Archive for the tag “Stout”

07 Mar 2014

Black Hand – Speakeasy

BlackHand_bttl6.9% ABV
Purchased at Taylor’s Market in Sacramento ($6.99/22 oz. bottle) and poured into pint glasses.

This milk stout “brewed with cacao nibs” pours an impenetrable ebony with a short, brown head.  Big chocolate cake and heavy cream smells greet the nose upon first sniff, along with a curious mineral scent and a little bit of graham cracker, coffee, and milk chocolate.  The first swallow is dessert-y and delicious, with chocolate and milk mingling on the palette alongside a grassy taste that (if I know my old-guard West Coast breweries…) is probably courtesy of an amped-up hop profile.  The mouthfeel gets milkier on the finish, with flavors of chocolate syrup, cocoa powder, mineral water, and half-and-half also entering the picture.

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Speackeasy_BlackHand

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19 Dec 2013

Burnt Fog – Track 7 Brewing Company

7.6% ABV
Purchased at Track 7 Tap Room ($3/8 oz. pour) and served in pint glasses.

This smoked porter pours a murky dark brown-black with a mid-sized, white sand head, and boasts a delectable aroma of pan grease, hickory smoke, and blackened bacon.  True to its name, Burnt Fog is filled with charred and smoky flavors on the first swallow, most notably in the form of burnt leaves, bacon, and mild tobacco.  It remains pretty sweet and drinkable throughout, never too heavy or smoke-choked, with some walnut-like bitterness on the finish.  Track 7 Brewing’s take on the smoked porter doesn’t offer the fleshy flavors of BBQ-ed meats so much as the char, smoke, and grease residuals, with coffee grounds, candied nuts, and English-style malts also making appearances.

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BurntFog_Track7

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21 Aug 2013
2 Comments

Stone Farking Wheaton W00tstout – Stone collaboration with Fark.com and Wil Wheaton

w00tstout-bttlSoCal Beercation Edition

13.0% ABV
Purchased at Fathom Bistro, Bait and Tackle in San Diego ($7/10 oz. pour) and served in tulip glasses.

This collaboration between San Diego kingpins Stone, Fark.com founder Drew Curtis, and actor/homebrewer Wil Wheaton pours ebony with an enormous but quickly dissipating light brown head.  Wood, fresh roasted nuts, cola, and black licorice greet you on the nose, along with a small dose of hard alcohol courtesy of the partial barrel-aging.  The first swallow is a mind-bending mouthful – nuts, coffee, and chocolate on the front end melt into vanilla, wood, and bourbon flavors on the finish.  Only a quarter of this sublime brew was barrel-aged, so you get bourbon notes without any residual alcohol heat.  The lasting impression on the tongue is of nuts, almost certainly due to the addition of pecans.  This is a flat-out brilliant beer – complex yet compulsively drinkable, with a relatively light mouthfeel.  More coffee ground flavors come in as the beer warms, and the beer’s decadent breadiness gives it an overall impression of a boozy pecan pie chased by black licorice.

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Woot

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Posted in Beer Review, Stout and tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
16 Mar 2012

Guinness Draught

4.2% ABV
Purchased at Safeway ($6.99/6-pack of 11.2 oz. bottles) and poured into pint glasses.

His Notes:

The iconic “Pasteurized Stout” from Guinness pours a murky black with a decent-sized tan head.  There are few roasted and toffee notes on the nose, but mostly it’s that strong, apple-flavored malt common to “classic” British brews.  The mouthfeel is more watery than suggested by the dark hue, but it’s well-balanced by mild coffee, toffee, and nut flavors.  Brewed in Dublin since 1759, Guinness Draught is eminently smoothe, drinkable, and creamy session stout (and less sweet then you might think given the smell) but the tepid flavors and overall lack of depth grow fairly tiresome after a while, as does the flat aftertaste.

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Her Notes:

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