It’s a tricky one. Is Young’s Double Chocolate Stout craft beer? Young’s was a London family brewery established in 1831, subsequently bought by another English family brewery (Charles Wells, established 1876). The result may be a large commercial brewery that now brews multiple brands, but I still have this in the craft beer camp – family owned, quality, traditional ales.

Bottle. Pours a deep black with a frothy mocha head and nice lacing. Muted aromas of dark chocolate, cocoa, baked banana and roasted malt. Deliciously rich flavours of dark chocolate and cocoa with slight hints of milk chocolate, sweet banana, milk and roasted malts and coffee to finish. Bittering hops mean it is not overly sweet despite all the chocolate and provide a dry finish. At 5.2% abv it’s highly drinkable and it’s delicious with cheese!

Appearance: 4/5
Aroma: 8/10
Flavour: 8/10
Palate: 4/5
Overall: 14/20