Great Lakes - Blackout Stout

Tonight I'll be drinking Blackout Stout from Great Lakes Brewing in Cleveland, Ohio.  From the neck label - "Our robust Blackout Stout is named after the infamous 'Blackout of 2003' that left the northeastern United States without power for days... A nuisance for some, an enjoyable 36 hours of energy conservation and beer drinking with neighbors for others".  I don't know about you, but I don't need the power to be out in order to enjoy 36 hours of drinking with my neighbors.  I'm pretty sure that's called "the weekend".

This stout isn't quite pitch black... but about as black as you can get without having the light surrounding the glass disappear into the beer!  The foam is lighter than anticipated, at least for an Imperial Stout.  It's a light tan color, similar to what you would find on a brown ale.  The aromas are soft.  Prominently roasty with some cocoa and coffee bean in there as well.  Plenty of toasted wood, roasted malt, black coffee and charcoal all seem to make an appearance in the first sip.  I don't think I've tasted a stout as roasty as this one.  The body is light and without much residual sugar.  Although a hint of sweetness comes through as it warms but is balanced by an alcohol warmth that has eluded my palate until now.  Blackberries come through in the finish at room temperature.

Overall - Blackout Stout is one of the few examples of an Imperial Stout that can be enjoyed straight off the bottling line.  Generally speaking, most RIS's could use a few months of age or longer before they are at their peak flavor.  Blackout doesn't need any extra time, it is fully tasty right away.  Great Lakes has done a great job with this brew, although I wish it came in a six pack!  Did I mention it has won five gold medals between the World Beer Cup and the World Beer Championships since 2003?

Brooklyn Brewery - Black Chocolate Stout

Today my friend sent me one of those 'funny-mass-email-forwards' with a beer prayer that I thought I'd share with everyone;

Our lager, which art in barrels,

hallowed by thy drink.

Thy will be drunk,

At home, as I am in the tavern.

Give us this day our foamy head, 

and forgive our spillage, 

as we forgive those who spill against us.

And lead us not to incarceration,

but deliver us from hangovers.

For thine is the ale, the pilsner, and the lager,

forever and ever.

-AMEN-

Tonight I'm drinking Black Chocolate Stout from Brooklyn Brewery in Utica, NY.  This is a seasonal Imperial Stout, available from October through March, and it's a monster with 10% alcohol by volume.  For all you foodies out there, Brooklyn recommends strong cheese (especially Stilton) to be paired with this beer.

Limited Bottling - '11-12.  The beer is ink-jet black with a dark tan layer of hearty foam, leaves lots of sticky lacing behind.  The aroma is intense - roasted barley, milk chocolate, faint light coffee and cocoa, and alcohol fumes.  The flavor starts off with a wave of slightly bitter dark chocolate, bittersweet, until the second wave of barley roastyness.  Some smokiness and faint, woody vanilla hang out in the background.  Booze is pronounced, but not overwhelming.  The carbonation is on the heavier side, for the style, but it works well.

Overall Rating:  This is a big, bad, beautiful stout that takes everything about the style to the maximum.  It tastes great in its current state of freshness, and I'm sure it will taste even better in a year or two.  Thick, rich, and warming - definitely a beer for the winter months.  Give this one a try!  A-

Alaskan Brewing - Perseverance Ale



Check out my exemplary photography skills



Tonight I'll be breaking out a bottle of Perseverance Ale from Alaskan Brewing in Juneau, Alaska.  Alaskan Brewing is best known for their Alaskan Amber, which is an easy-drinking Altbier that our friend Kasper, an Alaska native, is utterly obsessed with (he was actually introduced us to the brewery).  We've also enjoyed their IPA and Summer Kolsch brews - both also quite good.  The Perseverance Ale is a Russian Imperial Stout released to commemorate Alaskan Brewing's 25th Anniversary.  It's part of their Pilot Series, which is a rotating, limited release series of big, distinctive beers that utilize unique local ingredients.  Take a look at this list of beers in the Pilot Series.....it's quite the line-up! 

