Beer – #420 – Tuatara – Black, the Whittaker’s Chocolate version

Three versions of this beer – this one, my second, the Tuatara Black Whittaker’s Chocolate – Limited Edition Unfiltered Chocolate Stout

Tuatara Black Whittaker’s Chocolate Brewed by Tuatara Brewing Company in the style that is no surprise then – a Stout – and they are based in Paraparaumu, New Zealand

Delivered as a 500ml bottle that has all the lumps and bumps of a Tuatara, they really are great tactile bottles, this one contains beer that is 6.5% ABV, with 195 calories a serve, and is then 2.6 standard drink units in NZ. I note that this one is listed as having 100 IBU things.

Chocolate is as popular as beer itself and an important note in a bunch of great dark ales. So for Tuatara’s new BLACK series we went all out and made a dark ale heavily impregnated with actual chocolate. A quick telex to Whittaker’s, New Zealand’s most beloved chocolate maker, saw a load of their finest Ghana spirited up to the Kapiti coast where it was turned into a rich, bittersweet stout with hints of nuts and raisins. Chocolate lovers, stout lovers, anyone who’s never counted a kilojoule in their life, will be in heaven.

The Toasted Malt one was great, I wonder what this has in store.

This one has some chocolate aroma, it’s not as intense as I thought it might be, nice gentle hiss op opening.

Tuatara Black Whittakers Pour is dark black of course, and has a great head, my poor pouring on this as I got distracted near the end, I have to focus, and the had is nice and thick and creamy looking, light chocolate colour.

The aroma does not pick up, which I though was odd, I was expecting more.

To the taste then. This is all of it’s bitterness. I can only comment on what’s in front of me. and in this I don’t get any hints or warmth or notes of chocolate at all. Lets be honest though what would you really expect.

But it is quite drinkable, and I’m enjoying the bitterness in it, it really isn’t as bad as “100′ would suggest which would clearly mean that something is tempering it in the carry.

So I have bitterness, and then soft, and not a strong finish in this. Bugger. I wanted it to be smoother and richer in some way that I couldn’t achieve.

The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 7 a of its things from the thing. It’s nice, it’s drinkable but it isn’t remarkable, like the Toasted Malt one was that I had prior to this. I quaffed it all though so there is something nice about it, it’s not offensive but given the choice I might go the Malt version, which annoys me intensely as Whittakers make some of the most innovate and taste chocolate !!!!

The double dip review

Am I enjoying it? Yes but not enough, like the music I’m listening to
Would I have another? I’d be worried about not enjoying it
Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? I might, because there would be a great discussion about “chocolate” in beer. and the great tactile bottle.

Musically I was trying to grapple with the band Parquet Courts and their album -Sunbathing Animal – this is the title track ‘Sunbathing Animal’

Parquet Courts are an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2010

STOUT

Many stouts do not fit the classic “Irish” definition as exemplified by Guinness, either due to their hop or roast rates, or higher gravity (in the case of many American stouts). They are still basic stouts, however, not falling into any of the subclasses