As much as any sane person avoids the mention of our elites, we tend to shy away from names like “Brooklyn Brewery” because such trendy terms and locations can only be designed for the denialists who rule us through money, law and social pretense. Much as in the Soviet Union — another dying society in late-stage collapse — what is said in Pravda is never trusted and always mocked, but… very carefully. In Western totalitarianism, we still have the freedom to purchase, and so, we avoid those products tainted with the symbology of the elites.

Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout however is on the line. If you like rich bitter beers, it can be quite enjoyable. At 10% ABV, it packs a punch, and most of us drink for the balanced experience of flavor and alcohol, but hopefully neither one nor the other alone. In my view, this beer is best drunk semi-warm. It is not, like the English stouts, quite ready for full warm consumption. In particular, its bitterness lingers, designed to impress upon the untrained palate that this is not like that watery sweet prole beer — oh, no! — this is an acquired taste and to signal that, it is too bitter and the chocolate without sweetness. A better stout, like Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout, would not have that issue, and at an extra five cents per ounce, the Sam Smith’s is the better buy.

What keeps this beer from being a high-ranker here is its dual nature: it drinks like an American beer, but has pretenses of being a Euro-stout. Its mouthfeel is like most thick American beers, a bit foamy and slippery without the crispness of a great stout. If you derive social status points from not drinking Budweiser or whatever the great unwashed prole herd is choking down these days, you will appreciate how different this beer is. It does not taste like adjunct grains; it is not sweet; it is bitter and almost acidic to the throat. However, it gives you an excuse to get comfortably crocked while indulging the pretense of being different yourself, and is not wholly bad-tasting.

Quality: 3/5
Price: 1/5

Tags: beer, brooklyn brewery, hipsters, stout