This brew comes in a bottle with a retro label, depicting what looks like the original brewery in a log-cabin style building.  The label states "STOUT BREWED WITH BIRCH SYRUP AND FIREWEED HONEY".  It also has a timeline on the back of the bottle, pictured below.  This beer is a thick black color with light tan head and good retention.  The aroma is lightly smokey with charcoal and plenty of roasted barley.  Also some sweetness, honey and cocoa smooth off the edges of the alcohol fumes.  The first sip yields a creamy texture, carrying light roasted chocolate malts.  Mild notes of coffee and smoke.  Some earthy bitterness comes in towards the end, followed by a wave of alcohol heat in the finish.  Far less going on than I expected from the aroma. 

Overall Rating:  I was expecting a lot more out of this beer.  It was like a heavier, more alcoholic version of Guinness - none of the big, bold flavors you expect in an RIS.  I'll finish the bottle, but overall, disappointing.  C-

Surly - Darkness 2010

After a long Labor Day weekend we are back!  Both Dunz and I had an enjoyable break.  Hopefully all of our readers did too!!!  Now its time to get back into the swing of things (my apologies for not posting on Monday as promised) and review some delicious brews.  For the first review after our elongated hiatus I figured I'd crack open something special.  This bottle has been hanging out in my fridge since Darkness Day last year.  Its one I've been saving it for a special occasion and I believe the time has come.  You Minnesotans (and those who read the title of this post) already know the beer I'm talking about - Surly Darkness.

Surly Darkness is a local phenomenon.  People wait outside the brewery overnight in order to get their hands on a bottle during Darkness Day.  Every year, since Surly's inception five years ago, Darkness has grown in popularity.  Last year it seemed to be particularly difficult to get your hands on a bottle if you didn't attend Darkness Day.  Luckily for me, I was able to hunt down a few bottles tucked away in a MGM liquor store.  And according to the history on the back of the bottle, Surly has been ramping up production of this RIS every year in order to satiate demand.  Thank gawd!  I'm looking forward to Darkness Day 2011 so I don't run into the same problem as I did last year.

The bottle for Darkness 2010 is, in one word, friggenawesome.  When I took the picture, my camera actually recognized the Satan-beast as an actual face and focused in on it.  I found that to be amusing.  The bottle art is done by the same guys who created the design on Surly Five, Aesthetic Apparatus.  These guys have created some of the coolest bottle art I've seen.  I have high expectations for the 2011 design.

This is a black hole of a brew.  I'm surprised time didn't stop the longer I stared into my glass.  The deep brown foam pulls me from my trance and sends off a pungent aroma that reminds me of dark chocolate infused with blackberries and tobacco.  Not that I have ever tasted such a combination... it's just what I was reminded of.  The thick, chewy viscosity creates a silky smooth mouthfeel that sets the stage for the multitude of flavors within this bold RIS.  Dark berries, cherries and chocolate, brown sugar, tobacco smokiness, roasted malt and hints of bitterness are only a handful of the flavors my feeble palate was able to discern.  The extra year of age on this bottle helped meld these flavors together and keep the 9.8% ABV at bay.

Overall - This beast is the rightful ruler within the Russian Imperial Stout kingdom.  I challenge any other beer to dethrone Darkness.  I've had some great RIS style brews in the past and nothing comes close to Surly's creation.  The extra year of age certainly made the experience more enjoyable, and another year can only make it better.  When Darkness Day 2011 arrives, I'll be buying multiple bottles to consume over the next few years.  Surly Darkness is definitely a Minnesota born gem that you cannot find anywhere else.  See you at Darkness Day!!!

