Category: Stouts

Christmas Eve at a NYC Hotel Room - Evil Twin Brewery (imperial stout)

12/29/2014

Kudos to Evil Twin Brewing for coming up with what could be the longest beer name in the biz. Yes, “Christmas Eve at a New York City Hotel Room” is the full name of the beer. I tried researching the name origination but with no such luck. All I know is that this is a “holiday” ale that I actually like. No offense to the “Christmas” ales out there, but I’m not really one for throwing spices (or pumpkins for that matter) into my beer. Call me a beer purist, but I only like extra ingredients such as coffee beans, cacao nibs, and marshmallows, added to my favorite beer batches. You know, the simple stuff.

Based out of Brooklyn, NY and founded by Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø in 2010, Evil Twin is one of the more famous gypsy brewers on the market. Gypsy meaning that they don’t actually have their own brewery, rather they contract with other breweries to produce their beers. The most famous originator of gypsy brewing is probably Mikkeller, a brewery based out of Copenhagen, Denmark and also the brain child of Jeppe’s twin brother Mikkel Borg Bjergsø. Mikkeller started commercially brewing back in 2006, followed by Evil Twin a few years later. Jeppe and Mikkel are sort of known in the industry as having a feuding/competitive relationship, hence the name Evil Twin. Both brothers save on overhead by not having a brewery of their own. Plus, their beers are more accessible because they are brewed around the world. I find Evil Twin’s labels to be a bit cheesy, yet kind of amazing, especially because they back up the cheesiness with really great beer. It’s like if Urban Outfitters and CB2 birthed a beer, they’d have Evil Twin Brewing. Particularly with beers on their roster such as Hipster Ale, Wet Dream, and of course, Ryan and the Gosling. The overall branding of the brewery is distinct, which is all you can ask for in this saturated market.

Although not a traditional “holiday” ale, Christmas Eve at a NYC Hotel Room is a great beer for the holidays. A wonderfully thick imperial stout full of chocolate and coffee notes, this 10% ABV beer perfectly encompasses the holiday season. After a full day of shopping, sometimes you just need a beer that you can pour and let sit for a bit while you queue up Elf and slowly sip throughout the movie.

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It’s An Anomaly – Faction’s Anomaly (White Chocolate Milk Stout)

11/25/2014

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I was in Alameda at Faction Brewery this past weekend doing a little stout tasting. First off, if you haven’t been to Faction, drop what you’re doing and go now. I mean it - this place is awesome! Amazing beers made by renowned Bay Area brewer Rodger Davis overlooking the SF skyline. I mean, what else could you ask for? St. George’s Spirits and Rock Wall Wine Company right next door? Okay, they’re there too. Like I said, GO NOW!

There are three stouts pictured in the photo – Faction’s NYX (imperial stout), the Oatmeal Stout, and the Anomaly (white chocolate milk stout). I specifically wanted to try the Anomaly because it had been described to me as a complete “mind f**k” (sorry, Mom!). Why? It’s a beer that looks like a pale ale, but tastes like a stout. Wait, what?!

According to Wikipedia, a “stout is a dark beer made using roasted malt or roasted barley, hops, water and yeast.” Okay, so that sounds like the ingredients of most beers, but I’d like to focus on two words: dark beer. Well, Faction coins itself on doing things a bit differently, and the Anomaly does not disappoint. A milk stout that’s light in color? WHOA. When sipping this beer, I really tried not to think about the color but the actual taste itself. Let’s just say that’s near impossible, and I give major props to the person(s) who can actually do this. Because once you see those pretty golden bubbles, your perception (or at least my perception) becomes completely warped. Next time, I’d like to sample this beer wearing a blindfold.

At 6.5% ABV, the Anomaly is much sweeter than your typical non-imperial stout. But, when you factor in that the beer is characterized as a “white chocolate” milk stout, sweetness is to be expected. I don’t have a real opinion about this beer other than it’s worth the hype. Taste it, drink it, love it – revel in the Faction experience! It’s completely worth the trip to Alameda or wherever you can find it on tap.

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Christmas in November? – International Stout Day

11/10/2014

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Some genius created a holiday to celebrate my fave beer style – stouts! This past Thursday was International Stout Day. To participate in the festivities, my friends and I did a side-by-side comparison of a couple of different stouts: Iron Springs’ Sless’ Oatmeal Stout, Goose Island’s The Muddy, and Oskar Blues’ Ten Fidy. There was no logic in our selection – just a variety of styles to sample. As a serial stout drinker, I find that I like (if not love) all of them. Stout Day seemed like the perfect excuse to do a little tasting to figure out which one I prefer.

