Days of the Beer, September 13

The beer for today is Youngs Double Chocolate Stout.

On September 13, 1857, Milton Snavely Hershey was born. Hershey was the founder of The Hershey Chocolate Company. He's known as the Chocolate King. Hershey was born on a farm in Pennsylvania.

He started working as an apprentice printer, but didn't like the job, so he let his hat fall into the printing press. His next apprenticeship was for four years with a Lancaster Pennsylvania candy maker. After that, he started his first candy-making business in Philadelphia. That failed, so he tried again in Chicago, which also failed, twice.

He moved back to Lancaster and started the Lancaster Caramel Company. This business established him as a candy maker. At the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, he saw machinery to make German chocolate, and decided he wanted to do that. He sold the caramel company for a million dollars in 1900.

With that, he started The Hershey Chocolate Company. He built it, and the town of Hershey, out of 40,000 acres of land north of Lancaster. From there, he was able to get the milk that he needed to produce the milk chocolate. After much experimenting he came up with the formula.

He died in 1945 at the Hershey Hospital.

As for the beer:

Available filtered and pasteurised in 500ml bottles and in nitrocans. Also Nitro Keg on Tap
Production moved from Youngs to Wells & Youngs in 2007.
Ingredients: Pale ale and crystal malt, chocolate malt, special blend of sugars, Fuggle and Goldings hops, real dark chocolate and chocolate essence.
Chocolate malt and real dark chocolate are combined with Young's award winning rich, full flavoured dark beer to craft a satisfyingly indulgent, but never overly sweet experience.

This was one of the first beers that changed my perception of what beer could be. I had it on draft at Bentleys Pub (in Champaign) and was blown away that a beer could taste like drinking a milkshake.

This beer is available at several places in CU, normally it's on draft at Bentleys, it is listed on Blind Pig's menu as well. It used to be available at Guido's in a can, and may still be; I think it is also at Seven Saints.

The can has a widget, so don't be surprised by the clanking in the can.

If you are trying to get someone who "doesn't like beer" to drink a dark beer; give them this confection, they'll say "I didn't know beer could taste like that".