Svaneke Stouts

On my last trip to Denmark I bought some stouts. Being starved of portery, stouty things here in Germany, I thought why not. In fact, one of the guys I was working with in Copenhagen at the time knew one of the brewers of the stouts I bought from Svaneke Bryghus, based on the island of Bornholm, but I didn't know that till after I bought the things. I'm still pissed off that we didn't get the contract that would have seen me in Denmark very often. Gah!

Anyhoo, the stouts in question were the Stout, naturally, and the Choko Stout, just for kicks, both weighing in at a respectable 5.7% ABV. The Svaneke Stout, being unfiltered, lets very little light through, but does show a old-oaky brown around the edges. The aroma is redolent with plum jam, chocolate and a hint of coffee with burnt sugar. The flavour reflects this and also has a light, rounded, dried fruit effect with a dark chocolate bitterness to the finish. It actually feels lighter than one might think it should, slipping down very easily. It's quite sweet though, with a sugary, caramel note. Nice enough, but a little too sugary for my liking. Might be better colder.

The Svaneke Choko Stout looks just the same as it's chocless sibling, so much so that I didn't bother with a photo as the label just appends the word Choko in front of Stout. My wife said it has an aroma that feels loaded with dark cherries, and I agree. Like those jars of preserved cherries, with chocolate heaped on them of course. Sweet, melted milk chocolate. The flavour? Bizarrely, a bit like Ferrero "Mon Cheri" with coffee. I wasn't sure if I liked this really, but about halfway down I decided I did. I found it an odd combination of flavours, particularly because I kept getting cherries out of it. If you like cherries with chocolate I reckon you'll like it.