Iron Springs is a pub/brewery that opened its doors about 10 years ago in Fairfax, CA. Goose Island is a Chicago-based brewery purchased by InBev (aka the owner of Budweiser and several other “big name” beer brands) in 2011 after being independently owned since 1988. Oskar Blues, based out of Longmont, CO, is most famous for being one of the first craft breweries to can all of its beers. I had tried Sless’ Oatmeal Stout on draft for the first time a couple of days earlier at the Caskhouse, and it was absolutely delicious. But, I was worried that it wouldn’t be able to compete with the bigger breweries, and let’s face it, higher ABVs in The Muddy and Ten Fidy. As it turns out, it was my fave Stout Day stout.

At 7% ABV, Sless’ Oatmeal Stout has a heavy body with plenty of rich, chocolately flavors. It's sweet, but not sweet enough to be considered dessert in a bottle like the other stouts that evening. It's incredibly drinkable. Don’t get me wrong, the other two stouts were darn good too. The Muddy (9% ABV) is brewed with molasses and brewer’s licorice. The licorice smell is overwhelming sweet, but my taste buds were not overpowered by the licorice sweetness. I still got plenty of chocolate flavors, too. The Ten Fidy pours like motor oil, and is named after its ABV percentage of 10.5. Although quite high in alcohol content, the chocolate/caramel notes took over my palate. This is the kind of beer that you sip after dinner as dessert.

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Beer Is Beautiful - Santa Fe’s Imperial Java Stout

10/27/2014

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I am writing this week’s post from Vegas…holla! I’m here in Sin City with some of my best friends for Life Is Beautiful, a three-day music fest sprawled all over downtown Vegas. I know this is meant to be a beer blog, but I have to give this event a quick shout out. If you haven’t been, I HIGHLY recommend it. It’s by far my favorite music festival (bye, Outside Lands). First of all, the lineup is killer, which of course is a critical component of any good music fest. But, the overall vibe is what I like most. I mean, it’s huge and crowded like any marquee festival, but downtown Vegas is actually really cool. Quite the opposite of The Strip, this is the artsy, up and coming side of town. So, when you’re walking between stages, your eyes are treated to unique art fixtures and intricate wall murals. There are food trucks galore, neon signs with inspirational quotes, and grassy areas with picnic tables to chill. I feel like I’m on the set of an Urban Outfitters' photo shoot staged at a retro trailer park. Don’t worry, I’m doing my best to festify my nautical stripes. Luckily, one of my friends is a festival fiend and came prepared with “flash tats,” which are like skin jewelry. Apparently, it’s a thing at these music fests, so I’m feeling super trendy with metallic tattoos painted all over my body. (Thanks, T!)

High on my priority list was checking out the beer garden. We’re talking at least 12 different breweries represented with two taps each. Not too shabby. After carefully perusing my options, I was stoked to find Santa Fe’s Imperial Java Stout. YES!!! I’m actually not quite sure where I first heard of this beer (maybe an episode of Brew Dog’s?), but it’s certainly been on my radar to give it a taste test. It comes in a can that is pretty hard to forget – the label is brown and simple with the words “java stout” prominently featured. You see it and think – is this a beer or a coffee? Well when something is this good, there is no need to define it. My friends all tried a sip of mine and loved it too. Unfortunately, we were one and done - it sold out by the middle of day two of the festival.

If I could somehow replace my morning coffee with Santa Fe’s Imperial Java Stout I would, but at an 8% ABV, I’m not sure how the ol’ J O B would feel about me drinking beer to get my daily jolt. Incredibly rich and smooth with plenty of java aromas and flavors, Santa Fe’s Imperial Java Stout is a beer I’d recommend to any coffee lover. It’s not distributed in California yet, but if you don’t have a trip to New Mexico planned in the near future, you can find it around town during your next trip to Tahoe.

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Stout Does the Body Good - Stone’s Coffee Milk Stout

10/20/2014

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Stone beer is everywhere, literally. Based out of the San Diego area, Stone has completely blown up over the last couple of years. They are in the midst of building two new breweries, one in Virginia and the other in Berlin. The Berlin location would be the first U.S. owned and operated craft brewery in Europe. Pretty darn cool if you ask me. I’m not really a “Stonehead” (is that a thing?!) per se, but I do appreciate their beer and admire their marketing strategy. A gargoyle as a mascot is not only rebellious and manly but also memorable. They have this amazing aura of being sort of badass, even though they are rather corporate. Take their San Diego - Liberty Station brewery for example. Liberty Station is just a stone’s throw away from the SD airport. Originally opening in 1996 in San Marcos, Stone relocated to neighboring Escondido in 2006 to expand. Since SD is one of the largest beer meccas in the world, I assume that Stone opened a second location at Liberty Station to accommodate the craft beer tourists that come through the city. The Escondido headquarters is a little out of the way at about a 45-minute drive from the SD airport.

