Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery Aurora Heart Chocolate Raspberry Stout Milk / Sweet Stout at 7.1% ABV (C$12.36 at Willow Park Wine & Spirits, 750 ml, no packaging date or best before, acquired 25-Apr-2017, reviewed 30-Oct-2017)
Appearance: near opaque brown with moderate relief at the margins, three fingers of rocky beige head, good retention and moderately heavy lacing. (4/5) Aroma: raspberry, dark chocolate, cherries, light floral. (8/10) Taste: moderate-high sweet, moderate bitter, mild tart. (7/10) Palate: medium-full body tending slightly thin, moderate-high carbonation, sweetish mildly tart and lightly warming finish. (3/5)
I’m a little on the fence on this one: yes, it’s raspberry, and yes, the raspberry tastes authentic. Full marks there. And it’s backed up by dark chocolate and more than a hint of dark cherries (maybe Bing, instead of maraschino or Rainier) so no complaints there. But, overall, it just comes across as a little thin, and a little less rich than e.g. The Chocolate Manifesto. Or maybe that’s the nearly 3% lower ABV? In any case, decent but not my favourite by them. (15/20)
7.5/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com
