Zonker Stout - Snake River Brewing Company, Jackson Hole

This beer came out of nowhere. Literally... it's from Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I got a couple bottles of these from my girlfriend a couple weeks ago and couldn't have been more excited. I've heard people talk about Snake River's Zonker Stout for a while now but I never thought I'd get my hands on one. For the record, a zonker is a type of fly fishing lure, there's a big picture of one right above the "Zonker" text on the label. I only point this out because there's no back label to explain it and not everyone is a fly fisher.

The first think I noticed about the Zonker Stout is that it's dark, really dark. While pouring this into my pint glass, this beer had a black colored body that looked like a thick cola. As I poured the last of the beer, the head quickly rose to to the rime of the glass. The Zonker's head is a light brown color like the inside of a Whopper, the malted milk candy not the hamburger. The aroma coming off the head has a bit of chocolate in it but smells mostly like malt and coffee.

The flavor of the Zonker Stout is rich and chocolaty with more coffee than the aroma would indicate. This beer has loads of dark roasty malt which serves as the base flavor. There are some big flavors in this beer but they are nicely balanced. It's not much of a leap for your tastebuds to go from roasty malt to rich coffee, but the creamy dairy and chocolate flavors are nice compliments that mellow out the stronger flavors. Even though this beer is still packed with dark flavors, the dairy and chocolate prevent it from being too strong.

This is a fantastic beer which I'm glad I was able to put a couple bottles in my fridge.