Great Divide - Belgian Style Yeti

Alright Great Divide, step away from your brew kettle and come over to the corner here with me.  We need to have a chat... People love your Yeti stout, we get it.  Its creamy, smooth, full of flavor and easy to drink.  In fact, we even reviewed it and thought it was great!  But here is where you and I are at a bit of an impasse.  You have taken this Yeti and made, last time I counted, at least 751 different iterations of a brew that does fine as a stand alone stout.  How is one supposed to keep track of all the flavors???  Its like trying to keep track of the different flavors of Jelly Belly's - IT CANT BE DONE!!!  But here I am, crawling back like an addict.  What's next Great Divide... a blueberry infused, whiskey barrel aged Yeti with vanilla bean extract???  (Side note - please don't do this... I was just joking around... I beg you!)

I had always thought the yeti is a mythical creature - a cryptid if you will.  And yet, I have found three species of the yeti in the last few months!  My most recent blurry photo of this beast is of Belgian origin.  Great Divides Belgian style Yeti is created by adding a Belgian yeast strain to the Yeti base brew at fermentation.  Simple enough, right?  Well, as is with almost all Belgian yeast strains, the yeast is where a majority of the flavor comes from.  Spicy, clove, and banana are all flavors you can find in Belgian style brews.  Lets see if these flavors are imparted on this Yeti beast.

This Belgian Yeti is dark and thick.  Light has no chance at breaking through.  A soft, milk chocolate colored foam hangs around the edges of my mug.  The smells are very unique.  You get the chocolaty and roasty from the stout intertwined with that distinct Belgian spice.  I like it!  The flavors are bold, and there are plenty of them to go around.  The base Yeti is full of roasty, coffee and bittersweet chocolate essence.  Then, as the base Yeti lingers, the Belgian spices come through with some black peppercorn, clove, and candied fruit.  Some molasses sweetness starts to become noticeable as this Belgian beast warms.  The 9.6% ABV is hardly a factor.  If anything, its there to make sure the overall flavor is not too sweet.

Overall - Of the three Yeti's I've experience since writing these reviews I'm going to say I like this Belgian style Yeti the best.  This is a huge beer packed full of flavor.  There is a lot going on here.  Roasty, spicy, chocolaty, coffee-ee... its the epitome of a bold RIS.  And yet, its not too sweet either!  I had originally said I liked the espresso oak aged Yeti the best because the additional flavors toned down the sweetness of the base Yeti.  This Belgian style does the same and adds another dimension of flavor.  Give this species a try!

Dark Horse Brewing - Plead the 5th Imperial Stout

Tonight's brew comes to us from Dark Horse Brewing in Marshall, MI.  Plead the 5th Imperial Stout is the fifth in a series of 5 beers in their Holiday Stout Series.  This series is designed to "help ease you through the cold and grey midwestern winters."  Thank you Dark Horse, in MN we need help from decent brewing folks like you to make it through our winters.  Unfortunately, it's now late July and over the last week it's been 95-100 degrees with 80-90% humidity....absolutely steamy, not the environment this brew was intended for.  We can't ever catch a break here...it's either cold and snowing or hot and humid.  But I digress!

The ABV isn't listed on the bottle, but the google-brain says this is ~12% alcohol.  It's going into my snifter - a motor-oil black color, no light gets through this one.  Leaves a full inch of dark tan head, some of the darkest foam I've ever seen on a stout.  Beautiful looking brew.  The aroma is big on alcohol, cocoa syrup, dark-roast coffee beans, a touch of candied dark fruits come through.  It looks and smells rich, and the flavor does not disappoint!  Big, rich, thick chocolate malts start off, with plenty of sweet dark chocolate mixed in with roasted malts.  Coffee isn't much of a player, instead there is more hot alcohol presence, along with a big chewy mouthful of sweet candied plums.  I'm also noticing tobacco and charred oak.  A touch of vanilla also comes through in brief spurts.  Full, thick, chewy body complimented by an appropriately low level of carbonation.

