Creme Brulee

Beer Name: Crème Brûlée Stout
Brewery: Southern Tier Brewing Company
ABV: 9.6%
Serving method: 22-oz bottle in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: DOB was 5/10/12

I hope all the effort I put into throwing fancy accent marks on the name of this beer doesn't result in some kind of crazy internet formatting error where they are replaced with HTML code. That would be a terrible injustice. Plus it would mean that all of that effort was wasted, and having my effort wasted makes me very unhappy.

I've been looking for this beer for quite a while, since roughly December 2010. As it turns out, that was not a particularly good time to begin my search, as this beer is released in June. Unfortunately, June 2011 came and went with no bottles to be had, as they all sold out rather quickly. Today was a different story, and while picking up some other grownup juice, I spotted some Crème Brûlée bottles hanging out in the cooler, one of which quickly became mine.

Crème Brûlée is a very dark beer, practically solid black for most of the glass with some brownish-ruby highlights around the edges. It poured with a bit of head, although that faded away in a couple of minutes. It left a light lacing pattern behind, although it seemed like it was going to be heavier. This may be a reflection of my glassware, and as such I must be more careful to rinse these things out after they've finished their dishwasher experience. I am not exactly sure what the dessert crème brûlée smells like (since Kate usually orders it and I occasionally steal a bite from across the table), but this beer definitely smells like a dessert. There's a whole bunch of vanilla, caramel, and other sweet aromas, with something like a cream or custard as well. This should be an interesting drinking experience.

This beer is quite sweet. That's probably something to be expected going in based on the name alone, and it certainly does not disappoint in that regard. There's a creamy, custard flavor here at first, with the caramel maltiness also making an appearance. It also has just a hint of bitterness at the end of each sip to let you know that this is a beer and not some fancy French dessert. The alcohol is barely noticeable. There's a moderate amount of carbonation here, and the aftertaste is mildly sweet.

Final thought - After waiting such a long time to get my hands on a bottle of this beer, I was slightly worried that I might have built it up too much in my mind. Luckily that was not the case. This beer was delicious, and will be making an annual appearance on my list of beers to purchase. I've already added it to my newly produced Beer Availability spreadsheet, and will be eagerly anticipating its arrival next spring. Hell, if the dessert is as good as this beer, maybe I'll start ordering it instead of cheesecake. Although I do love cheesecake... Maybe someone should make a cheesecake beer! Souther Tier, get on that.

-Jon

2X Stout

Beer Name: 2X Stout
Brewery: Southern Tier Brewing Company
ABV: 7.5%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: DOB was 1/26/12

In my continually unsuccessful quest to find an elusive beer known as KBS, I often find myself grabbing something else in an attempt to fill the void. Sometimes I just grab whatever has an interesting label on it, but this time I actually spent some time to find something that would hopefully be a winning choice. Since Southern Tier rarely, if ever, lets me down, I figure their version of a stout should be tasty. As a bonus, it turns out that this oddly named beer is a milk stout! Score!!

2X Stout is a solid black beer. With a violent pour, I could get the beer to produce a very light head, but it faded away almost immediately with very little lacing. It's slightly thinner than I was expecting for such a strong beer, but that isn't necessarily a negative. There is a pleasant aroma of malty roasted chocolate. It's combined with some bittersweet chocolate notes in the background.

The flavor of this beer is very roasted. The chocolate from the aroma is here, and there's also a little bit of coffee in there as well, although it's very faint. The beer has a light carbonation that works well with the other flavors. It's sweet at the beginning, with some bitterness at the finish. There is a mostly sweet aftertaste, but it has a stickiness that starts to get overbearing on the second bottle.

Final thought - This is a nice sipping beer, but watch out for that ABV. It doesn't taste like a 7.5% beer, so a few of them will catch up to you quickly.

-Jon

Moo Thunder Stout

Beer Name: Moo Thunder Stout
Brewery: Butternuts Beer and Ale
ABV: 4.9%
Serving method: 12-oz can in a frosted mug
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Much like their Porkslap Pale Ale, Butternuts' Moo Thunder Stout also has an awesome can. A cow getting struck by lightning isn't quite as sweet as two pig high-fiving, but it's still better than the vast majority of beer containers.

This beer is very dark, but not quite solid black. It looks sort of like cola. There was about an inch of head that slowly faded without leaving much lacing behind. That may have been because the mug was chilled, but I'm not sure. We have a Butternuts mix-pack in the fridge, so I'll be able to check this out later with a different, unchilled mug. The aroma is chocolatey and coffee sweetness, which makes it seem like this is going to be a sweet beer.

The first sip is delicious. Since this is a sweet stout as opposed to a normal stout, the lactose sort of stands out. It's not too sweet though. There's also some roasted coffee and chocolate flavors in there as well. The beer has a decent amount of carbonation, and it has some body to it. The finish has a little bit of bitter coffee, but it doesn't linger as an aftertaste.

