New beer from Samuel Adams today, courtesy of my friend Mike. This is a stout with Sumatran coffee added. I must say coffee beers are my absolute FAVORITE! I have high expectations for this. 5.8%.
Pours a dirty brown color with a tan bubbly head.
Aroma is chocolatey, dark chocolate and coffee grounds. The e isn’t nearly as overt as I was hoping.
Flavor is sweet chocolate, light coffee and roasted notes. Finishes sweet and ground. Not as much coffee as I wanted.
Cheers!
Today is International Stout Day!! And to celebrate I am cracking open a good stout.
This is a stout from Sierra Nevada Brewing Company out of Chico, California. This should be a very solid stout as it comes from a reputable company. Here goes!
This beer pours a dark brown color that touches on black that shows just the slightest bit of red color when held to the light.
Aroma is certainly roasted. Dark and roasted malts, bitter grains and some light coffee-like notes.
Flavor is roasted malts and grains, bitter bakers chocolate and even more roast. Definitely a stout; very standard.
Happy International Stout Day!
Nice thick stout to end my day today.
Breckenridge is based out of Denver, Colorado. This is their oatmeal stout, which is classified as a regular stout with an ABV of 4.95%. I’ve had this a few times before and it’s been glorious each time.
This beer pours a very dark brown that is almost a pitch black color. Foamy brown head rises and falls.
Aroma is fantastic! Lots of notes of warm chocolate, coffee beans, dark roasted malts and grains. Light oatmeal on the nose I suppose.
Flavor mirrors much of the nose. Dark roasted malts, bitter dryness, coffee ground and light chocolate make this a superb beer. Very happy with this.
Cheers!
Double posts today as I had a beer tasting last night till late and couldn’t get this written up in time. I DID actually have this beer last night though, so it still counts! 
We have a collaboration beer here for tonight. This beer has an interesting story. It all started off as a homebrew recipe, (which more than likely most commercial beers start off that way in some early form) but this one truly was a homebrew. San Diego hosted a homebrew competition a while back, and they had around 40 entries. A beer from Jason Fields & Kevin Sheppard won the competition and thereby earned the right to be amped up and brewed on a commercial level. They teamed up with Stone Brewing in California and Troegs from Pennsylvania to complete this collaboration. This beer is a stout at 7.3%. But I know what you’re saying, this beer is not available in Texas! Well, that’s true…..to a point. This beer actually received label approval for sale in Texas yesterday, so while it is technically not here yet, it will be very soon.
This beer pours a very dark brown color that edges on black. Tan foamy head. This leaves a bit of lacing on the edge of the glass.
Aroma is very interesting. Dark malts and woody notes are apparent on the nose. Not finding many cherries on the nose but has some chocolate.
Flavor is dark malts, very sweet chocolate and cherries make their debut. This has a fair wooden touch and finishes with almost a briny touch. Bitter on the finish for sure.
Cheers!
(Today’s review is going to come with a warning, an * if you will. After reviewing my notes from trying this several times previously, I am convinced that something was very wrong with the keg I tried it from this time. 
Unfortunately that does happen from time to time and it’s just the nature of the beast.)
Belhaven Scottish Stout is brewed by Belhaven out of Dunbar, Scotland. The brewery was bought out by Greene King at some point which means they are now a part of a much larger conglomerate. (Thanks to Rich for the correction here.) This beer is classified as a stout and comes in at 4.5% ABV. I should also make note that the keg version and bottle version of this beer are 2 separate beers. The keg version has been keg pasteurized which changes the flavor from the bottled version ever so slightly.
Pours a very dark black with a foamy, creamy tan head. It was on draught so it started as a stormy brown color that eventually faded to black. Why is Metallica playing in my head right now?
The aroma is fairly subdued on this one. Some dark malts and roast with an obvious nitro scent.
The flavor is more roasted than the smell and has a beefy flavor? Man I’ve had this a couple times before now and I don’t recall it being smoked. Hmm, I’ll go with it. Dark malts with a creamy mouthfeel. Finishes smooth. I’ve got an inkling that there is something a bit off with this keg….(looking at my notes for the previous times I’ve tried this I mentioned lots of chocolate and cocoa notes but never said anything about beef.) Oh well, still a good beer albeit different from what I’m used to.
Cheers anyway!
Ah. One of my earliest beers that I remember really making me think about the potential of what beer TRULY could be. This is my best friend’s favorite beer too, but I must confess that it has been FAR too long since I have tried it for myself. This beer is available in bottles/nitro cans as well as on tap. I would recommend any of the versions with nitro even though I am trying it out of a bottle today. The nitrogen treatment just adds one more layer of complexity here.
This beer is brewed by Wells & Youngs out of Bedford, England. This is actually a combination of 2 different breweries that combined in 2006. The Double Chocolate Stout gets it’s name from the double layer of “chocolate”, from dark chocolate essence and chocolate malt. Some beers are actually brewed with chocolate but more often they utilize ingredients that naturally produce a chocolate-like flavor. This beer is classified as a stout at 5.2%.
