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.
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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