Do you follow the twitter stream? If you do, you may have heard about this bottle of chocolate-y wonder. I’m not one to wax poetic about beers that claim to be brewed with chocolate, since often the flavor is so burnt beyond belief that only my sink could tell you how it really tastes. But [...]
I love winter time in beer land. More so than any other season, brewers seem compelled to pull out all their tricks and come up with new and fun beer concoctions. And because its so cold for most of America, they tend to be on the darker side, which of course makes Frosty a happy [...]
Naming a stout after a train can really go wrong: either by implying a certain coal-tar flavor (mmmm…burnt), or with a foreshadow to the effect the stout will have on your head after drinking. Lucky for me, neither apply to North Coast Brewing’s Old #38 Stout. Its more like a smooth ride down a track [...]
“Irish style”? You’re just inviting disaster by naming a beverage with alcohol in it “Irish style.” While of course they mean to refer to the excellent tradition of fine brews to come from Ireland, they’re risking providing fodder for the equally rich tradition of drunk Irish jokes. What’s the recommended serving method for “Irish Style”, [...]
I wasn’t super excited about The Abyss last year. It was good, but not great. But then Doug tells me, “no you need to put it in the fridge for a year, and drink it when the new batch comes out”. I was skeptical, but now I just feel dumb that I didn’t store more [...]
My local beer swiller has a “bargain bin”. Sometimes, I find some real gems in there. Like the Mendecino Black Hawk Stout. Other times however, what I find there truly deserves its shelf location. I should have known better when I saw the full six pack sitting there, instead of the usual single bottles. I [...]
If you find yourself sitting there, and you just absolutely have to have a stout…fly to San Diego and have a Black Seal from Rock Bottom. Barring that, you could also hop in the lear jet and get a fresh poured Guinness from the top floor of their Dublin brewery. What? You don’t have any [...]
On my way home from a visit with Frosty the other day, he handed me several bottles of beer that had been sitting around unconsumed for so long that he couldn’t bring himself to taste them. Personally, I think leaving any beer untasted is an unthinkable affront to a brew master somewhere, whose craft should [...]
Sorry for the delay all. I was busy getting bitten by mosquitos (some call it camping), and not drinking beer. Then when I decided to drink again, I had a fridge full of Haymaker, Mothership Wit and Stumptown Tart to get through. For those worried about my liver, yes, I did spread it out over [...]
I both love stouts, and hate stouts. That is, 50% of all the stouts I’ve had taste like someone spilled ash in the fermenter. The other half however, can be be truly awesome. And as luck (or unluck) would have it, I have just had the second best stout I’ve ever had, courtesy of our [...]