Young's Double Chocolate Stout

Cadbury-esque colours here on what is a pretty easy to find double chocolate stout.

It's a pretty standard sort of setup here - fluffy head, light black colour, nose of dry cocoa, taste pretty much likewise. It's maybe a bit watery, perhaps a bit less lush than you might expect from the moniker 'double'. Indeed there's only really one chocolate I taste in it.

Overall this is kind of like a watered down Choc Hops - or more to the point I suppose Choc Hops is like a geared up, better quality version of this. Still, could be a lot worse. 6.5

Youngs Bitter (bottle conditioned)

This is the bottle conditioned version, weighing in at a still paltry 4.5% compared to the normal 3.7%.

And, well, it pours and looks like a big English mug of English bitter. A closer look reveals this is distinctly orange rather than amber in colour, lighter than expected, transparent, and the head dissipates as if embarrassed to be around. Nose of bitter, macro lager notes, not much caramel, with the slightest hint of nut on the denouement. I'm glad the dog above is interested because I'm not, this is not enticing.

At this point I actually started wondering if its actually going to be bitter, or some sort of horrid hybrid lager ale instead. But indeed after a pretty pilsner sort of start it does mellow with a little talk of caramel. Taste wise it is pretty nondescript but never unpleasant per se. I just found it eminently boring throughout and far from compelling. A beer that takes effort to drink and still makes me yawn is not going to be purchased again. 3.0