Overall Rating:  This turned out to be a much bigger, chewier, more complex brew than I expected.  I really enjoyed it from start to finish - a truly great RIS that would be a phenomenal sipper in front of a winter fire.  Dark Horse continues to impress with their creative and complex brews - they are quickly moving up my ladder, approaching fanboy status...  It's out of season, but if you can find this brew, jump on it!!  A

Founders - KBS

Tonights review is of one of my bottles that has been aging in my cellar/fridge for close to 6 months.  Founders KBS stands for Kentucky Breakfast Stout.  The Kentucky portion of this brew is clearly accentuated through its label.  It reminds me of the kind of label you would find on a bottle of "Cure-all" those traveling salesmen would pitch in the old west.

The stats on this brew don't lend themselves to the breakfast stout, or sweet stout style.  This is definitely more of a Russian Imperial Stout brewed with a heavy dose of chocolate and espresso.  At 11.2% ABV and 70 IBUs I don't think there is much of an argument there.  The brew is aged in bourbon barrels for an entire year before being packaged for delivery.  Expect plenty of that bourbon flavor to permeate the beer with that amount of time in the cellar.

Deep, dark brown with a minimal tan head.  This viscous dark beverage taunts you straight out of the bottle.  The smokey bourbon characteristics are the primary show with bittersweet chocolate and coffee tones offering their services as backups.  Although, as soon as you take your first sip, those backups take the main stage.  Plenty of chocolate and coffee show up alongside the bourbon.  Bits of vanilla join in to add some welcomed complexity.  The alcohol is present but mostly in a soothing warmth.  Not much unlike what you would find with a nicely aged scotch or bourbon.  Once it warms, though, the warmth starts to get a little hot.

Overall - This was certainly tasty.  I would have liked a bit more complexity and maybe a slightly lower ABV to help cut a little of the heat.  But that's just me being picky.  I enjoyed this brew a great deal.  Anyone who liked Goose Islands Bourbon County Stout would love this.  Find a four pack when its available during the winter time!

Stevens Point - Wholehog RIS

Friggen Twins... seriously?!  Pavano goes out and pitches 8 flawless innings.  Nathan comes in and jacks everything up.  Then, oh hey!  Valencia gets us back on the board with a RBI and we bring in Capps to seal the deal.  Guess what Capps?!  You cant pitch around Johnny Damon even though he is about 74 years old!  Bye bye win for Pavano, hello walk off home run for the Rays in 10... ugh.  I swear the Twins are going to give me an aneurysm one of these days.  Good thing I have a fridge full of beer to dampen the sadness.

Tonights sadness-curing beer is a Russian Imperial Stout brewed by Stevens Point Brewery.  These guys are located to our East (for once!) in our neighboring, cheddar filled state of Wisconsin.  As cheese loving natives, Wisconsinites are surprisingly adept at brewing beer as well.  Famous mostly for breweries like Miller and Leinenkugel in non-craft beer loving circles, Wisconsin has plenty of smaller breweries putting their "craft beer approved" seal on the state as well.  New Glarus, Lakefront, and Capital Brewing are all making solid names for themselves in the Midwest.  Stevens Point is one that I have heard little about.  Their RIS is a winter special release that comes in a four pack.  I had the other three back in November when I originally purchased it.  Lets see what an additional six months in the fridge does to this 8.6% ABV stout.

Prying off the cap yields threading around the top of the bottle... twist caps (booo...), one of beers worst enemies.  Twist-offs, when compared to pry-offs, generally allow more oxygen to seep through the seal causing the beer to go stale.  The pour looks good.  A nice tan head forms and hangs around for a bit, leaving a thin layer of foam to settle after a few minutes.  Bittersweet chocolate and subtle hop aromas are noticeable as I go in for my first sip.  Roasted malts are first to the taste party with the strong presence of bitter hops crashing in quickly thereafter.  A creamy texture and smooth finish keep me coming back, sip after sip.  Hardly any evidence of alcohol to be found throughout with only a slight warmth sneaking in towards the end as this brew warms.

