Naked River "Moon Pie" Stout

It has been many moons since I actually had a moon pie. I'm not even sure I completely remember what they taste like. I can say with relative authority that I've never had a naked river beer before, so this experience is uncharted. I have had a stout or two, and I have had even a few of the chocolate variety. This beer is actually made with moon pies, so they may go a little too far in the candy direction, but I'm not going to judge before even open the can.

Surprisingly, the beer is very clear, though dark. That deep ruby color might pretend to be black in the picture that accompanies this review, but you'll just have to trust me that it allows light through the very center of the beer where the ruby turns more mahogany. I accidentally poured this a little roughly, and I'm surprised there wasn't more head generated as a result. Instead, a fairly feeble head dwindles to a single clump of small bubbles in the middle of the beverage with an incomplete line around the sides. The aroma is quite predictably chocolate, but a heavy alcohol and charred grains join it. This beer smells every bit of it 8.5% ABV.

First sip seems to hit more after the beer has already left my mouth. The finish is quite remarkable in its ability to be both dry and dripping with chocolate. It's not like I just took a bite of a piece of candy, but the sweetness of the milk chocolate is definitely different than the cocoa that you would normally get in a chocolate stout or something that was relying entirely on the malt to generate the chocolate taste. It's not a bad sip.

Tip-in is chocolate and vanilla with grilled grains and a carbonation dazzle around the ends. The middle has an intensification of carbonation as the flavors take a backseat to the fury of bubbles trying to crowd out the chocolate center. The finish is an abrupt cessation of carbonation as the syrupy chocolate reasserts and the beer starts to turn dry, but the sweetness hangs on for the trail off.

Bottom Line: As dessert beers go, it can run with some of the better ones.

3.75/5