I am running through the stouts

[HipFlask]

First I cracked open the the classic stout Guiness. very tasty. Next was Specher Russian Imperail Stout, then a Murphy's stout and then a canadain Chambly Noir. The Specher is the best of the bunch. It has massive flavor. Coffee and dark roasted malt and a nice complex finish. I think I will be buying any and all stouts a try. any recommended stouts that should be must buys if I can find them?

[mythrenegade]

A special, one time only release from Stone Brewing in San Diego. Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout. It's a big name, and an amazing beer. If there is any way to land it in WI, you should definitely pick one up.

I also like Old Rasputin Stout. I've never seen it in a bottle, but Green Flash Double Stout is an amazing beer as well.

Joel

[barturtle]

Old Rasputin is available in bottles.

Others to check out:

Mackeson's (a milk stout)

Rogue Shakespeare Stout

Rogue Imperial Stout

Samuel Smith Russian Imperial

Great Divide Yeti

[Stu]

I'm a Guinness fan, but Young's Double Chocolate from England is terrific if you can find it. I only drink stout on tap. I prefer High Life to bottled Guinness. The same for the fancy cans that are supposed to make the Guinness taste like it came from a tap.

[callmeox]

Blackout Stout by Great Lakes Brewing Company is one of my favorites. It's higher in alcohol, but it's the perfect winter beer for when I'm having just one.

[Attila]

First I cracked open the the classic stout Guiness.

You should try the Guinness Foreign Extra stout (7.5% abv) and the Guinness Special Export Stout (John Martin - Belgium) (8% abv).

[nor02lei]

Old Rasputin is available in bottles.

Believe it or not but sometimes even in Sweden.

Great Divide Yeti

I like the oak age version better.

Brooklyn black chocolate stout is very good with some soft chocolate cake, but less good on its one in my opinion.

Leif

[mier]

The Heinekenbrewery has one called Van Vollenhove stout,much better than what they normally brew!Not easy to get(even here)but if you are interested i can have a look around for you.Other Dutch breweries also make stoutbeer but i have to look which ones.

Eric.

[hjminard]

There's a couple good ones from Bell's (Kalamazoo Brewing). I particularly like the Cherry Stout. I'm not usually a big fan of fruit in beer, but this one works. Perfectly balanced with bitter dark chocolate like flavors with just a touch of real cherry sweetness.

Bell's "Expedition Stout" is a must try, too.

[OldJack]

I second all of Timothy's list with one expansion: the Great Divide Yeti is wonderful- but the Oak-Aged version is simply epic. It is my favorite beer of all time, ever.

Any beer drinker who also likes oak-aged spirits needs to try it.

Now.

I'm serious.

You will be singing about it like some tavern-dwelling creature in some forgotten Tolken novel.

Cooper's Stout, Sierra Nevada Stout, Left Hand Milk Stout, and St. Arnold's Winter Stout are all nice, though not as other-worldly as your big imperial stouts.

And for desert, Young's Double Chocolate Stout poured over a high-quality vanilla ice cream is always worth a go.

I need a beer!

[jeff]

You should try this one:

Oatmeal Stout

7 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) Great Britain 1.038 3

.75 lbs. CaraMunich Malt Belgium 1.033 75

.5 lbs. Chocolate Malt America 1.029 350

.5 lbs. Crystal 105L Great Britain 1.033 105

.5 lbs. Roasted Barley America 1.028 450

.5 lbs. Black Patent Malt America 1.028 525

1 lbs. Munich Malt Germany 1.037 8

1.5 lbs. Flaked Oats America 1.033 2

.5 lbs. Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt 1.033 2

1.5 oz. Fuggle Pellet 4.75 25.2 60 min.

1 oz. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 4.75 12.9 30 min.

1 oz. Willamette Whole 5.00 1.4 2 min.

White Labs WLP004 Irish Stout

Took 1st place at last year's KY State Fair. Man I loved that beer :yum:

[Sijan]

I don't think the Chambly Noir is really a stout - more of a Belgian Dark Ale.

I second the vote for the Bell's stouts. I tend to like sweeter stouts, so I like their Double Cream Stout. The Kalamzoo Stout is also good. The Expedition Stout has a very good reputation as well.

