Redhook Double Black Stout
Redhook Double Black Stout is the only beer of its kind in the world. Making the most of two well-known Northwest products, this extraordinary brew marries the sweet, smoothness of classic stout with the rich complexity of fine coffee. The recipe is a closely guarded secret.
3.6
455 reviews
Seattle, United States
Community reviews
Bottle. Vintage bottle given for free at Beer Geek Christmas. Pours a dark brown/black color with a slight tan head that collars around the glass. Mocha chocolate in the nose with some minimal residual coffee notes. Surprised how much chocolate is in the nose. Medium mouthfeel. This reminds me surprisingly like a weaker version of ST Chocolate but with more bitter roast notes in the end. LIght chocolate notes upfront with a roast coffee finish that isn’t too overpowering. Overall, pretty decent.
Bottle: Black in color, hues of black coffee on the edges, moderate frothy light brown head, a few rings
of lacing. Dry roasted malt nose, very slight coffee and bakers chocolate. Good roasted malts on the
tongue, not heavy but pretty much what I figured it would be for a Redhook brew. Oddly enough, I thought that
the original was a bit bigger, but I guess that is how it goes with most beers. Fonder when you first tried
them. Otherwise dry, more bakers chocolate than coffee. Clean finish, lactose like sweetness, with a good
malt backbone. Low hop profile. Minor coffee and bakers chocolate linger. Solid, but very middle of
the road. Bigger than Blackhook, but doesn’t seem by much.
Bottle from 10-8-08. Pours black with a very thin tan head. Aroma is dark chocolate, molasses, soy with a hint of oxidation. Not a lot of coffee in the aroma. maybe due to age. Flavor is dark chocolate, caramel and coffee. Medium bodied with very little carbonation.
22 oz. bottle from curly- thanks, Jason! Brought it to The Royale on the "Black" themed night. Didn’t realize, though, that this was bottled 10/8/08 and I guess I read the batch (04-0810) as the date and thought this was a couple years younger than it was. Anyway, the nose showed a little oxidation before dark chocolate, soy, molasses, and really not much coffee. The flavor provides more coffee, along with dark chocolate, caramel, and molasses. Light-bodied (it’s fallen out), with low carbonation and a thin, smooth mouthfeel that doesn’t linger. Pretty good despite having fallen off due to age.
Bottle, probably two years on it. Pours a deep black with a medium sized tan head. Very faint fuzzy chocolate, cocoa, and coffee, roast. Just on the thin side of medium bodied, a bit of oxidization, old malt, prunes. Certainly some age evident on this one. Finishes with some more prune, a little bit more chocolate, and a touch of warming alcohol. Probably a bit too old and I’d guess was at it’s peak maybe a year ago. Still ok.
Pours a solid black with a big fluffy tan head that sticks around forever. Smells of coffee and roasted grains, little bit of chocolate syrup and a chalky aroma as well. Taste is coffee and chocolate some toffee and butter. Has a bitter hop and roast finish. Mouthfeel is a thin syrup, body is medium to thin, carbonation is low. Not anything spectacular here. I’m not sure I would call this a double or imperial stout, but I would drink this. The only thing holding me back is the 7.99 price tag when there are much better bombers of stout available at that price point or lower.
07-Nov-08 (22-oz bottle: Purchased 01-Nov-08 for $4.99 at BevMo in Solana Beach, CA) Dark brown with good clarity when pouring from the bottle, and neither black nor opaque in the glass either. A small, quarter-inch tan head forms immediately, but soon settles to a thin ring. Aromas of roasted (almost burnt) coffee, oatmeal and yeast aren’t especially enticing compared to many other coffee stouts. Echoing the nose, the burnt, bitter character of the coffee (more than the coffee itself) is the dominant flavor against a pleasant backdrop of lightly sweet chocolate and roasted malts. Medium in body, the beer has a weight closer to a porter than a stout, so it comes across as a bit thin, not offering the rich layers I remember from many years ago. Carbonation is light and soft, but the bitterness adds harshness that prevents the beer from exhibiting much smoothness. Overall, this is a decent beer, but fails to live up to the lofty expectations of my memory. But then again, seven years is a long time and I’ve certainly come a long way in developing my palate and beer knowledge since those early days. Worth purchasing a bottle for the historical value, and to try it once, but it’s not likely to be a repeat purchase for me.
