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stouts

boostindoubles

Nacho Libre
Mar 16, 2004
7,838
6,145
Yakistan
did a bit of stout tasting this weekend. Tried The Samuel Smith Imperial stout, the St. Peters Cream stout, and the Harrar brewery Hakim Stout.

the cream stout was good and dark, didnt foam up much, but tasted bland for my tastes. I dont know if that was the cream, or too much water. It was easy to drink and if it was on tap would be very dangerous.

The imperial stout poured with alot of foam, and had more bite than the cream. It was good, but not the best.

The Hakim Stout, an import from Ethiopia, was hands down my favorite. Not as dark as the others, but much more complex flavor. I'd have to say it was sweet like honey or brown sugar, but with an initial stout flavor. I thuroughly enjoyed this beer, and wish i could find it in more shops.

stout beer kicks ass :drool:
 

BikeGeek

BrewMonkey
Jul 2, 2001
4,573
273
Hershey, PA
Hard to compare a cream with an imperial, they're pretty different styles. Never heard of Hakim, I'll keep an eye out for that one. I love stout. :drool:
 

berkshire_rider

Growler
Feb 5, 2003
2,552
10
The Blackstone Valley
It's funny, seems Stouts vary quite a bit in taste from the different breweries. I have only tried 2. Bluefin from Shipyard in Portland, Maine and the Nitro from Trout River in East Burke, Vt. The Bluefin was a litlle more "harsh" similar to a porter. The Nitro from Trout river was awesome. We drank a bunch of pints of it earlier this year up at Kingdom. :thumb:
 

BikeGeek

BrewMonkey
Jul 2, 2001
4,573
273
Hershey, PA
berkshire_rider said:
It's funny, seems Stouts vary quite a bit in taste from the different breweries.
Yep. One brewery's Dry Stout is another brewery's Robust Porter. The lines are pretty clear with most English/Irish beers, but American breweries like to experiment. Experimentation is good, but it often leads to some surprises for the consumer...surprises can be good too though.
 

narlus

Eastcoast Softcore
Staff member
Nov 7, 2001
24,658
63
behind the viewfinder
yeah, imperial stouts are NOT chugging beers. a couple of them and you'll be set.

i miss the stout Harpoon used to make. that rocked. the ipswich offering is probably my favorite currently. the stouts brewed at the porterhouse in dublin were great, esp the oyster stout (brewed w/ real oysters) and the XXXX one. definitely nice to have a change of pace from the ubiquitous guinness.
 

Mackie

Monkey
Mar 4, 2004
826
0
New York
boostindoubles said:
The Hakim Stout, an import from Ethiopia, was hands down my favorite. I'd have to say it was sweet like honey or brown sugar, but with an initial stout flavor. I thuroughly enjoyed this beer, and wish i could find it in more shops.
Sweet Stout! That's an aquired taste.
Depending on where you are, you might be more able to find Dragon Stout - Hakim's Jamaican cousin.
Mackisons stout is also a sweet one, if memory serves. Sometimes milk stouts are sweet because the "milk" refers to the addition of lactose (milk sugar) to the beer. Lactose is unusual because yeast can't digest it into ETOH, so your beer ends up sweet.

As for more standard stouts - I'll take a Brooklyn Black Chocolate, please....

:drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:
 

BikeGeek

BrewMonkey
Jul 2, 2001
4,573
273
Hershey, PA
Mackie said:
Depending on where you are, you might be more able to find Dragon Stout - Hakim's Jamaican cousin.
Last time I had a Dragon, I was sitting in this bar located on a sandbar half a mile of the southern coast of Jamaica. :D

 

McGRP01

beer and bikes
Feb 6, 2003
7,793
0
Portland, OR
berkshire_rider said:
The Nitro from Trout river was awesome. We drank a bunch of pints of it earlier this year up at Kingdom. :thumb:
I'm not a huge Stout drinker (I prefer a smoky Porter like Otter Creek's Stove Pipe Porter), but that Trout River Nitro Stout was the best I've ever had! :drool:
 
Mackie said:
As for more standard stouts - I'll take a Brooklyn Black Chocolate, please....

:drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:
They had Brooklyn Black Chocolate on tap at the Capital Ale House in Richmond this weekend and have to say it was a great brew. I usually go for the oatmeal stouts myself.... Troegs or Samuel Smith being my top choices.
 

boostindoubles

Nacho Libre
Mar 16, 2004
7,838
6,145
Yakistan
my knowledge of stouts is basically what i've tried, and thats not too many. This weekend my knowledge of stouts was doubled i think. The st. peters cream stout reminded me of the Guiness thats on tap down at the pub. The imperial was somewhat more intense, and like narlus said, not a chugger.

the cream stout and the imperial may be hard to compare, but theyre both stouts, eh? I was out merely to sample the different kinds of stouts that are out on the market. I already know i like an oatmeal stout, and guinness is always a pleasure. But theres many other stout brews that i havent tried before. :thumb:
 

narlus

Eastcoast Softcore
Staff member
Nov 7, 2001
24,658
63
behind the viewfinder
BikeGeek said:
That sounds awful. What did it taste like?
like stout rockefeller!

it was probably just a tease, maybe they threw one or two into the vat while brewing. but guinness and oysters are a legendary pairing in ireland; kinda like their take on foie gras/sauternes in france.
 

