Stout. It’s not my favorite style of beer, but not one that I run away from either. Guinness was my stout gateway beer, as I think it is for almost all American beer drinkers. This was 1996 or 1997, so there were not many options for this style of beer. Guinness drinkers were seen as hardcore beer drinkers, not afraid to tip something back that was thick and dark. Never mind that Guinness has a nice sweetness and barely has enough alcohol to make it dangerous.

From Guinness, well, there have been many. Empire’s Black Magic Stout was my next love. Then there was the Street Brawler at Pearl Street Grill & Brewery in Buffalo. And then…then I walked away for a little while. There was a here and there Guinness, but I was not fully committed to the stout.

It really wasn’t until someone forced me to try Left Hand’s Nitro Milk Stout a few years ago that I came back to this class. I find that, with age, the stout fills me too quickly and that sometimes the roasted malts lean too far over the line from bitter to burned. Still, I’m more of a ale/bock drinker. But, I love a crazy beer flavor and don’t often shy away from taking a chance on one.

And that’s what Flying Dog Brewery did in 2014 with its Mint Chocolate Stout. Flying Dog’s Brewhouse Rarities range of beers are limited edition, limited run brews where experimentation can lead to full-time label or “Hey, we gave that a try, what’s next?” For instance, the Numero Uno was a Brewhouse Rarities label that turned summer seasonal. And the Milk Chocolate Stout was, well, an attempt at something different.

When one here’s “mint chocolate,” the mind automatically wanders to one of two places: ice cream or Girl Scouts Cookies. Flying Dog’s put together a good but not great chocolate stout, and incorporated mint as if it were making a Thin Mint. In reality what we have is a misplaced mint flavor in an otherwise alright beer. The mint is too sharp and appears at the beginning, rather than mixing in the middle of the sip where it might make more sense. The finish is bitter from the roasted malt, but the ahhh is mouthwashy.

I tracked this beer down last year in New York City, as that was the furthest north that it traveled. It remained cellared and in a dark space until it was time to consume, I’m not worried about aging or substantial flavor loss. While it pains me to say, I just don’t think that this was a good beer.

Beer Bottle Philosophy

Brewer: Flying Dog Brewery

Beer: Mint Chocolate Stout

Style: Chocolate Stout

ABV: 5.7% IBU: n/a

Container: 12 oz. bottle

Price: $3.25 (purchased as a single) Point of Purchase: New Beer Distributors, LES, New York, N.Y.

To The Eye: Dark and stormy with a tan head.

To The Nose: Faint mint but not much else. This could be the result of aging.

To The Palate: The mint hits you upfront and it’s not subtle. There is a creamy bitterness from the chocolate that flattens out into a bitter malt. It’s a full-bodied beer.

Aftertaste: Bitter and malty with a lingering minty flavor that hangs around.

Boozy Factor: Negligible.

On a Scale of 1 to 10, with 10 as highest: 5.0