25-Sep-01 (bottle) This very dark and opaque beer tastes very much like a strong Starbuck’s coffee; Rather thick, slightly sweet and exceedingly bitter from the coffee; The bitterness is strongest in the finish and just lingers; Surprisingly a rather soft-spoken nose, but still that of coffee; Thick rich head.
Aroma: chocolatey, coffee, plums, hint of bourbon
Appearance: dark brown almost black pour with mocha colored fluffy head that quickly receeded.
Taste: medium sweetness with a bitter finish from dark roasted malt.
Palate: medium fading to light body with active fizz with roasted malt finish.
Overall: First impression leads me to beleive this is going to be well rounded kaleidoscope of flavors but after drinking the plums, chocolate and coffee seem to quickly disappear. Maybe I’m just spoiled from drinking too many IMPERIAL stouts where I believe this is just supposed to be a stout.
Pours black with a tan head. Flavor and aroma are dominated by chocolate and coffee.
This poured a dark black color with a beige head. The aroma is mainly just coffee and chocolate. The flavor is pretty much the same with a rather bitter finish. The palate is a little thin. Overall not bad for Redhook!
Black with a touch of opacity, mahogany winks along the edges and bottom of my glass now filled with db delights. I must say, she is mighty inviting to look at with her small yet firm cappuccino head and coffee-stained depths. Like a siren’s call, she beckons and as we move ever closer together, I am awash in coffee beans covered with black chocolate, chocolate graham crackers, date brownies, and a kiss of lactose for the finish. A bit simple but overwhelmingly rich with promise, as our lips meet, coffee glides across my tongue and down my throat along with melted dark chocolates for a burnt dry finish which simply brings me back for more. A couple-three quaffs in the top of my tongue continues to dry while in the backside I find faint notes of dates and prunes. The lactose side of db is an overall silkiness to his mouthfeel. Chocolate graham crackers mingle in the back with his burnt dry finish, and the rest is a simple yet tasty quaff&repeat treat.
If Red Hook would utilize these kinds of beers on a more regular basis, I might proffer more respect and recommendations. As it stands though, their regular line-up definitely disappoints so if you are a flavorholic and beer quaffer extraordinaire like me, just stick to the special one-off releases. You’ll have better luck there as I did with their db (Double Black) Stout with Coffee.
Bottle, 2008 Vintage drank in 2010. Pours opaque, black-brown with a medium, beige head. Enticingly roasty aroma with plenty of chocolate and cocoa. Flavor is fairly sweet and dark/milk chocolate notes and mocha bitterness. Medium bodied, smooth and creamy with soft carbonation. Finish sweet, roasty and dried out with lingering chocolate notes. Really good.
Dark brown (almost black) pour with a very impressive & large bubbly foamy tan head that dissipates quickly leaving behind good lacing all around the glass. Nose has a slightly acidic/chemical scent to it - not one of the stronger points of this beer.
Flavor is much better with some tasty bitter cocoa notes on top of the malty & sweet backbone. Slight bitterness in the finish.
Could be a bit more smooth and creamy, but good drinkability overall.
A little disappointing in that I’m not really getting any coffee flavors here, but overall a very solid beer.
Bottle. Pours a black color with a small off-white head. Has a fruity malty caramel and chocolate aroma. Sweetism roasted malty caramel flavor with hints of chocolate. Has a roasted malty caramel finish.
Poured into a pint glass.
Color is a dark brown, almost black. Think tan head that leaves the best lace I have ever seen. There was rings for each drink I drank.
Smell is of carmel and dark chocolate. Taste is similiar. The carmel comes out a little more, with a hint of coffee. Also, some dry toasted malts.
Overall, an easy to drink stout, but I was expecting a little bit more from, this beer. Still a very great beer!
Serving type: bottle
Reviewed on: 12-20-2008 09:52:18
Bomber pours black with a nice tan head. Aroma of sweet malt and coffee with some hoppiness showing up as well. Flavor is big roasty malt/coffee with a bit of sweetness trying to shine through, bitter finish.
Creamy, chocolatey and full of coffee, this stout fits the bill of a coffee stout, but it’s just too sweet to win me over. The whole thing is a bit one note. It’s a lot of coffee flavor against a fairly sweet chocolate malt background. Well, I guess that’s more than one note, but let’s not be so literal. The feel is fairly full. There are some bittering hop notes in the finish, but they don’t bring a lot to the beer. This beer sort of reminds of a can of Starbuck’s Doubleshot, which I don’t exactly hate, but the flavors don’t quite work incredibly here. Still, there are good qualities to the beer and it was made fairly well, I imagine.
