I’m a very seasonal beer drinker, meaning that the type of beer I want to try is very much tied to the time of year it is. In the summer, I love a wheat beer or other lighter bodied brews. In the cold winter weather that we’re now enduring here in the Northeast, though, I reach for a darker beer such as a stout or porter. Today, I’m going to review a few Stouts I have tried recently.
Stouts are a style of beer that tends to be darker and heavier than many other styles of beer. Stouts are very similar to another dark beer style, Porters. In fact, as far as I can tell, there’s no consensus on what the difference between the two styles is, if there is one. Stouts tend to be brewed with darker or “chocolate” malts. This means the barley that is the base of ingredient for the beer is roasted (or malted) a bit longer, giving it a darker color. Think of it as the difference between regular coffee and a French roast.
In my descriptions, I use a few terms that may need defining. ABV means “alcohol by volume” which is a measure of the alcohol in a beer. An ABV of 5% if pretty average. A “light” beer tends to be more in the 3-4% ABV range. IBU stands for “International Bittering Units”, and are a measure of how bitter a beer is. Bitterness in beer is usually a result of the amount of hops that have been added to the beer during brewing. A light beer may have an IBU ratings as low as 5. An average IPA is usually in the 70 range. I’ve had beers with IBU ratings of 150 and up. Stouts tend not to be the bitterest beers out there, so they tend to have IBU ratings that are a bit lower than some beers.
Sam Adams’ Imperial Stout
This beer is part of Sam Adams’ Imperial Series, a group of beers brewed to be full of flavor and high in alcohol. The Stout packs a 9.2% ABV, so it fits the bill.
This beer lived up to the billing on taste, as well…a little sweet, a little malty, and thick and rich with a high alcohol taste at the finish. The alcohol flavor isn’t overpowering, though, allowing the drinker to appreciate the smooth mouth feel and rich texture of the stout.
This brew comes in a 22 ounce bottle, something you see a lot of when you’re in the market for a Imperial Stout.
Rogue Brewery Chocolate Stout
The next beer is a Chocolate Stout from the Rogue Brewery in Oregon. The bottle didn’t list the ABV, just the degrees Plato (which was 15, btw). I’m not sure how to convert, honestly. Math and beer drinking don’t mix!
As I poured this beer from the 22 ounce bottle into frosted glasses, it was really good looking beer…dark, thick and rich looking with a thick, foamy white head.
I was surprised by just how much chocolate flavor this beer had. This is not a “chocolate as in we used chocolate malt” type of chocolate; this is a “this beer has a bunch of chocolate in it” type of chocolate.
The rich chocolately taste is complimented by a nice touch of hopiness. The beer has an IBU rating of 69, so it’s not a really strong hop flavor, but is a nice counterbalance to the sweetness of the chocolate.
Overall, I found it to be a very nice beer. I think this beer would be a great dessert beer. I could see sitting down and sipping on this after a nice meal. It’d be like a beer and dessert all in one!
Left Hand Milk Stout
The next beer is the Milk Stout from the Left Hand Brewery out of Longmont, CO. It carries a 5.9% ABV and 25 IBUs, and is black in color and pours thick with a thick, creamy looking head.
I know what you’re thinking. What the heck is a Milk Stout?! Milk Stout is, of course, a stout. What makes a milk stout a milk stout? No, this beer won’t supply you with a full day supply of calcium and vitamin D like a glass of moo juice, but it does contain milk sugars.
The milk sugars give this beer a fairly unique mouth feel…it’s incredibly creamy without being really heavy. That is, by far, the defining characteristic of the beer. Don’t get me wrong, the flavor…malt and coffee up front, that mellows into a sweetness…is very good, but the mouth feel is unique enough that it really is what catches your attention.
The beer has won some impressive awards, including the 2006 and 2008 World Beer Cup gold medal for sweet stouts, and I did really enjoy it.
Long Trail Coffee Stout.
The next beer on the list is the Long Trail Coffee Stout from the Long Trail Brewery in Vermont. The beer is part of their Brewmaster’s Series, and is a 8% ABV stout flavored with dark roast coffee from the Vermont Coffee Company (100% fair trade and organic coffee, for what it’s worth).
This beer is made with two-row, chocolate, caramel, and black malts and Columbus hops.
This beer was quite tasty. Its dark color and slightly syrupy texture gave it a nice appearance and mouth feel, and the dark malts and coffee flavors were offset nicely by the 50 IBU’s of bitterness from the hops.
The next two beers I tried were both from the the Great Divide Brewing Company of Denver, CO. They’re from their line of Stouts called “Yeti”. The line, which are all Imperial Stouts (meaning they have an ABV of 7% or more), includes the standard Yeti, an Oak Aged Yet (aged in oak casks), and the two flavored varieties I tried, “Chocolate Oak Aged Imperial Yeti” and “Espresso Oak Aged Yeti”.
Espresso Oak Aged Yeti
The beer is a dark, thick 9.5% ABV stout aged on oak chips with espresso added. As I mentioned above, Great Divide makes several different versions of the Yeti beer, including the original and the oak aged. This newer member of the family and it’s addition of the coffee flavor adds another level to a beer that already has a lot going on.
The strong malty flavors are counterbalanced with a fairly strong hop flavor (the beer sports a 75 IBU rating) and the coffee flavor mixes with the malt to give hints of vanilla and caramel. This is an intense beer that deserves your full attention and deserves to be sipped and savored slowly. It packs a wallop both in terms of flavor and alcohol content.
The folks at Great Divide point out that now that there is an espresso Yeti, you can finally have a Yeti with breakfast. I wouldn’t recommend doing so on a daily basis, but this beer is good enough to give you a reason to get out of bed in the morning!
Chocolate Oak Aged Imperial Yeti
I’m glad to report that the chocolate version is true to the Yeti name. The beer, which sports a heady 9.5% ABV, is a thick, heavy brew that pours beautifully with a heavy light tan colored head.
The aroma of the beer is sweet and malty with strong aromas of chocolate and maybe a little big of vanilla. The mouth feel of the beer is really impressive…thick and sweet and heavy, yet smooth. The beer has just a little kick at the end, from a combination of the alcohol and the cayenne pepper added to the brew.
The beer gives a blast of chocolate flavor up front, although it’s not overpowering, with a hint of vanilla in there, as well. The sweetness from the malt and chocolate is nicely balanced by the bite of the alcohol and pepper. This is a slow-sipping beer, each mouthful being an adventure in it’s own right.
Anyway, I hope that if you’re a stout fan (or at least stout-curious) you’ll give some of these brews a try. I really enjoyed all of them, although the Yeti’s were probably my favorite. I’ve made them a regular part of my drinking routine.
Do you have a favorite Stout you think others have got to try? Leave a comment at the end of this article and let us all know about it!
