Shiroyama Kokutou Stout is a 5% sweet stout from Shiroyama Brewery, based in Kagoshima, Kyushu. It’s part of their seasonal lineup of craft beers and can be found on draft. It uses black sugar sourced from Okinawa and is also a multiple award winning beer, having won five consecutive medals at the International Beer Competition from 2006 to 2010.
Rich, voluptuous, lovely. Excuse the time stamp though.
Shiroyama Kokutou Stout Aroma and Taste
So here we are. A sweet stout. Something that doesn’t seem to have really taken off in Japan, considering how some beer manufacturers like to direct certain kinds of beer towards the female demographic. I shalln’t name any breweries that do that, but I was surprised to see that Shiroyama Brewery hadn’t done that. Without wanting to start another soapbox article, directing beers to certain demographics does my head in, so when the bar manager at Noge West End recommended this because it would go well with the cheese dish I had ordered, I felt relieved.
It came out a dark brown, almost black colour with minimal tan-head but it was a stout and I had to get in there straight away. The aromas of chocolate and coffee pervaded every sniff, but the black sugar brought a light, roasted sweetness that differentiated it from other stouts. There was also some hints of creamy lactose sugar – had they mixed in some lactose as well in the mix and not told us?
But the body – when it was chilled, it was smooth and light with the lactose bringing a nice dash of cream to the texture. When it warmed up however, it was delicious. A nice thick body with a good mouthfeel on the palate with a sweetness that was light and crisp. It had a slightly roasted burnt finish to it but balanced off nice with the creamy, chocolate flavour.
Shiroyama Kokutou Stout The Bottom Line
I liked Shiroyama Kokutou Stout as a sweet stout and I would have been nice to have had more but I suspect that it would have become cloying fast.
