Thomas Hooker Chocolate Truffle Stout - Thomas Hooker Brewing Company

Durge

Connecticut

4.14/5  rDev +8.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Enjoyed at The Back Stage restaurant in Torrington, CT this intense stout is a deep opaque black color with a thin but steady light brown head and good lacing. The aroma brings deep and delicious chocolate malt and cherry liqueur. Nice. The first taste introduces a definite coffee hit quickly followed with loads of more chocolate. There's a curious but likeable
Alka-Seltzer touch that leads to a slightly grassy bite and cherry sweetness. The grass bite carries an herbal hop sort of quality that I like very much. It's nearly full bodied yet has a low carbonation, somewhat aqueous feel. It's all good with this flavorful brew.

Serving type: on-tap

02-02-2013 06:12:11 | More by Durge

jondeelee

Massachusetts

3.48/5  rDev -8.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5

Chocolate Truffle Stout opens to a sweet, chocolaty aroma, instantly reminiscent of milk chocolate bars, sugary hot chocolate, and cocoa-dusted truffles. There’s a strong heavy cream aroma that supplements the chocolate, adding layers of milky, fatty sweetness. All of this rests atop a stout bed of ash, coffee, and chocolate malt, as well as thick brown breads, rising whole wheat dough, floury baguette, and toast crust. The few fruit esters that make it though the chocolates and ashy breads are figgy in nature, with hints of date. As a whole, there are some nice aromas in here, and the initial chocolate-based aromas are very pleasant and reminiscent of fine desserts. However, the aromas as a whole are quite weak, and fade with relative quickness, leaving the beer with a distinct cola-like overtone.

On the tongue, the beer opens with the chocolate blasts noted above, with milk chocolate and cocoa-dusted truffles dominating, though here the chocolate takes on less of a sweet note, and more of a dark one, as of 70-80% dark chocolate bars. These notes mix with the ash and coffee, supplemented by thick brown breads, toast crust, and cereal grains. In subsequent sips a good bit of the initial nuance of the beer is lost, and the chocolate and bread notes mix with bits of toasted nut and heavy vanilla, as well as strange and faint threads of lemon-lime, to again leave the beer with a distinct cola-like overtone. The aftertaste does bring back a heavy ashy note, which mixes with the colas, as well as an onset of light grapefruit and pine from the hops, and lingers on the tongue for a good while. Mouthfeel is medium-light to medium, and carbonation is medium.

Overall, there are good notes in here, but they seem to clash with each other, as if too much is going on. The beer is also slightly watery in mouthfeel, and the flavors weaker than they could be (especially those of the underlying stout), both of which contribute to the cola-like overtone.

Serving type: bottle

06-18-2013 17:30:30 | More by jondeelee

azathot

Connecticut

4/5  rDev +5.3%

06-16-2013 02:59:00 | More by azathot

Chugs13

New Jersey

3.5/5  rDev -7.9%

06-03-2013 00:27:47 | More by Chugs13

woosterbill

Connecticut

3.99/5  rDev +5%
look: 3.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

12oz bottle into a Gandhi-Bot tulip.

A: Black body with brown glints around the edges; one-finger head of tan froth. Mediocre retention and very light lace. Pretty standard.

S: Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. Kind of midway between dark and milk, with a nice faint hint of spice. Quite inviting.

T: More complex here, with cocoa powder up front giving way to dark-chocolate-covered-raisin sweetness, a bit of coffee, some Whopper-esque maltiness, and a spicy, chalky finish. It's great up until the back end, which is just ok.

M: Hugely frothy medium body. NIce and creamy, but a little too explosive.

O: I wasn't expecting much out of this, having never had a positive Hooker experience in the past, but this is really quite nice. If you like chocolate stouts, then give this one a shot.

Cheers!

Serving type: bottle

06-01-2013 23:59:16 | More by woosterbill

NJBeer265

New Jersey

3.25/5  rDev -14.5%

05-22-2013 17:59:05 | More by NJBeer265

cornpone

New York

2.75/5  rDev -27.6%

05-19-2013 20:22:25 | More by cornpone

BrianScottK

New York

3.88/5  rDev +2.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 3.75

Finally a beer that I can smell! Cocoa (obviously) and burnt toast on the nose. A slight bittersweetness on the fore with hints of orange or lemon-peel. A great silky-smooth moutfeel that really coats your mouth and lingers on the tongue. The chocolate or cocoa, rather, doesn't really come in until the very end of the finish. It's truly a bittersweet chocolate flavor only a few full seconds after you swallow.

Serving type: bottle

05-09-2013 01:32:51 | More by BrianScottK

cindyjeffsmith

Georgia

3.63/5  rDev -4.5%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5

Appearance: dark brown. Good bit of transparency around the edges. Tan head that recedes pretty quickly.
Smell: typical stout roastiness with as expected an evident, though not terribly rich, chocolate.
Taste: very much as the nose predicts.
Overall: a tasty enough good, not great effort. Glad I tried. Might pick up again, might not.

Serving type: bottle

04-23-2013 23:41:35 | More by cindyjeffsmith

bespin15

Washington

3.75/5  rDev -1.3%

04-22-2013 02:17:25 | More by bespin15

BrewBra

Connecticut

4/5  rDev +5.3%

04-15-2013 22:52:24 | More by BrewBra

Atomicskis5

Connecticut

3.75/5  rDev -1.3%

04-11-2013 00:51:20 | More by Atomicskis5

thegerm87

Connecticut

4/5  rDev +5.3%

04-09-2013 00:30:43 | More by thegerm87

HattedClassic

Virginia

4/5  rDev +5.3%

04-08-2013 02:58:57 | More by HattedClassic

redfox405

Massachusetts

4/5  rDev +5.3%

04-07-2013 22:09:35 | More by redfox405

lic217

Connecticut

3.75/5  rDev -1.3%

04-01-2013 00:19:22 | More by lic217

SuomiHobbit

Connecticut

3.5/5  rDev -7.9%

03-26-2013 01:11:52 | More by SuomiHobbit

tlang803

Massachusetts

3.5/5  rDev -7.9%

03-25-2013 01:31:15 | More by tlang803

hkyplyr73

New York

4.5/5  rDev +18.4%

03-22-2013 19:26:20 | More by hkyplyr73

quakeroatmealstout

New York

4/5  rDev +5.3%

03-18-2013 03:18:16 | More by quakeroatmealstout

elowan

Ohio

3.75/5  rDev -1.3%

03-16-2013 19:22:26 | More by elowan

zillo043068

New Jersey

3.75/5  rDev -1.3%

03-11-2013 20:44:59 | More by zillo043068

Billolick

New York

4.05/5  rDev +6.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

12 ouncer, "born on 12-27-12" etched onto the neck of the bottle.

Pours near black with a dark khaki head, leaves a nice looking fine film, collar and ample low sheeting and spots of lacing.

Dark bitter chocolate on the nose.

Flavorful sweeter stout, with more dark chocolate and a moderatly dry dusty hop finish. Chocolate lingering on the palate. Well done and well worth a try.

Serving type: bottle

03-09-2013 15:34:50 | More by Billolick

Ralphs66

New York

3.25/5  rDev -14.5%

03-04-2013 00:41:59 | More by Ralphs66

tmars13

4/5  rDev +5.3%

03-03-2013 17:59:21 | More by tmars13