Tasting Notes: Robinson’s Chocolate Tom
Brewery: Robinson's
Location: Stockport, England
ABV: 6.0%
Version: 330ml bottle
Source: The Vineyard, Belfast
Darren's already covered the other tom cat themed beers from Robinson's, Old Tom and Ginger Tom, so it's only fair to move on to Chocolate Tom. This one is basically Old Tom with added chocolate. In more detail it's Old Tom embellished with the finest cocoa and a touch of vanilla, all blended to an original recipe made in conjunction with renowned chocolatier Simon Dunn.
The beer is a rich dark copper colour, with a very pleasant, and completely expected, smooth chocolate aroma with some underlying fruit notes, much like sticking your nose in a newly opened box of choccies, but at no point does it become overpowering. The subsequent taste was actually surprisingly subtle. The chocolate doesn't dominate, letting some apricot fruitiness push through, and the alcohol isn't at all noticable. In fact I didn't think it tasted very beery at all. A nicely balanced recipe, well made and certainly worth trying but it's not one to feature on my "buy when see" list.
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I had Chocolate Marble stout last night. Not very strong on the chocolate, more of a standard stout. Maybe even going towards a milk stout? Good level of roasted malt and tasty nonetheless.
I saw the Chocolate Tom on the Edwin Tucker's website. Have you ever bought anything from them?
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This one's definitely going on my 'must try' list. It's a local brew, so it's bound to turn up somewhere, sooner or later. And I'll be making a point of checking out the Marble Chocolate next time I see it on draught as well.
Does anyone remember Fuggles chocolate, by the way? I can't remember who brewed it, but I've got an old t-shirt with the logo on, so I must have drunk 15 pints of it at some point back in my student days.
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Twas our dear friends Whitbread. I still have the odd T Shirt from that series too.
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Finally got round to trying a bottle of Chocolate Tom on Saturday. I think it was a tactical error to try this one after a pint of Acorn Gorlovka, though. Following on from a big, smoky, dry-roasted Imperial Stout, the CT tasted very thin (as you say, Ed, not at all beery) and distinctly over-sweet. Maybe it should be allowed to mature for a couple of years to let those vanilla notes blend in a bit more, something like that? Might buy a bottle and shove it in the cupboard for a while at some point, see if I'm right.
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