[Phischy]

There are so many great stouts in this country it's really hard to say. I'm doing a blind tasting of Imperial or Russian stouts soon and so far our list is at 30 beers and we're missing some of the best ones. Although it all depends on the taster.

Check out www.beeradvocate.com or www.ratebeer.com for ideas and locations of beer close to you.

I may have to make that oatmeal stout listed above, but I have an one conditioning right now that I was going to crack open in August.

[smokinjoe]

I second all of Timothy's list with one expansion: the Great Divide Yeti is wonderful- but the Oak-Aged version is simply epic. It is my favorite beer of all time, ever.

Any beer drinker who also likes oak-aged spirits needs to try it.

Now.

I'm serious.

You will be singing about it like some tavern-dwelling creature in some forgotten Tolken novel.

Cooper's Stout, Sierra Nevada Stout, Left Hand Milk Stout, and St. Arnold's Winter Stout are all nice, though not as other-worldly as your big imperial stouts.

And for desert, Young's Double Chocolate Stout poured over a high-quality vanilla ice cream is always worth a go.

I need a beer!

Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout!!!

Well, Bigfoot in Georgia turned out to be a hoax, but this Monster was just found and in these parts, and trialled at Smokinjoe's house. Holy Sasquatch!!!! Jack, epic doesn't do this justice. This stuff is...is...is...I'm speechless. I can only grunt, pound my chest, and scratch. Pours like the oil from a Buick Electra 225 after about 20,000 hard miles in the West Texas desert, since the last oil change. Both in color and consistency. Rich, thick, and chocolate. Coffee grounds. Dessert. Could almost drink this with a fork. WOW! Thanks to all, for the rec on this one. Me like...Me go find more tomorrow...GRUNT...GRUNT...

:toast:

JOE

[TBoner]

This is my favorite Imperial Stout as well. I have spent many hours and many dollars trying to approximate its flavor profile in my homebrews. Not there yet...

Regards,

[NorCalBoozer]

Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout!!!

Well, Bigfoot in Georgia turned out to be a hoax, but this Monster was just found and in these parts, and trialled at Smokinjoe's house. Holy Sasquatch!!!! Jack, epic doesn't do this justice. This stuff is...is...is...I'm speechless. I can only grunt, pound my chest, and scratch. Pours like the oil from a Buick Electra 225 after about 20,000 hard miles in the West Texas desert, since the last oil change. Both in color and consistency. Rich, thick, and chocolate. Coffee grounds. Dessert. Could almost drink this with a fork. WOW! Thanks to all, for the rec on this one. Me like...Me go find more tomorrow...GRUNT...GRUNT...

:toast:

JOE

:slappin: :slappin: Hilarious post Joe!

I've not had a Yeti sighting on the west coast but I'm definitely going to gear up and head out to my local watering holes and see if I can capture this beast. Sounds like a real taste experience! don't want to miss it.

Greg

[JamesW]

You should try the Guinness Foreign Extra stout (7.5% abv) and the Guinness Special Export Stout (John Martin - Belgium) (8% abv).

I'm with Attila on the Guinness extra stout. I prefer the stouts that are really flat and mostly bitter. The extra stout is fantastic in a Belgian Beef Carbonnade - great for winter....beef, onions, brown sugar, and dark beer, slow cooked to perfection! I'll email the recipe to anyone that wants.

[Gillman]

Chambly Noir in my opinion has elements of a porter style. It always seemed to me like a milder version of Terrible, its bigger ABV stablemate in the Unibroue line, which itself struck me as a kind of Imperial porter or stout.

These categories blend and merge though, it is didfficult sometimes to classify these drinks with any accuracy. What makes it more complicated is that Belgian brewing has been influenced by British techniques since the 1800's.

I'll have to try it again and give a taste note, I think I can get it here.

Guinness FES and Special Export Stout are fine drinks indeed. The Special Export is all-malt, the other one has some raw barley per the classic Guinness recipe. Why Diageo has never (in modern times) made them available here is something I can't understand.

Gary

[malto]

surprisingly no one has mentioned Dogfish head's world wide(imperial) stout...originally clocked in at something like 23% abv but eventually they toned it down to I think around 18% and the booze is pretty well hidden given the abv. The first year or second year they brewed it the labels had "vim and vigor" printed on them and they had to go in by hand with a black marker and cross it out cuz the government decided "vim and vigor" was a health claim. I still have a few of these resting in my cellar....

helluva big beer and worth seeking out.

