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(Just a side note, right after I came up with this ’90s-tribute headline I heard that Nickelodeon is bringing back a handful of nostalgia with The ’90s Are All That, which doesn’t have Are You Afraid of the Dark? in its lineup just yet, but is on the right track)
Anyway, in present-day news, the beer club has been going strong… encountering hefty beers (and opinions to match) along the way.
For me, much like the Belgian tasting we had in January, this month’s tasting of stouts made it tough to pick a favorite. But unlike the Belgian category this was cause I knew I loved stouts and so I had to go into decimal points in my numerical ratings… and I am not a numbers girl. (For the record, I had to go into decimals at the Belgian tasting, too, which introduced me to quite a few Belgian styles that I loved, despite my previous distaste for the overall category).
My good friend, and fellow blogger Sandy and her husband hosted us for the Stout tasting. There was plenty of chocolate and cheese to go with the dark beers (and some fabulous homemade pizza and chili to boot!)
I ditched my salty tooth that day and whipped up some chocolatey treats to go with the whole Valentines Day + Stouts… thing. Also I had been holding on to this recipe from Ladies Of Craft Beer for quite some time waiting for some sort of sweet tooth to emerge in me. And it did!
I made the LadiesOCB’s Double Double Chocolate Stout Brownies substituting High & Mighty’s Two-Headed Beast for the Young’s Double Chocolate Stout. Despite not being very popular as a sample at the tasting, the Two Headed Beast did go well with the rich brownies, which somehow mellowed the beastly beer’s… “umph. ” (The brownies were great warm, topped with ice cream later, too).
We tasted several varieties of stouts including milk/cream stouts, coffee stouts, imperial stouts, and, of course, chocolate stouts… here’s how things tallied up:
Overall favorite was organic Vermont brewer Wolaver’s Oatmeal Stout, which had a nice earthy, slightly dry flavor. Mikkeller’s 
Beer Geek Breakfast and Dogfish Head’s Chickory Stout tied as second favorite.
Least favorite was a little more dispersed, but it turns out our crew is not a fan of Paper City’s Riley’s Mother’s Milk (though I think the milk/cream stouts were in general less popular with the crew, cause Paper City’s other contestant, the Fogbuster Coffee Stout ranked well).
Here’s the full roster (in tasting order)… what’d we miss and what’s your take?
Samuel Adams Cream Stout
Paper City Riley’s Mother’s Milk Stout
Wachusett Milk Stout
Wolaver’s Oatmeal Stout
People’s Pint Oatmeal Stout
Bear Republic Big Bear Black Stout (my first favorite—I had a tie)
Paper City Fogbuster Coffeehouse Ale
Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast (my other favorite)
Dogfish Head Chickory Stout
High & Mighty Two-Headed Beast
Young’s Double Chocolate Stout
Southern Tier Choklat
Avery Czar Imperial Stout
Hoppin’ Frog Double Imperial Stout
McNeill’s Dark Angel
Victory Storm King
North Coast Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout
Tonight we take a milder taste with Brown Ales (both English and American styles) so stay tuned for more recaps… plus a selection of my favorite quotes and reviews!
Cheers!
While I was at the (first ever) Beer Bloggers Conference, held this year in the fitting location of Boulder, Colorado, words of wisdom were flying around like refills at free beer night… or something. People were talking the talk.
It was a stellar conference, I met stellar people (fellow bloggers and beer pros alike), and tried a ton of stellar beers.
I’ll kick off my string of follow-up posts with a few of my favorite Talking Pints from the conference:
“The driving force for writing about beer must be the passion for the beer”
Jay Brooks of the Brookston Beer Bulletin, (paraphrased) discussing inspirations (Day 3)
—
Three years ago, stuck on an IPA kick (not unusual for me), I asked my most trusted bartender for a bottle recommendation as I’d exhausted the tap 
hoptions that night and wanted to continue with something new.
She thrust a map-imprinted bottle down on the bar without hesitation, followed by a glass.
I poured, I drank, I fell in love.
I had a new go-to IPA, one I could count on for hop-filled satisfaction with enough balance for a low-key night than the bolder (other go-to delicious) Green Flash West Coast IPA. Set more in the middle ground, and new to me that night, Avery IPA was a special discovery—even in bottle form.
There was no question in my mind, then, when a trip to Colorado this summer offered a chance to tour some of the state’s amazing breweries, hampered only by time and travel constraints. What would I make a point of visiting and let the rest (which ended up including Wynkoop Brewing Company, Breckenridge Brewery & BBQ, Walnut Brewery …not too shabby for five busy days) pour as they may?
Avery Brewing Company, Avery was number one on my list.
I have to say, my high-hopes dipped slightly as we pulled in—the brewery is located in the unfortunate confines of an industrial park, nearly impossible to spot from road, and disrupted by another company’s office between the brewery and tap room. BUT, for what it lacked in curb appeal, Avery certainly made up for on the inside (and, really, that’s what counts anyway, hmm?). Besides, our tour guide noted that owner Adam Avery has a stand-alone, owned brewery space brewing in the future.
So, atmospheric concerns aside, we embarked on the brewery tour, which was the usual (with a touch of color courtesy of a road soda to quench our thirst… for knowledge…? and our tatted, brogue-tinged tour guide), but had the bonus of a postlude trip and more extensive discussion in the cask-conditioning room—a rough barrel-lined space bedecked in rogue twinkle lights and an impressive, customizable bar for private parties (yes, please).
After our brains were full, we worked on our livers. Ordering a sampler of eight different brews we ran the gamut from the sunny Wheel Sucker Wheat to the Seventeen Anniversary black lager, to the syrupy sweet knockout 2009 and 2010 Beast Grand Cru (the 2009 having been cellar-aged and coming in at 15.01% abv, while the 2010 stepped it up to 16.21%, beastly indeed.)
Avery rotates their tap room menu and fills it to the brim with special offerings that can be hard to find elsewhere (especially way out here on the East Coast, sigh, distance relationships). We definitely had a few that were… not for us, per say, but it was a well-rounded tasting experience full of new flavor. And the tap room atmosphere was stellar, peppered with regulars including quite a few cyclists.
Avery was my scratch at the surface of the many, many top-notch (and inventive) brews that come from the Centennial State. I consider that trip the first of many, the next being for the first-ever Beer Bloggers Conference.
So stay tuned…
Special thanks to: Sadie, Craig,
Donny & Meredith,
and the great state of Colorado.
Alison
From This Pint On 