Overall 3.7592/6.0 - Its not my favorite RIS but its not bad either.  The body is a little lacking and the finish is a little thin for what I like to experience with the style.  To me, Russian Imperial Stouts should be thick, bold, chewy but not so cloying that you cant have more than a few drinks without developing diabetes (insert Wilford Brimley mustache joke here).  The flavors were nice and the beer was easy to drink.  A well balanced brew overall, but I probably wouldn't go out of my way to pick it up again next season.

Great Divide - Espresso Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout

Tonights review brings us to a beer that I just recently reviewed in its original form.  Great Divide's Yeti Imperial Stout is a beer that I found to be a bit on the sweet side for my liking.  With the knowledge that Great Divide had different versions of this beer I knew it would be a great opportunity for me to compare their standard Yeti (no, not this kind of Yeti, thank you Google images!) to one infused with oak, espresso, or both.  I chose the both this time around since I enjoy my imperial stouts to be bolder and roastier than most.  I figured two additional ingredients were better than one...

To start, I poured this Yeti into my large mug.  I tried to pour it perfectly, right up to the top, and failed.  I quickly cleaned up my mess, said a prayer to the beer gods to ask for forgiveness, and went about my business. I could smell the aroma of the espresso right away, without even putting my nose near it.  A bold, dark chocolate and coffee aroma wafts out of my mug.  Its very inviting but not overbearing.  I can still smell a bit of the residual sweetness that comes along with the original Yeti.  I'm hoping this sweetness is more subdued in the flavor.

Wow... forget about sweetness.  Lets talk about espresso!  Thats the very first flavor you will notice as you take your initial sip.  A slightly bitter oakiness backfills in for support of the espresso while the original Yeti brew provides a base of dark chocolate and roasted malt.  The finish is very smooth... actually its extremely smooth.  Hardly a hint of alcohol warmth as it easily makes its way down your throat.  Medium to low carbonation accentuates the silky mouthfeel and allows the primary flavors of roasted espresso and dark chocolate to play their part.  Hints of vanilla start to show up as it warms.  The bitter nature of the espresso and roasted malts also starts to play a bigger role as I near the halfway point of the bottle.

Overall 5.2/6.0 - I definitely liked this one better than the original Yeti.  This beer was also bottled on Feb 12th, 2010 which I'm sure has helped mellow out these flavors.  I wouldn't want to try this straight off the line.  The year of age definitely did it good as opposed to the year of age on the original Yeti where it just further accentuated the sweetness.  You should definitely be a fan of espresso if you are going to enjoy this beer.  If you aren't then give the oak aged Yeti a try.  After this experience, I know Ill be grabbing a bottle.

Great Divide - Yeti

This evenings review is in regards to Great Divide's Yeti Imperial Stout.  I just picked up this bomber a few days ago when I was looking for a barley wine.  Great Divides Old Ruffian was the brew I was seeking but I noticed this delightful character cozied up right next to it.  I couldn't leave Yeti behind... it would have been without its beer partner.  And thats just not acceptable, damnet!

Yeti pours a viscous, thick used motor oil black.  When I reviewed Victory's Storm King a few days ago I said that was black... well this one just dethroned Storm King as the blackest in the bunch.  A sturdy dark brown head forms and refuses to dissipate back into the abyss from which it came.  The aromas, while mild, were easily detectable.  Chocolate, fresh coffee and a little roastiness pulls through to support the chocolate.  Sipping this...... I just killed a mosquito!  Wtf!  Its the middle of friggen February in Minnesota and I'm sitting here killing mosquitos???  This state is ridiculous.  Sorry, I had to get that out of my system.  Back to beer... sipping this provides the textured I would expect from an RIS.  Nice and thick, creamy and smooth with enough carbonation to keep it from cloying to your tongue.  The chocolate is the front runner in this brew with some roasty and coffee hints to support the chocolate, just like the aroma.  This one isn't too complex with this flavors either.  Although I do notice a slight metallic taste/sensation right as it hits my tongue.  However, this disappears almost as quickly as it arrived.  Pretty straight forward and easy to drink.