I visited the Liberty Station brewery in the summer and was slightly underwhelmed. Don’t get me wrong, the place is gorgeous and brand spanking new, but it feels a little chichi for a badass brewery. You walk into the entrance to be greeted by a large gargoyle hovering over the hostess desk. Beyond that is a huge bar, restaurant, and bocce court with the medieval vibe Stone projects. But, and I can’t quite put my finger on it, it just felt a little too swanky. We sat outside in the gardens and had lunch and tasters right next to the babbling koi pond. (Maybe it was the pond that felt too swanky?) The food and beer were good, but I so wanted to leave saying: OMG…I absolutely love <<insert Stone beer here>>. But, unfortunately, that didn’t happen that day.

Apparently when we visited the brewery in June, Stone’s Coffee Milk Stout was not in season. In my experience, milk stouts in general are not easy to come by. My first milk stout was actually by The Duck-Rabbit, a brewery out of North Carolina that coins itself as "the dark beer specialist." This beer completely opened my eyes to a different kind of stout, sweet and full but still somehow light. I tried the Stone’s Coffee Milk Stout for the first time at Rogue (of all places) in SF. They had some guest handles on tap and this happened to be one of them. It was absolutely delicious. And since then, I’ve actually tried some other really great Stone beers such as their 18th Anniversary IPA and their Xocoveza Mocha Stout, which deserves a post all on its own.

At 4.2% ABV, Stone’s Coffee Milk Stout is a full-bodied brew without being heavy on the booze. You can really smell and taste the cream and coffee. I may need to have it with pancakes next time.

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Give Me S’more – High Water’s Campfire Stout

10/12/2014

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As a Bay Area native and a lover of rich, sweet stouts, I was surprised I’d never heard of this beer until a few weeks ago. I was out with a friend at my local bottle shop, and he and the bartender started choppin’ it up about High Water’s Campfire Stout. I remember standing there thinking “wait, how can this be? There’s a stout made in the Bay Area prepared with graham crackers and marshmallows, and I’ve never heard of it before?” All I kept thinking was: Must. Get. My. Hands. On. Campfire. Stout. ASAP.

Fast forward to the next week when I went grocery shopping at Whole Foods where I usually examine the beer fridge for far too long to see what’s new (or at least what’s new to me). Most of the time, nothing. But this time, I spotted High Water’s label. I recognized the label but never paid much attention to it. From what I’ve seen, all their beers have the same label of the flowing waterfall, but differentiate by the background color of the label. To be honest, I think I’m more attracted to something a bit more modern such as what Green Flash has done with their new labels or Evil Twin’s simple design. But, to each his own. High Water’s label never really stood out to me because the waterfall is the emphasis, not the type of beer. If I would’ve read “campfire stout” in big letters or seen a picture of a campfire, I probably would have been intrigued all on my own. But hey, I’m a lady, and we ladies like our labels!

In any event, I bought a bottle of the Campfire Stout to bring to my mom’s to share with my stepdad and her. They live in Petaluma aka the very edge of Wine Country, but they are not really beer drinkers, nor are they really wine drinkers. My stepdad likes an O’Doul’s every now and again, and my mom likes her whiskey, Fireball to be exact. They drink wine and beer but don’t fit the stereotype of someone who lives in Sonoma County. So bringing the Campfire Stout was a bit of a risk. Or, was it? Both of them were sold by the idea of the beer being made with real graham crackers and marshmallows. Actually, that’s really all I had to tell them. We cracked open the bottle that Saturday afternoon and absolutely loved it, all of us.

High Water’s Campfire Stout is a hardy, sweet stout full of s’mores' flavors. To get the full effect, you must drink and smell at the same time as the smell is probably more potent than the taste itself. I should also mention that this beer won gold at the Great American Beer Festival for the “special beer” category. I’m not sure what qualifies as a “special beer,” but I agree with the judges, Campfire Stout is one special beer!

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Christmas Eve at a NYC Hotel Room - Evil Twin Brewery (imperial stout)

It’s An Anomaly – Faction’s Anomaly (White Chocolate Milk Stout)

Christmas in November? – International Stout Day

Beer Is Beautiful - Santa Fe’s Imperial Java Stout

Stout Does the Body Good - Stone’s Coffee Milk Stout

Give Me S’more – High Water’s Campfire Stout

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