Brown black pour with tan head and lace. Aroma of chocolate and a hint of coffee. Chocolate dominates the flavor with a nice malt bitter. Solid mouthfeel and good carbonation.
Bomber from Smokin Joes in Pittsburgh. Pours black with thin tan head. Light coffee malt aroma. Crisp hoppy coffee taste. Quick review here... drinkable and tasty enough.
Bomber. Pours near black with a tan head. Aroma of syrupy chocolate, coffee, and yeast. Tastes of nutty malt and sweet chocolate with a bitter coffee linger. Thin palate. Could’ve been so good, but something is off.
Black body with medium head. Aroma of large chocolate, dry roasted coffee. Bitter finish. Heavy chocolate-based flavor. A bit too heavy on sugar. Toast, roasted malt. Finishes dry and bitter as well.
Nose and taste like a good chocolate candy. Very dark, very little head, full and smooth mouthfeel. In the end just a bit harsh, as if the beans, or the barley, had been roasted too hard.
Low stout aroma, mostly coffee and fruit. Opaque brownish-black with thick tan head. Decent retention. Flavor is very malty, some baker’s chocolate and espresso w/ faint nutty quality. Ale-yeast fruitiness toward the back end. Silky mouthfeel w/ a little bit of fizz. Mildly bitter finish with just a touch of alcohol in the nose. Pretty good.
Sampled at tasting at stevo’s. Pours black with garnet edges and tan head. The aroma is fresh espresso, chocolate, and light vanilla. The flavor is chocolate ice cream, vanilla, coffee, and a touch of soy sauce. Clean finish. Not too shabby.
decaturstevo’s stevofest part 2. Sample from a bottle thanks to decaturstevo. Dark brown-red, tan cover. Aroma is roasty, coffee. Taste is roasty, coffee, chocolate.
Black, but not double black. I’m not even sure if I would recognized double black if I saw it. Smells nice - coffee with a bit of coffee. Flavor is kinda one dimensional, though, maybe a bit too much coffee. Decent.
Double Black Stout--1998 22 oz. Bottle. 8.60% ABV. (4.5 / 5.0) Rich thick chocolate toffee flavor and stinging hop finish. Rich and tasty from start to finish. May be lighter than 12 oz. version, but I think bottle should read 6.8% ABW. Sampled 1/2/1999.
Double Black Stout--1998 12 oz. Bottle. 8.60% ABV. (5.0 / 5.0) Very Smooth. Rich big malt flavor. Big chocolate malt balanced by coffee. Thick and satisfying but not throaty. Clean dry finish. Sampled 1/21/1999.
Double Black Stout--2000 22 oz. Bottle. 7.50% ABV. (4.25 / 5.0) No Starbucks. Clear deep bronze red black color. Double roasted rich espresso mild chocolate front. Balanced sweet roasted rich body with hints of black cherry fruit flavor. Thick hop spice dry end. Sampled 12/24/2000.
db double black stout with coffee--Redhook Limited Release Batch: 08-0410. 2008 22 oz. Bottle. 7.00% ABV--55 IBU’s. (4.5 / 5.0) Stout--Imperial. Lacy tan coffee head. Clear bright dark ruby obsidian black color. Roasted espresso burnt hoppy front. Rich crisp dry sweet burnt coffee mild fruit dry burnt caramel body. Tangy hop spice toasted rich crisp balanced Black IPA Stout Coffee end. Crisp hoppy Stout. Sampled 3/10/2009. 2 @ $5.49 Each.
Straight up coffee aroma is pretty good. Taste is just the tiniest bit off-dry with more of that pure coffee flavor. Solid.
Shared a bomber of this with my brother-in-law. Poured a brown color with reddish tints around the edges of the glass. It also had a very thin khaki head that disappeared very quickly. The aroma consisted of sweet chocolate, coffee, caramel malt, and some light nut. The taste was about the same with a good amount of coffee and chocolate coming out. It was fairly sweet. Finished very smooth. The only thing that I really did not like about this beer was the mouth feel... it was extremely watery for a stout. Overall though a decent winter warmer... better than I expected from Red Hook.
Black with a light foam. Aroma of muddied chocolate and wet coffee grounds. Whoa! There is definate coffee in the beer. Lots of coffee, soft chocolate, a bit of ash. Just a hint of sourness.