’90s at Silk Road, a Thai restaurant in Springdale with a reputation for an unusually diverse selection of beer. And this was back when a diverse selection of beer was a rarity in Northwest Arkansas, when a bottle of Rolling Rock might be the most eccentric thing on the menu.
Silk Road also has some of the spiciest food I’ve encountered — delicious stuff but if you order a dish Thai hot, be prepared for Tony Jaa to rearrange your digestive system from the inside out … well, at least for me. However, a bottle of Young’s coupled with 5-star hot beef fried rice dish, yowza, what a great pairing.
Young’s has all the qualities I like in Guinness with the added bonus of very dark chocolate overtones. Instead of hoping the Easter bunny leaves you a hollowed out chocolate rabbit, start asking to get a Young’s Double Chocolate Stout in your basket — maybe, even a full six-pack for nice Easter parade.
Rating: 5 caps

Rating System

One Cap: Put it back in the horse!
Two Caps: Consume only if the other choice is Tijuana tap water or Coors Light.
Three Caps: Acceptable without standing out. The Tito Jackson of beer, if you will.
Four Caps: Nice beer that rises above most but may not deliver enough to be considered great.
Five Caps: Truly great beer that delivers on all counts. A credit to its style. Could only be better if served by scantily clad concubines.
Six Caps: Any five cap beer served by scantily clad concubines.