SkaredShtles

Michael Bolton
Sep 21, 2003
65,375
12,529
In a van.... down by the river
boostindoubles said:
my knowledge of stouts is basically what i've tried, and thats not too many. This weekend my knowledge of stouts was doubled i think. The st. peters cream stout reminded me of the Guiness thats on tap down at the pub. The imperial was somewhat more intense, and like narlus said, not a chugger.

the cream stout and the imperial may be hard to compare, but theyre both stouts, eh? I was out merely to sample the different kinds of stouts that are out on the market. I already know i like an oatmeal stout, and guinness is always a pleasure. But theres many other stout brews that i havent tried before. :thumb:
You should make a road trip to the GABF. There were probably 300 stouts on tap there.

Of course, I was hitting the IPAs with a vengence.......... :D
 

BikeGeek

BrewMonkey
Jul 2, 2001
4,573
273
Hershey, PA
boostindoubles said:
the cream stout and the imperial may be hard to compare, but theyre both stouts, eh?
It's all good. :thumb: I just meant I wasn't surprised you found them to be different.

Check this out: http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/Category13.html
Opened my eyes. I had only been aware of Guinness and Murphy's until I found that page. A friend and I have been working through the "examples" just to see what different stouts taste like.
 

boostindoubles

Nacho Libre
Mar 16, 2004
7,838
6,145
Yakistan
BikeGeek said:
It's all good. :thumb: I just meant I wasn't surprised you found them to be different.

mmm... they were way different. the imperial stout reminded me of coffee that could melt nails, compared to the 'latte' of the cream stout. nice site btw.


skaredshtles. where is this GABF located? sounds like a good place.
 

TN

Hey baby, want a hot dog?
Jul 9, 2002
14,301
1,353
Jimtown, CO
had a Beamish Irish Stout this weekend (well La got a UK flight & I tried hers :p ) & something else I cant remember. Also got to steal a glass of Young's choco stout that ruled the world.

I am not really into stouts but still enjoy them. lately I have been enjoying lagers a lot.
 

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,647
1,116
NORCAL is the hizzle
For me, it starts and ends with Guinesss. I have tried lots of others and nothing compares. I will probably get flamed for this but I would rather have a good porter than some of the pretenders.
 

SkaredShtles

Michael Bolton
Sep 21, 2003
65,375
12,529
In a van.... down by the river
boostindoubles said:
<snip>
skaredshtles. where is this GABF located? sounds like a good place.
It's in Denver every year. If you can look past all of the people looking to get a good drunk on you can taste a *LOT* of great beer.

This year I think they had something like 1500 beers on tap. :thumb:
 

SkaredShtles

Michael Bolton
Sep 21, 2003
65,375
12,529
In a van.... down by the river
OGRipper said:
For me, it starts and ends with Guinesss. I have tried lots of others and nothing compares. I will probably get flamed for this but I would rather have a good porter than some of the pretenders.
I don't really like Guinness. Of course, I don't like other stouts either. :p
 

narlus

Eastcoast Softcore
Staff member
Nov 7, 2001
24,658
63
behind the viewfinder
TN said:
had a Beamish Irish Stout this weekend (well La got a UK flight & I tried hers :p )
at first i thought you were flying to the UK, and had one on board. then i realized "flight" was ~4 oz of various beers, served at once.

btw, the republic of ireland isn't in the UK. :mad:
 

laura

DH_Laura
Jul 16, 2002
6,259
15
Glitter Gulch
narlus said:
at first i thought you were flying to the UK, and had one on board. then i realized "flight" was ~4 oz of various beers, served at once.

btw, the republic of ireland isn't in the UK. :mad:
calm down now :p ..... it was a UK/irish flight. 2 from Ireland, 3 from UK i think.
 

BikeGeek

BrewMonkey
Jul 2, 2001
4,573
273
Hershey, PA
OGRipper said:
For me, it starts and ends with Guinesss. I have tried lots of others and nothing compares. I will probably get flamed for this but I would rather have a good porter than some of the pretenders.
Some like it, some don't. It was my first stout and I used to swear by it. Now, I prefer Beamish as my Irish choice. It lacks the sour bite that is Guinness's signature. I also prefer the bottled Guinness "Extra Stout" to the canned or bottled "Guinness Draught." The extra is sweeter and hoppier.

Nothing to do with my preference, but I recently learned that the sour note comes from an addition of soured beer to the new beer.