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Initially, chocolate stout sounds like something to order for those girls who wrinkle up their noses at a pilsner: the ones who claim just not to like the taste of beer and forage through the kitchen in hopes of finding something with a marchino cherry in it. Its name implies something you’d find at Willy Wonka’s-a drink for children, too delicate to compare to its hearty relatives Guinness and Murphy's.

Upon more intimate acquaintance, however, chocolate stout proves itself a well-muscled and satisfying dark malt brew with all the thick creamy head you’d expect from the name. It has the slightly bitter taste and satisfying thickness of a stout with the added pleasure of hearty chocolate. The smell is similar to chocolate shop in Switzerland or Belgium, but the thick malt taste is more complex and smoky than any bon bon. Many chocolate stouts are milk stouts or oatmeal stouts and therefore slightly sweeter than dry stouts. Drinking one is always a pleasant suprise- sort of the opposite of discovering that your girlfriend is actually a transvestite. There are probably many breweries that feature this glorious concoction, but I can personally attest to the deliciousness of only three:

Yoohoo is so passé.
