BrewDog Cake Cartel

Ooh I wanted to try this hazelnut stout from BrewDog as soon as I heard about it and it did not disappoint.  This is definitely one for the sweet toothed beer drinker.

It's a very dark brown stout with a small, rapidly vanishing tan head that doesn't leave a single bubble behind, giving it a very disappointingly flat appearance.  It makes up for it in the wonderful aroma though - it's as sweet as candy with notes of malt, caramel, milk chocolate and raspberry jam.

It tastes like liquid chocolate cake with a huge helping of malt, a dash of candy floss and a sprinkling of nuts.  It leaves a lovely sweetness of the lips and it's very moreish, although it doesn't taste as nutty as I expected.  Brewed with lactose, it's a very smooth stout with low carbonation and a full body.

This is a lovely rich, dark, sweet pastry stout and it tastes exactly as would expect from the can.  If it hadn't lost its head so quickly and tasted a bit more nutty, it would've been a five star beer but for taste alone, Ale Be Seeing You again!

Brewed by BrewDog, Ellon, Aberdeenshire 
6% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 4.25/5

Find out more at BrewDog Brewery

Stewart Brewing Cocoa-Nut

I love chocolate and I love stout so I snapped up this chocolate and hazelnut stout when I saw it in Lidl's beer festival.

It has a traditional stout appearance with a black velvet body and a small tan head that leaves a patchy layer when it settles.  It smells incredibly nutty and I could smell them as soon as I opened the can.  Underneath the nutty aroma there are delicious notes of chocolate, malt and even more nuts.

The taste is deliciously dark with loads of malt and hints of chocolate and liquorice.  The chocolate is dark and slightly bitter and there's no prizes for guessing the aftertaste: it's nuts!  It has a lovely full body and medium carbonation, giving it a relatively smooth mouthfeel that I like to see in a stout.

With an ABV of 7.1%, it's a very rich and decadent stout.  The dark chocolate bitterness is a little bit too much for me as I don't really like dark chocolate but the nuttiness is amazing and it tastes like it says on the can.  It's definitely one I'd recommend trying and Ale Be Seeing You again.

Brewed by Stewart Brewing, Loanhead, Midlothian, Scotland
7.1% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 4/5

Find out more at Stewart Brewing