Southern Tier Choklat

Chocolate stout has taken over my mind. It is all I think about when trying to find new beers. And as I mentioned last week it isn’t going to stop this week. Although I do admit, I really need to find a new style that I at least want to try. Ok, so moving on, I am a little late in bringing you this review because I got in a deep discussion with my brother-in-law about the difference in ‘draft’ beer and ‘draught’ beer. He didn’t like the answer I gave him, that they are one in the same, just American vs. UK basically. So 20 minutes later I get to try the Southern Tier Choklat that I have been dying to try.

Choklat – Southern Tier Brewing Co

It pours like you would expect, em, black. I was disappointed in the head or rather lack thereof and I always think to myself when a beer doesn’t pour with a good head, is it flat, is the glass not ‘beer’ clean, did I pour it wrong, who knows, I really try my best to do all of those things correctly. But I will admit that pouring a beer from a 64 oz. growler isn’t the easiest thing to do. It doesn’t taste flat so maybe it is the way I had to pour it. The smell is probably the chocolatiest beer I have ever smelled, and yes, this time I do mean chocolate as in a candy bar chocolate. The taste is really smooth at first but then you get just a hint of burnt bittersweet baker’s chocolate coming out. The alcohol flavor doesn’t really hit you in the taste but rather on your stomach, like you just took a small shoot of bourbon but not nearly that heavy. You know you’re not drinking the standard 5% abv but it isn’t like you can taste it like some of the other 10+% abv beers out there. So this beer poses a unique issue, it hides the alcohol so well and taste so good that you want to just really chug it down but after the second or third swallow you know you are dealing with a serious beer and you better be careful.

So, remember if anybody out there has some ideas for how I can get of this chocolate stout kick I’m on, well, I’m all ears. In the mean time, drink up cause there is plenty more where that came from. Cheers beer friend.

FourBoysBrewPub!

Moo-Hoo Chocolate Stout - Terrapin Beer

OK, another week…another stout, especially since my trick last week didn’t do anything to bring spring any closer. So as long as it is cold I will be drinking me some stouts. This week I found my new favorite beer store, too bad it is 3.5 hours away in downtown Greenville, SC. That’s right, it’s right there in the picture, The Greenville Beer Exchange, and yes, that is a 64 oz. jug of draft beer, what…yes you heard me. This beer store can sell you beer straight from the tap into a 64 oz. jug so you can come home and enjoy fresh draft beer at home. They had at least a dozen different beers on draft and hundreds more in the bottle.

So even though I don’t have a nice picture of the beer, trust me, it is Terrapin’s Moo-Hoo Chocolate Milk Stout.

My boys said they thought I was drinking a foamy coke, which is how dark it pours with a nice thick brown head. It gives you a really nice scent of malts, not burnt malts like a lot of other stouts but more of a chocolate malt from say DQ or something, or even some malted milk balls. I know I know, that is a different type of malt but it has a sweet earthy tone to it. The taste is really thick and creamy, smooth and bitter and the same time. You really can taste the sweetness from the lactose and the bitterness from the malts blending together as you finally decide to swallow. Wow, I just might have to drink the entire 64 oz’s tonight.

I also picked up a 64 oz. jug of Southern Tier Choklat. I am just as excited to try that as I was this one. I really don’t think I can wait till next week either so we may be doing a mid-week review for that one, who knows. So kids if you ever find yourself in Greenville, SC, you must stop by The Greenville Beer Exchange and see what they have on draft. It is also just around the corner from Barley’s Tap Room and Pizzeria, yeah, they have a few hundred different beers to choose from also with about 30 or so on draft. Well Cheers beer friend!

FourBoysBrewPub!

Torpedo Extra IPA - Sierra Nevada

Who’s ready for spring? ME! There’s a reason I live in the south, I. Don’t. Like. Cold. Weather. So, now that the 2011 ice age has passed I thought if I reviewed a beer more suited for warm weather, well, I might at least feel warmer and who knows, maybe I’ll be like the ground hog and bring spring here sooner rather than later. And with spring time comes God’s sport, Baseball, well it’s America’s sport anyway which is good enough for me.