Stone went through a similar labeling war with the government on their imperial stout. They wanted to call it Russian Imperial Stout but the nannies in government thought this was some sort of trick to get consumers to think the beer was from Russia. After a long pitched battle they finally prevailed and some government official finally agreed that Russian imperial stout was a style and not a country of origin.....are french fries from France?...do I expect a Greek salad to come from Athens?.....geez

[craigthom]

Being in Wisconsin you have the opportunity to drink Tyranena's beers from Lake Mills. I highly recommend going out there some evening to drink at the source, but they've got a Milwaukee distributor now, so you should be able to find them around.

The regularly make a Chielf Blackhawk Porter. Every quarter they make a specialty beer. I'm a big fan of their big IPAs (Bitter Woman, Bitter Woman from Hell, Hop Whore), but in the drier darker vein they've made

• Who's Your Daddy? Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Porter
  
• The Devil Made Me Do It! Imperial Oatmeal Porter Brewed with Coffee Beans
  
• Devil Over A Barrel Imperial Oatmeal Coffee Porter Aged in Bourbon Barrels
  
• Dirty Old Man Imperial Rye Porter Aged in Rye Barrels

The last was a blend of some barrel aged and some not. I dropped some off at the spring sampler. The brewery messed up and didn't give me all I'd ordered, but that happens.

Within the last month or two, only on tap at the distillery, they broke out a last barrel of it, unblended. I wish I'd been up there.

[Phischy]

Doing an Imperial Stout tasting tomorrow night, myself and 9 others, here's out list of beers:

Speedway Stout - '03 BA

Stone RIS - '08*

Founders: Kentucky Breakfast Stout

Founders: Bourbon Barrel Stout

Great Lakes: Blackout Stout 1 of 2 12oz bottles

BlackFlag Imp Stout

Fullsail Imperial Stout

Avery Mephistopheles' Stout*

Avery The Czar*

Green Flash Double Stout*

The Abyss

Left Hand Oaked Aged RIS

Top Sail: Bourbon Barrel Impy Stout

Black Caludron

Kate the Great

BORIS

Smuttynose Imperial Stout

Dark Lord-Jason

Southern Tier: Choklat - Jakob

Southern TIer: Imperial Oatmeal Stout - Jakob

Ten Fiddy - Jakob

Brooklyn Imp Stout - Jakob

Siberian Night-Jakob

LA: Serpent Stout - Crowley

GD: Oak Aged Yeti - Mr. Krispy

Bells Expidition Stout - Paul

[barturtle]

:bigeyes::bigeyes::bigeyes::bigeyes:

[nor02lei]

Doing an Imperial Stout tasting tomorrow night, myself and 9 others, here's out list of beers:

Speedway Stout - '03 BA

Stone RIS - '08*

Founders: Kentucky Breakfast Stout

Founders: Bourbon Barrel Stout

Great Lakes: Blackout Stout 1 of 2 12oz bottles

BlackFlag Imp Stout

Fullsail Imperial Stout

Avery Mephistopheles' Stout*

Avery The Czar*

Green Flash Double Stout*

The Abyss

Left Hand Oaked Aged RIS

Top Sail: Bourbon Barrel Impy Stout

Black Caludron

Kate the Great

BORIS

Smuttynose Imperial Stout

Dark Lord-Jason

Southern Tier: Choklat - Jakob

Southern TIer: Imperial Oatmeal Stout - Jakob

Ten Fiddy - Jakob

Brooklyn Imp Stout - Jakob

Siberian Night-Jakob

LA: Serpent Stout - Crowley

GD: Oak Aged Yeti - Mr. Krispy

Bells Expidition Stout - Paul

Just an advice: Put on the safety belt before starting the tasting.

Leif

[TBoner]

Agreed, Leif.

And watch out for the Mephistopheles...yikes!

Regards,

[Phischy]

Yeah, we're not noobs, and I think 4 or 5 of those beers were consumed during the last big brewday.

I can the Ten Fidy is an EXCELLENT beer!