Young's Luxury Double Chocolate Stout

A+ / 4.65
look: 4 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4 | drink: 4.5

1 pint .09 US fl.oz
Room temp bottle (large glass)

Appearance: the pour was average though for the size of the bottle it created a chug as it poured which really built the head up, easily I would say 3 fingers, with still more in the bottle. The head was almond colored and had a medium density, but dissipated to a ring by the time I took my first sip. The head clings has a light cling to the glass, but I noticed some heavier spots near the top where the head reached but the brew itself did not. The stout is ink black in the glass, though you can see just a hint of clean dark amber on the bottom of the glass when held to the light, other than that it is beautifully opaque with zero light showing through the middle of the brew. I can see very little evidence of carbonation on the top. Just looking at it I'm intrigued.

Smell: One of the first things that I noticed other than just how excellent this smelled was the toffee or caramel sweetness and the noticeable alcohol aroma, this had a heavy underlayer of dark malts what I can only imagine are chocolate malts, I also smell a bit of spicyness not nearly as prominent as the Bison Chocolate Stout. In other brews I've smelled hints of sweetness, but here it is especially prominent; as I continued to drink I began to recognize a building in the sweetness and a lessening of the alcohol smell, that with the malt base really had my nose going.

Taste: Sweet toffee right away as it hits my tongue, but not candy bar toffee more of a refined flavor, this mixed with the malts is excellent. I'm a big espresso lover and the deep rich flavors light my taste buds up, as does Young's stout, combine that with the well balanced level of hops with the deep cacao weaving through it all and the taste is simply the best I've experienced. There was some alcohol taste at first, but the more I drank the more it seemed to diminish. The finish has a nice bite from the hops reminding you after all that you are drinking a stout, but then the malts and chocolates remain and flood up your nose giving you an after-taste you don't want to lose. Young's stout is a very robust full bodied brew that will honestly leave you wishing there was more in that oversized bottle.

Mouthfeel: The stout is thick on the tongue and in the mouth it rolls well and has a bit of effervescence from the carbonation but it does not make the brew foamy. If anyone accuses this brew of being watery then they must drink their brews with a spoon, the thing that I noticed most is that the feeling is much thicker in my mouth than it looks. I did notice a light buttery taste and film in my mouth afterwards from the diacetyl (stuff that makes butter feel like it does), but it was not heavy or unpleasant.

Drinkability: Well what can I say, other than I was three fourths of the way through before I decided to slow down and sip the last bit savoring the flavors. This is a dessert beer, I can see drinking this on special occasions or when fine dining with a rich meal, or simply enjoying a bottle during a night with friends. The size of the bottle, alcohol content 5.2% abv and the robust flavors keeps this from being a session beer, but if what you want is a brew to settle down with and work with while letting your senses run wild then pour yourself a Young's.

This by far is the best stout I've had to date and I simply find it hard to believe that it gets better. On my next stop though the liquor store I'll be picking up another for a nice quiet night home.