Torpedo Extra IPA – Sierra Nevada

Not sure what to expect with this beer, is it an extra IPA as in it has more hops than the normal IPA or is it extra as in a higher alcohol content than a normal IPA, a-la Dogfish Head’s 60-minute, 90-minute, 120-minute IPA’s? I do know that it is one of only a handful of beers I have consumed that I could smell as soon as I opened the beer. And for someone who doesn’t like IPA’s, I sure do love the way they smell though, and this one had such a lovely citrus tone to it. It also pours like a summer wheat beer, very orange and cloudy with a nice frothy head. Ok, after the first taste I think I know what they mean by extra, this is the hoppiest beer I think I have ever had. I was so blown away by the bitterness that I had to take several more taste to try and pick up the other flavors; sadly I’m not able to, other than a slight sweetness, but I really struggle to even find that. I guess this would be a hop-head’s dream beer, well, if it brings me spring time it will be well worth it. A quick look at the label tells me this is also a 7.2% abv beer so the extra could be for both, hops and a high ABV.

A few quick notes about the blog in the upcoming weeks, I really hope to have a list of beers, maybe not the standard top 5 and bottom 5 but more of most interesting to least interesting. I also hope to be able to continue doing at least one beer a week but not sure. I really wanted to see if I could do this thing for a full year, last week’s post made it a year with a few extra’s thrown in. So Cheers!

FourBoysBrewPub!

Honey Porter - Samuel Adams

Wow, week 52 is here, I didn’t even realize it till I was coping the photos to my laptop. I kept each week in a separate folder aptly named week XX, last week was week 51 so if my first grade math is correct, this one is week 52. Seems like I should have a special beer for this occasion, well, sorry to disappoint. Although I have had this beer in the past, it was way long ago before I developed a fondness of stouts and porters so when I show it I felt I should at least give it a second try now that I absolutely love stouts and porters now. Now the glassware has become my favorite beer glass, even if it isn’t the proper style for any of my beers that I like to consume. You see, it was a Christmas gift, not from someone special for who he is but rather what he represents, he himself is a Marine, and anybody who serves our country in any of the armed services is a unique individual, someone who we all should give countless thanks to every time we vote, speak in angst of our government, or simply do whatever we please to do as a FREE person in a this wonderful country. Ok, I’m off my soapbox now, on to the beer shall we.

Honey Porter – Samuel Adams (The Boston Beer Company)

It pours a deep dark ruby red, almost so dark it appears black and produces a nice thick tan head. It has an abundance of fermented fruit smell to it mixed with some roasted malts. The flavors don’t really hit you till the very end, very strange not to have something at the front end but it does provide some sweetness that I’m guessing is a mixture from the honey and the malts but then you get a small hint of hop bitterness at the very tail end. This may be the first porter or stout that I can actually recall tasting the hops in, I know normally they just help balance things out without stepping out on their own. This still isn’t one of my favorites but it is tons better than I remember and very worthy of drinking.

Cheers beer friend, feel free to do whatever you shall please!

FourBoysBrewPub!

Bell's Double Cream Stout

Happy New Year peeps, sorry for the lay off last week, Christmas time is a little crazy when you have 3 boys 8 and under. This week may not be my first milk stout but it is the first time I actually knew I was drinking a milk stout. It is also from one of my favorite breweries, Bell’s.

Bell’s Special Double Cream Stout

It pours very thick but doesn’t create a large head, however it does at least stick around. The scent gives off a lot of chocolate, roasted malts. The taste is very smooth and creamy with just a bit of maltiness and a good bit of sweetness. Even though it is a heavy beer it still comes across as one that I could stand to drink 3 to 4 of in one night, it is just that easy to consume.

I am really starting to love stouts and find it easier and easier to drink them. I find myself going out of my way to search for them. Cheers my beer friend and I hope you favorite team plays their bowl game a lot better than mine did, maybe next year UGA.

FourBoysBrewPub!