My International Stout Day List

Welcome to November 3rd, or as we are supposed to refer to it, International Stout Day.  This is a day to celebrate the dark goodness of some perfect winter beers, but in autumn.  As the leaves are changing, so must the taste buds.  No longer are crisp pilsners required for weekend picnics, lawnmowing is done- so no more light wheat beers (Dunkelweizens still are welcome), pumpkins beers are getting harder to find on the shelves (since they are starting to make their appearance in July) and winter warmers have yet to show up.

What ends up being the best beer for the changing of the seasons is the Stout. Pushed onto American palates by Guinness- hey I started there, you probably did too- the rich, roasty goodness can get you through the cooler nights.  So grab a dark one, and enjoy.

Here happen to be a few of my favorite stouts.  Some good beers to have one of or more than a few. (I am trying to stay away from one-offs and special releases, and focus on beers that many can actually obtain.)

1. Guinness (4.2%)- seriously, you have to give it props (Foreign Extra, if you can get it)
2. Sierra Nevada Stout (5.8%)- a highly underrated stout that has the malty sweetness, but also the bitterness that is expected from Sierra Nevada.
3. Founder's Breakfast Stout (8.3%)-the younger brother of the uber-popular Canadian and Kentucky Breakfast stouts can hold his own in any line up.  A coffee lovers dream.
4. Great Divide Yeti (9.5%)- I prefer the Oak-Aged Yeti, but the regular, belgian, chocolate, espresso, and vanilla are all very good (I didn't have the Brett Yeti, but I would imagine it was good).
5. Southern Tier Mokah (11.2%) - what tastes like a blend of the Java and Choklat, perfect balance between coffee and chocolate make this a great cold weather beer.  Delicious as a dessert (If you can't find Mokah, check out the Creme Brulee if you truly want dessert).
6. BrewDog Tokyo*- this 18.2% (yes, 18.2%) beer tastes like it should only be about 7%, dangerously drinkable. They say it was brewed with Jasmine and Cranberries, but I think they added a bit of black magic. Expensive, but worth every penny. (This was introduced to me by Mr. Mitchell of BeerInBaltimore.Blogspot. I have to credit him for my addiction to it.)

Honorable mentions go to Bell's Expedition, Troeg's Java Head, Rogue Shakespeare and Oskar Blues Ten Fidy.

Beer Bracket 2010- The Sweet 16

After an exciting first round, and an even more exciting second round, the Sweet 16 is set.  Every beer in the Sweet 16 is a beer that I enjoy. The beers that came out on top were:
Brewer's Art Ozzy
DogFish Head 90 Minute IPA
Kuhnhenn Solar Eclipse
Selin's Grove Scottish
Jolly Pumpkin La Roja
River Horse Triple
Flying Dog Raging Bitch
The Bruery Autumn Maple
Avery Maharaja
North Coast Old Rasputin
Bush Noel
De Dolle Dulle Teve
Pauwel Kwak
Samuel Smith Toddy Porter
Budweiser Budvar
BrewDog Tokio

A little something for everyone.  From IPAs, a Belgian Christmas ale, imperial stouts and a beer made with maple syrup.  Crazyness.  Hopefully your favorite team beer is still in the tournament.

Tuesday Beer Social

The fiance is in Reno this week (hopefully I can get her to pick me us some beer), so I was able to head down to Max's for the Tuesday night beer social.  This was one social that I was looking forward to.  If you follow the blog at all, you might notice that I do not feature stouts very often.  It isn't that I do not like stouts, but I prefer lighter ales, especially Belgians.  Well, this week has been for stouts.

Sunday night, I cracked open my bottle of delicious Southern Tier Mokah.  A mix of the Chokat (chocolate) and the Java (coffee).  This beer gives a great mixture of both of the beers, smooth and delicious.

Tonight, the beer of choice was Heavy Seas Siren Noire.  I preceded that beer with Oliver's Bishop Breakfast.  Both of the beers were delicious, but I would have to give the Siren Noire the edge, due to it being from a firkin and the lack of carbination really developed the beer into something that was extremely drinkable.  Both were beers that I would drink in a heartbeat.

The other beer that I sampled tonight was the BrewDog Tokyo, an 18% stout that doesn't show its strength.  I could taste the raisons and other dark fruits, but the high abv was well masked.  This is a beer that would get me in trouble if I didn't know what I was getting into.  Try it, you will like it.

What did you have tonight?

BrewDog on top, again

How can you not like the guys at BrewDog. They do their best to produce crazy beers.  No one knows what is coming at them... until they make a movie about it.


Sink the Bismarck! from BrewDog on Vimeo.


I love their movies, and their creativity really helps them produce a lot of buzz for their beer (like blog posts).  I believe that this buzz helps out all craft beers.  As much as the neo-prohibitionists would love for people to believe that beers like Tactical Nuclear Penguin (32%), Sink the Bismark(41%) and Schorschbrau (40%) will be drank by underage binge drinkers (since they can afford it), most people realize that it is different.  A unique beer, which was taken to the extreme.  Here is another article by Fox News that names a few other extreme beers. 

As many of us know, that article doesn't show part of the number of beers that are high in alcohol.  For example, Dogfish Head has produced at least 12 beers (from Beer Advocate stats, including 3 that are 18%) that are above 10%, and may others 8-9%  and Avery Brewing has produced 17 over 10%.  High percent beers are becoming, might I say, common in the beer world.

What is your favorite +10% beer?  (Mine has to be Scaldis Noel.)

Brewdog, my thoughts

There is much controversy over BrewDog and their crazy beers.  The latest, Tactical Penguin, is at 32% abv., swamping other beers.  There are many people who do not consider this a beer.  The reasoning that I understand, is because of the way the raised the abv.- by freezing the water out of the beer, and pouring off the remainder.  Basically, it is distilling, but instead of heat to boil, they are using cold to freeze the water out; which would make it a spirit.

The other thing that has people up in arms, is due to the price.  At almost $50 a bottle, it seems outrageous.  I know I will never spend that on a bottle, but if someone else does, good for them.

Below is their promotional video, which I find fun and hilarious.


Tactical Nuclear Penguin from BrewDog on Vimeo.