Bison Brewing‘s Chocolate Stout is one of the better such stouts I’ve had, recently and maybe ever. I admit, I was a bit leery at first; with the exception of Rogue’s Chocolate Stout, I’ve not really found a chocolate-flavored beer that holds up. Bison definitely does.

Appearance: Black-brown, opaque. Leather-tan head, nice.

Smell: Coffee, dark chocolate/cocoa—mocha. Rich roasted malt/grain.

Taste: Roasty, stout-bitter but not astringently so. Coffee, chocolate—what you smell is what you taste. Very rich. Earthy dark. Bittersweet.

Mouthfeel: Nice and full. Kind of oily. A little astringent/dry. Smooth.

Yes, my notes are a bit sparse but trust me, this was a well-done chocolate beer. Very rich, very chocolatey; the oily feel in the mouth comes from the real chocolate used in the brewing.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores a respectable 84 (out of 100) with 96% of Advocates approving. On RateBeer it scores 3.59 out of 5, in their 88th percentile.