Bell’s Special Double Cream Stout | Comstock MI
Well I don’t really have 99 bottles of beer but when you are trying to empty your collection of onesies and twosies it seems like 99. I continue my quest to get rid of all my standing beer before I can buy anymore. I’ve already established that some of the heavier barrel-aged beers can stay because they will “cellar” quite well. But all the others gotta go.
In the past I’d just pawn them off on the Beer Brothers during a burn pot gathering but we haven’t had a lodge meeting in forever. So like the Noom commercial where they say “you’ve been conditioned to clean your plate.” I’ve been conditioned to finish my beer.
I have no clue to exactly where the Double Cream Stout came from but I suspect Beer Brother Mark gave it to me for Christmas…. or my birthday… in 2020. The label says it was bottled on 8/11/2020 and has a shelf life of 1 year. Well if you enjoy a beer older than its shelf life then it’s still good. And I enjoyed this beer.
Right off the bat this tastes like really dark chocolate, the kind you bake with. The sweetness isn’t so apparent on the first sip or the smoothness they claim on the label. I think you have to let the effervescience calm down first to get the smoothness. But the second sip, after your mouth acclimates, it starts to pick up both the sweetness and the smoothness. The first sip had a bit of a dry finish.
I was grilling some chicken and adhering to the Rule Of Grill that states “one must have a beer in his/her hand while grilling meat on a grill.” I had to oblige the rule. I’ve paired this beer to the grill not what I was cooking, The beer was gone before I got the chicken inside. I have to give a shout out for two of the seasonings I used: Kosmo’s Q Dirty Bird and Gunpowder Finishing Salt. Both make for excellent little chicken tenderloins. I think I will be using both for some wings for the Super Bowl… although I might have to be judicious with the Gunpowder because Farmview was out the last time I stopped by and couldn’t restock. I digress.
When you get past the first sip then the roasty starts kicking in. By the second and third sip you start to taste one of those fancy dark chocolate bars you get at a fancy grocery store like Fresh Market…. but without the nuts and the sea salt. It gets creamier and starts to move toward a milk chocolate flavor but no matter what the finish is dark and roasted.
I guess it should be roasty toasty. The label says “Named for its velvety smooth, creamy texture, Bell’s Special Double Cream Stout is brewed with 10 different specialty roasted malts chosen to impart notes of rich mocha and expresso. Dark and sweet tones intermingle with a soft, roasty finish.” There is definitely a lot of intermingling going on there. They hit the mark about the rich mocha.
It’s 6.1% so you shouldn’t rush. Of course I ignored my own advice. I rushed because I wanted to get the chicken inside and eat dinner. This brew is available in September and October each year. I bet I will be able to find a bottle or two at Toast. I might actually go buy one and have it within the shelf life… but not until the rest of the 99 are gone.
