Chocolate Cake

When you're a beer geek even your romantic side likes a good brew. Valentines Day just came and went and in the spirit of the holiday I got the wife chocolates, roses and chocolate cake beer by Sun King Brewing Co. That's right, you can say it, "Playa, play on!!!"

Chocolate Cake is an incredibly dark Brown Ale with 14 IBUs and 6.5% abv. It is so dark and chocolatey I thought for sure it was a stout until I checked out their site.

This beer pours super dark brown, verging on black. Whatever head may have been there quickly disperses and turns into a very light brown or tan lacing. It has a roasty cocoa aroma. There is chocolate and just a hint of smokiness.

The beer was not as big as I expected. I thought this was going to be closer to a really dark imperial or something like the Bourbon Country Brand Stout. Take that out of your head because it messed up my taste buds when I first went into it. It is not, it is a Brown Ale- more like a super amped up version of a Newcastle. The flavor is not too sweet, with bitter chocolate and slightly dark toasty malts. It is rich and smooth with less bitterness than I expected. This beer could have had a very crisp bitter finish, that would have rounded it out more but Chocolate Cake had almost no hop flavor. I guess with 14 IBUs I shouldn't have expected too much more. The mouth feel was moderate to, lighter on the tongue than a stout would be, but still very solid.

 

Since it was a holiday, my wife and I each enjoyed some Godiva chocolate truffles. The beer goes great with the sweet milk chocolate and gooey fillings. The bittersweet flavors of the beer blend well with the sweet candy and the light mouth feel helps to not override the creaminess of the tasty treats. The beer was good, but I've come to expect at least good from Sun King. I would drink it again without question, and my wife totally loved it.

 

I give it a 3.5