Final thought - This was a delightful beer that went perfect with my burrito, but I think would also be great on its own or as an aftermeal digestif. I am not sure if that is what a digestif is, or if that's even how it's supposed to be used. All I know is that this beer would be delicious at a wide variety of times, and I plan to do so in the future.

-Jon

Double Chocolate Stout

Beer Name: Young's Double Chocolate Stout
Brewery: Wells & Young's Ltd.
ABV: 5.2%
Serving method: 16.9-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Best by 3/26/11

I believe this post marks the first beer from outside the United States. We're going global with this thing!!

Young's Double Chocolate Stout is one of the darkest stouts I've ever seen. You can just barely make out a hint of ruby at the extremes, but other than that, this baby is solid darkness. There is a light head, and the beer leaves an erratic lacing pattern on the glass. Based on the name of the beer, I bet you can guess that the aroma is chocolate. There also seems to be some roasted chocolate. Maybe that's the double chocolate from the beer's name!

If you ever try this, prepare yourself for a sweet beer. There are chocolate beers, and then there's this beer. By far, the dominant flavor here is chocolate. This is almost like drinking a dessert. I know there are wines classified as "dessert wines," but I am not sure if there are dessert beers. If there are, this beer has to be included. After the initial chocolateyness, there is a mild toffee flavor in the background at the end. This beer is not very carbonated, which makes it very smooth to drink. It has a mild chocolate aftertaste.

Final thought - If you know anything about me, you know that I love chocolate almost as much as a girl who just got dumped. Actually, maybe more. So obviously I enjoy this beer. It's good when it's cold and it's good as it warms up. The sweetness might be a little too much to drink more than a couple though, which is its only downside. Other than that, it's great.

-Jon

Milk Stout #2

Beer Name: Left Hand Milk Stout
Brewery: Left Hand Brewing Company
ABV: 5.2%
Serving method: 16-oz draft
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Bam! Three new beers in a row. Now we're cooking with gas!

After my delicious experience with Wachusett's Milk Stout, I decided that I should always try beers in the milk/sweet stout variety if I have the opportunity. So when the guy at the bar finally moved and I could read the draft list, I knew that Left Hand's offering had to be my beer of choice.

This is a dark beer. The Vanilla Stout from earlier was pretty dark, but this one makes it look more like Coca-Cola. The Left Hand beer is more opaque. There is a thin head on it, but it leaves a very heavy lacing pattern. The aroma here is like a roasted sweetness with the usual suspects of coffee and chocolate in the background.

This beer is delicious! It's a little sweet, but not overly so. It's not very carbonated though, which I liked because I don't want a lot of carbonation in my stouts. But some other people probably won't like it because it almost seems flat. Well, to each his own. There's a little bit of the coffee and chocolate flavor in here as well. This is an easy drinking beer.

Final thought - Buy this, drink this, enjoy this. It's fantastic. And it's not too strong, so you can have a bunch before there's a problem.

-Jon

Milk Stout

Beer Name: Wachusett Milk Stout
Brewery: Wachusett Brewing Company
ABV: 5.8%
Serving method: 22-oz bottle served in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown, best by Mar 2011

I realized recently that I have frequently written "16-oz pint" in the "Serving Method" section up above, and that's stupid. What other pint size is there? So that ends today. I apologize for the foolishness.

Today is New Beers Day. Or should that be New Beers Eve? You know, because it sounds sort of like New Year's Eve? Right? Get it? Nuh-uh, you're stupid! At any rate, I picked up a nice selection of new beers, as well as some Celebration Ale in order to fulfill my previous post's promise. I am going to kick things off with the Milk Stout because that one is already cold.

First off, this beer is dark. Like solid black dark. It's so dark, that, much like a black hole, it absorbs all the light around it. There is almost no head on the beer, and the little that is there dissipates quickly. We're all about the beer for this one. However, despite the low head level, the beer does leave some lacing. So there's that. . . The aroma has a bit of coffee, and a bit of sweetness, and a bit of chocolate. All signs point to this being a nice, smooth brew.

The beer's flavor matches up with the scent. There's some chocolate and coffee flavors, along with a roasted/burnt malt taste. There is actually a sharper flavor than I was expecting, which is unexpected based on both the beer's style and its smell. Weird. It seems to soften up as it warms, and I prefer it this way. The carbonation is light, and there's a moderately sweet aftertaste.

Final thought - Wachusett Milk Stout is a tasty beer for any stout-lovers out there. It's not the greatest stout I've had, but it's definitely above average and very enjoyable. I like that it has a sweetness without being overly sweet. This beer is a keeper.

-Jon