Clown Shoes Chocolate Sombrero:

Greetings one and all and welcome back to a look at the next beer in line.  And what beer is that you ask?  How about something that you wear on your head…and is chocolate…and sports four arms….wait…What??  Yes friends, today I speak of Clown Shoes novel approach to the world of stout beers: Chocolate Sombrero and it‘s multi-armed Mexican luchador.  This “Mexican-style chocolate stout” comes in a big bottle (or magnum as I learned the other day) and is a nice change of pace from the run of the mill stouts out there that seem to be popping up all over the beer landscape as of late.  The beer uses a mixture of roasted malts, chocolate malts as well as cinnamon, ancho chilies and vanilla extract to give this beer a welcome taste change.  The beer pours the familiar dark brown color with a nice light coffee colored head of foam that leaves good lacing on the inside of the glass as well a nose of roasted malts, cocoa, and spices.  The beer’s initial taste is a light burning spice flavor as well as the smooth creaminess of a smooth stout that moves to the mid tongue allowing the cocoa flavor to fully develop but never sweeten all the while carrying through to the back end and aftertaste where the spice and cocoa flavors stick out greatly.  A nice beer, but to call it a refreshing change would be misleading due to it’s heaviness and richness it isn’t refreshing but a heavy beer.  Best drunk as a dessert and, if possible, combine with some chocolate ice cream in-between sips, it’s a wondrous combination.