Overall 4.9/6.0 - While being an easily enjoyable example of a RIS I found the chocolaty character of the beer to be a little too prominent for my liking.  Great Divide did a wonderful job brewing this beer.  The alcohol was never a factor other than the warmth on the way down.  I did notice that this was bottled back on January 12th, 2010 meaning that its had a year to age before it reached my glass.  I almost think I would like this better if it were fresher.  Generally you want your big beers to age.  But, if you don't like a lot of chocolate in your beer, I would recommend drinking this one right away.  It may be a bit more balanced to the roasty side rather than the chocolaty side.

Victory - Storm King Stout

Tonights post is a little late, I must admit.  I am off my normal schedule and haven't had time to prepare any reviews in advance.  My partner in beer reviewing crime has fled the country to the warm sandy beaches of the Bahama's.  And who can blame him?  Its friggen -11 degrees outside without the damn wind blowing.  Seriously, anything above 32 degrees at this point feels like a humid summer day.  I cant wait until the three feet of snow next to my driveway melts in August...

I decided at the end of the work day today that I was going to enjoy myself a thick, creamy dark stout this evening.  I had a few in mind but most were bombers that I was aging.  Victory's Storm King, however, was staring my directly in the face when I opened my fridge door.  If you don't believe me just look at the label, it has beady owl eyes!  The beer store boasted this brews 100 rating on Ratebeer so naturally I was interested.  A six pack of this will run you somewhere around $14 so I opted to only buy a single bottle in case I disagreed with Ratebeer.

Pouring thick and black this thing consumes any light that tries to beam through it.  A veritable black hole of beer.  A solid tan head forms and quickly recedes leaving a small slug of foam floating around my glass.  Still cool from the fridge I am able to discern dark fruit and bittersweet chocolate tones in the aroma.  A waft of alcohol sneaks in behind a roasty aroma on my second smell.  The flavor is full of roasted grains, bitter chocolate, coffee and a mild astringency to boot.  Not nearly as thick as I had anticipated.  The carbonation cuts through the body and lightens the overall mouthfeel.  The finish has a warming alcohol presence while allowing the bold roast characteristics to finish the job.

Overall 4.9/6.0 - For a RIS I think this one falls a bit short of my expectations.  Old Rasputin by North Coast knocks the RIS style out of the park by my standards.  I think Victory could lower the carbonation to allow for a smoother drinking experience.  Towards the end of each sip a harshness comes through that I find unpleasant and uncharacteristic of the style.  As a standalone stout I think this is great.  But to characterize it as a Russian Imperial Stout would be doing other, better brews in the category a disservice.  Im happy with my single bottle purchase.

Bell's - Expedition Stout

Bell's crafted this russian imperial stout with one thing in mind - vintage aging.  They designed the beer to be highly complex and intensely bitter in the early months, to allow the flavors to meld and grow in depth over time.  It's definitely an aggressive brew at 10.5%ABV and OG of 1.11....they aren't messing around.

The beer pours a thick, heavy black into my pint glass - the head is slow to catch up but eventually builds a thin layer on top that sticks to the glass.  The aroma is extremely rich roasted malts, chocolate, some plums and raisins, and a little alcohol fumes. 

The beer tastes similar to the smells - big and rich roasted malts that are a mix of chocolate and coffee, followed by some dark fruitiness (mostly raisin).  Then the bitterness hits, wow is this bitter!  There is also some alcohol warmth on the tail end.  I think the one flavor that resinates with me as I drink more of the beer is the raisins....the rich roasted malts are expected but the raisins accentuate that flavor well.  The texture is thick and a little chewy, with low/medium carbonation.
   

Overall Rating:  (4.4 out of 6.0)  Bell's designed an interesting RIS here - I enjoyed it despite the bitterness from the beer's young age.  I'm putting a bottle away for about a year, and I look forward to letting it age and see how the flavors develop and mature.  Absolutely worth picking up a 6pack of this one, especially if you like the Russian Imperials.