Here’s a beer that comes on like a big chocolate punch in the piehole. It’s called Choklat, and it’s a stout brewed with chocolate malt and bittersweet Belgian chocolate, from the Southern Tier Brewing Co. of Lakewood, N.Y., part of their always tasty Blackwater Series.

This is a rich and sticky 10 percent beer. When the creamy chocolatey waves subside on your palate, there’s a nice prickly ripple left from the Chinook and Willamette hops.

Not much more to say other than to paraphrase Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein monster in the teasingly poignant dinner scene with the blind violinist – Choklat, good!

From New York, we go to New Hampshire, home of Smuttynose Brewing Co.

Yes, indeed, Smuttynose Robust Porter is quite robust. The first sip was a veritable explosion of yummy, plummy flavors. Definitely robust with dark flavors – devil’s food cake, dried currants, plump raisins, Turkish tobacco and teriyaki jerky. A veritable feast of dark flavors.

Hey, live free or die!