{"id":251,"date":"2010-02-22T16:13:35","date_gmt":"2010-02-22T22:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tombedell.com\/?p=251"},"modified":"2017-10-26T08:24:20","modified_gmt":"2017-10-26T14:24:20","slug":"tap-beer-of-the-week-8-southern-tier-imperial-choklat-stout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/golf\/lifestyle\/251\/tap-beer-of-the-week-8-southern-tier-imperial-choklat-stout","title":{"rendered":"TAP Beer of the Week: Southern Tier Imperial Choklat Stout"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>[Feb. 22, 2010]<\/em> I should have cracked this one open last week for Valentine\u2019s Day to go along with the rest of the chocolate suddenly floating around the house, since stout and chocolate are usually an inspired pairing. No matter, with a passel of snow predicted for the week ahead this may be just the fortification needed.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the penultimate bottle of the birthday beers my brother picked out for me, from an eight-year-old brewery in rural western New York that is growing in size and influence. Southern Tier produces five year-round beers and a raft of seasonals and special bottlings–I counted thirty in the portfolio, including those in the Blackwater Series.<\/p>\n

This has nothing to do with stealth military operations, and everything to do with Imperial Stouts, enough of a menu to dazzle Starbucks patrons–besides the Choklat Stout, there\u2019s the Jah*va Coffee Stout, the Mokah (made with chocolate and coffee), the Cr\u00e8me Br\u00fbl\u00e9e Milk Stout and the Oatmeal Stout, all upwards of 9% ABV.<\/p>\n

The bottle I\u2019m draining at the moment is an 11% whopper, which adds bittersweet Belgian chocolate to the mix of barley, caramel and chocolate malts and barley flakes, with Chinook and Willamette hops thrown into the kettle.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s not quite as opaque as a moonless night, with mahogany hues lapping at the edges, but the hot chocolate aroma suggests a blast of whipped cream or marshmallows might be in order for a topping. I\u2019m tempted to try this beer heated up and poured over ice cream.<\/p>\n

Stouts and Imperial stouts can suggest chocolate flavors without any actual chocolate used in the process, but in beers like this, or Young\u2019s Double Chocolate Stout, there\u2019s no subtlety involved, the chocolate is center stage, deservedly taking top billing. You either like this sort of thing or you don\u2019t. I like it–from time to time.<\/p>\n

Young\u2019s is a far milder beer at 5.2% ABV, and it\u2019s worth remembering that the Choklat is a big beer, since the aroma and sweet palate override its alcoholic warmth. We\u2019ve already had enough headless snowmobilers in the news this winter. Keep this beer on the shelf until the day\u2019s wintry activities are done, not about to begin. Put on the slippers, then begin sipping.<\/p>\n

Name: Imperial Choklat Stout
\nBrewer: Southern Tier Brewing Co., Lakewood, NY
\nStyle: Imperial Stout flavored with chocolate
\nABV: 11%
\nAvailability: Winter seasonal, 22 states
\nFor More Information: southerntierbrewing.com
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Related posts:
\nSouthern Tier Warlock<\/a>
\nSouthern Tier Imperial Pumking<\/a>
\nSouthern Tier 2XMAS<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Feb. 22, 2010] I should have cracked this one open last week for Valentine\u2019s Day to go along with the… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[627,939,18],"tags":[814,815,816,817,818,819,522,820,748,752,813],"class_list":["post-251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tap-beer-of-the-week","category-beer-on-tap","category-lifestyle","tag-chocolate-stout","tag-imperial-stout","tag-stout","tag-new-york","tag-youngs","tag-winter-seasonal","tag-valentines-day","tag-chocolate","tag-belgium","tag-kip-bedell","tag-southern-tier"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2010\/02\/stbc_choklat.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7364,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251\/revisions\/7364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}