Beer of the Week: Deep River Chocolate Stout Nitro

Beer score: 7.7

Company: Deep River Brewing
ABV: NA
IBU: NA

What is a "nitro" beer? It's a beer than contains more nitrogen gas and less carbon dioxide, at least compared to most beers. Usually these beers are nitrogenated (if that's a word) before being put in a keg or bottle or whatever.

This one ... is quite awesome. It came with a moderate foamy head that was smooth, smooth, smooth. It gave off scents of coffee, dark chocolate and burnt maple.

One of my criteria for a good stout is that you can hold it up to the light in a clear glass and still not see the light. You couldn't see the light here, so for me that's a winner. The color itself is that cool dark chocolate not unfamiliar to many an excellent stout.

The taste is much like the smell, burnt maple, coffee, dark chocolate. And the taste is fairly light, not overpowering. However, this isn't an extremely strong or thick stout, reminding me in texture more of a porter. One of the smoothest stouts I've tried over the years.

All that being said, normally I prefer a stout at room temperature, but this one I preferred chilled. When I first got this beer, it was quite cold, and I fell in love with it. However, as this beer sat on my table and warmed, the flavors seemed to become a bit dull for me. But maybe I'll just have to try this one again. Whatever the case, this beer would have scored higher for me if it had remained as good as it had when it was still cold.