The beer pours a very dark brown color that almost edges on black. I say almost because held to the light the sides of the beer shine a brilliant brown. There is also a lofty brown head that resembles a loaf of wheat bread sitting atop the beer.
The aroma is lots of things; bready, dark malts, dusty, bitter chocolate, dry notes and a slight sweetness that can almost be construed as sharp. Enjoyable aroma.
The flavor is first and foremost roasted. I pick up a mix of roasted malts and toasted nuts. This creates a dry feeling in the mouth that paves the way for a lingering roasted chocolate bread. The label says “never overly sweet” and I agree with that. This is not your typical milk chocolate. This is a dark, biting chocolate smoking a cigar…..in the best kind of way. I recommend this on tap most certainly.
Cheers!
3 days straight of Texas beer and today I have a review from a brewery I have not yet featured on my blog. It’s been awhile since I’ve had this beer too; I have high expectations.
Southern Star Brewing is a relatively new brewery out of Conroe, TX just north of Houston. They began brewing back in 2007, and have about 3 beers they distribute statewide. They are also another example of a brewery who only does cans and not bottles. Today I am reviewing their Buried Hatchet Stout. It is classified as a stout and holds 8.25% ABV.
Glad I get to break out my SS glass for this one. This beer pours a dark brown color that shines a deep red when held to the light. It has a fizzy light brown head that dissipates fairly quickly for a stout.
The aroma is all kinds of lovelyness. Lots of rich chocolate, roasted malts and dark coffee ground. Very roasted nose. Also has kind of a toasted wood character as well. Nice. Reminds me of smores by a campfire.
Flavor is roasted as well. Roasted malts and toasted chocolate bars. Bit of a dry coffee flavor that edges into the finish. Dry finish that maintains a roasted chocolate flavor. Man this is good. A great example of what Texas breweries are capable of.
Cheers!
1 month. 1 full, complete month of beer drinking, researching and blogging. Did I enjoy it? Hell yeah! Will I continue on through the next 11 months? Hell yes! I have really enjoyed this, and I hope you as the reader have enjoyed it also, and perhaps you learned something interesting or even got the itch to try one of the beers that I touched on. Maybe that’s just this beer-drinkers fantasy but I can dream right?
Today I had the pleasure of staying home from work due to inclement weather conditions and road hazards. I woke up today to a blanket of white outside and sub-zero wind chills. However it wasn’t pretty snow that I saw, it was solid ice. Very scary indeed, and I’m glad I got to stay in.
What better way to stay warm on a frosty day than a nice, thick stout! I have chosen to go with the Rogue Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout. Rogue Ales is based out of Newport, Oregon and has a very large distribution area. They are one of the largest breweries in the United States today.
This beer pours a very dark brown color to almost pitch black with a tall brown foamy head. After holding it up to the light, I am convinced that no light is coming through. Awesome.
The aroma here is very nice. It has a big, dusty chocolate aroma, with some roasted malty notes and sweet spice. Very nice aroma indeed.
The flavor is very roasty, with toasted notes and burnt nuts. Heavily malted and bitter Baker’s cocoa. There is a sharp flavor also that tingles on the palate. Near the finish is when the oatmeal flavors come into play. They balance out the toasted bitterness and ease on into oblivion.
This is very nice, and quite the pairing for a lonely day trapped inside with my cat and my movies. Seek this one out for sure!
Cheers!
Another Texas brewery today, and this is one of the larger breweries in our state. The 2nd largest anyway, behind Spoetzl (Shiner) at 30,000 barrels produced last year. They recently moved into a new location in downtown Houston which has around a 100,000 barrel max capacity. Saint Arnold distributes all throughout the DFW area, and you will see lots of them from me in the future. Today is their winter seasonal, which I have not tasted in several years. Looking forward to this one!
This beer is classified as a stout. Just a regular, plain ole’ stout, but that is a bit different from what most people think of when they hear the word. Of course most people think of Guinness when they hear stout, but that is how the Irish define a stout. American versions are usually higher in roast qualities or higher gravities (abv). This is my first review of the style.
At first glance this beer appears dark brown with a very tall brown head, but when you hold it to the light it turns a gorgeous shade of ruby red. Very lovely indeed. It also seems to be very creamy by the amount of legs on the side of the glass.
The aroma here is roasted and creamy, with lots of dark malts and even a touch of English bittering hops. It has a nice dusty, dark chocolate element to it as well. Nice to smell.
The flavor is dark malt, roasted chocolate and cocoa beans with a nice, toasted bitter finish. It has a creamy mouthfeel with a tiny bit of hop bite near the back and sides of the palate. It finishes with a nice dark chocolate flavor.
Wow, what a different time makes! The first time I had this beer I remember hating it, but tonight I am very happy with this. I also made sure to warm this beer slightly before I opened it. A general rule of thumb is that the darker a beer is, the warmer the temperature it needs to enjoyed at. Around 50 – 55 degrees is the nice target area. Just take the bottle out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter for 10 minutes or so and it’ll be fine. This is a nice beer to enjoy and should be sought out. Support your local brewery!
Cheers!
