Chocolate Rain - The Bruery

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BA SCORE
99
world-class
-
550 Ratings

rAvg: 4.49
pDev: 11.8%
Reviews: 186
Hads: 364

Ratings Help

Brewed by:
The Bruery

California, United States

Style | ABV
American Double / Imperial Stout | 19.50% ABV

Availability: Rotating. bottle (143), cask (28), on-tap (15).

Notes:
Black Tuesday with Vanilla Bean & Cocoa Nibs.

2011: 18.5% ABV
2012: 19.5% ABV

View: Beers (63) | Reviews (49) | Events (0)

Reviews

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Reviews by tectactoe:

tectactoe

Michigan

4.35/5 rDev -3.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Boom - Chocolate Rain. Huge shoutout to whomever decided to bring this to our tasting. I keep forgetting who brought what, dammit. Anyway, this was a big want of mine, and I'm grateful for not having to search the country for it. Pours a very deep brown color, not quite deep enough to be called black. Even an aggressive, straight down pour produced almost no head - a slight ring that fades to naught rather quickly. Possibly an effect of such a high alcohol content?

The aroma is one of the strongest and most poignant I've ever come across. It fills your nasal cavities long before you finish bringing the beer to your nose. Deep, deep vanilla aromas; dense and syrupy. A bourbon-like alcohol character is strong and robust up front, almost burning the insides of my nose. The bourbon is settled down a bit and held in check by a delicate chocolate that emerges; sweet, milky, and creamy through and through. All of these aromas only intensify as the beer warms up. The bourbon burns more, the malts get sweeter, the vanilla gets more dense. The harshness, the sweetness, the sheer dominance of the nose is quite intimidating - but hey, I would expect nothing less from a 19.5% ABV stout that was this highly acclaimed, right?

The first thing that my taste receptors send to my brain from the moment this beer touches my tongue is, "holy fucking sweet!" The sweetness is very high on this one, right out of the gate - honestly, just a tad overboard. The flavors, however, are very, very nice; baked brown sugar, bourbon soaked licorice and mild dark fruit, heavy vanilla beans, and lots of light, cocoa undertones. There is a solid oak and wood characteristic, front to back as well. As anyone would expect, this one gets much boozier as it warms up - starting off as a bourbon heat, it turns into a hotter bourbon heat accompanied by a slightly phenol or rubbing alcohol kind of heat.

The more and more I drink this, the more and more the vanilla-bourbon flavors stand out to me as the most dominant. The aftertaste is controlled by some light cocoa flavors that are sadly overshadowed by heavy booze. The sweetness also lasts long into the aftertaste, like a boulder rolling down a hill that is very hard to stop. Near the tail end of this beer, the alcohol is much more dominant and it actually helps keep the sweetness more in check. Slick, sticky, slightly thick mouth feel with super low carbonation.

Super glad I got to try this one - my 6 oz. pour was perfect - I would imagine that any more than this would be too much. The flavors were awesome, but there were two main things holding this one back from being a top 10 beer for me: it was a bit too sweet, and it was a touch too boozy and hot, especially as the beer warmed up. I guess that's to be expected from a 19.5% ABV beer, right? So maybe I'm being too harsh. But the beer was still damn good and the flavors were on point. Overall, if this were taken down on the ABV level and the sweetness was controlled a little better, it would easily be a top 10 contender.

Serving type: bottle

02-25-2013 18:05:37 | More by tectactoe

More User Reviews:

infi

New York

2.75/5 rDev -38.8%

05-25-2013 03:17:12 | More by infi

r0nyn

New York

2.75/5 rDev -38.8%

05-25-2013 03:16:47 | More by r0nyn

dfillius

Michigan

4.5/5 rDev +0.2%

05-25-2013 00:49:27 | More by dfillius

kmatlack

California

4.5/5 rDev +0.2%

05-24-2013 06:52:57 | More by kmatlack

warnerry

Michigan

4.75/5 rDev +5.8%

05-24-2013 02:25:25 | More by warnerry

david131

Michigan

4.75/5 rDev +5.8%

05-24-2013 02:04:28 | More by david131

Nightrain87

California

5/5 rDev +11.4%

05-23-2013 05:58:26 | More by Nightrain87

egrace84

Illinois

4.5/5 rDev +0.2%

05-23-2013 00:54:12 | More by egrace84

velcrogrip

Florida

4.75/5 rDev +5.8%

05-22-2013 18:23:34 | More by velcrogrip

oldp0rt

Quebec (Canada)

4/5 rDev -10.9%

05-22-2013 02:26:59 | More by oldp0rt

jgluck

California

5/5 rDev +11.4%

05-20-2013 22:57:53 | More by jgluck

Fux

France

4.48/5 rDev -0.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Bottle shared by Pixieskid to ruin our palates after an awesome sour tasting! Bottle from batch #3.
A: Very dark, black pour, with creamy mocha head, which falls into a thin collar around the glass.
S: Nose is on chocolate, vanilla, molasses, also toffee and wood. Not too much alcohol given the ABV.
T: Palate is rich and very expressive, on chocolate, vanilla and bourbon. There are also underlying notes of toffee, some sweetness, and some fruitiness with figs and plums in the background. The finish is quite alcoholic, really warming in the back of the throat, a bit disturbing actually.
M: Velvety, oily, a little bit sticky, and also warming mouthfeel.
O: The flavor profile of this beer is great, rich and dense. There is however a bit too much alcohol in this to be truly perfect. Thanks for sharing Brandon!

Serving type: bottle

05-20-2013 15:57:36 | More by Fux

sandiego67

California

4.75/5 rDev +5.8%

05-20-2013 14:44:15 | More by sandiego67

mhksuccess

California

4.54/5 rDev +1.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Pour from bottle into my bruery snifter glass
pours dark and very little head if any very little lacing
smell is overwhelming chocolate and vanilla
which is reflected in the taste first upfront is heavy chocolate
and the backend is vanilla heavy
very strong not hott but definite can tell it has a high abv
i split half the bottle and was slowing down by the last of it
may need to split three or four ways next time
overall i really enjoyed this bottle it was sweet but not as sweet as some people tend to describe it as a sugar bomb
definite something to try if you have not had

Serving type: bottle

05-20-2013 14:43:08 | More by mhksuccess

jaasen64

Massachusetts

4.48/5 rDev -0.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5

750ml bottle stored in my cellar for over a year. Poured into 18oz Funky Buddha snifter, bottle split three ways. Reviewed live.

A- Pours a dark black that has some translucency, actually slightly lighter then I was expecting. Pretty much no head, very still top, minimal carbonation, just some alcohol legs along the sides of the glass.

S- Rich chocolate, vanilla beans, lightly bourbon, extremely well balanced booze. Can tell it's got a high abv, but fits very nicely for how high it is and integrates well with the other aromas. Fairly aromatic.

T- This is where the beer gets really interesting: flavors of dark chocolate, cocoa nibs, bourbon, vanilla, hints of booze on this finish but nowhere near what you would expect at almost 20%, extremely well balanced. Aftertaste that lingers with chocolate and balanced vanilla.

M- Very smooth especially for 19.5%, a beer definitely should not be this smooth with an abv this high- feels more like 9%, fairly minimal carbonation but nice for the style. Can't believe how easy this is to drink.

O- This was a fantastic high abv stout that was incredibly easy to drink and extremely flavorful. I was expecting this to be overly boozey but the abv was well hidden and was surprisingly easy to drink with all the flavors coming out very nicely. I highly recommend seeking this out, just be careful with how dangerously smooth it is.

Serving type: bottle

05-19-2013 22:18:10 | More by jaasen64