Stouts!

The first meeting of Beer Club was a resounding success, in as much that we did drink beer.
We had a fine selection of stouts, with one porter thrown in for variety.

The five beers were:
A. Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence
The overall consensus on this beer was that it was much hoppier than any other. It also had a bitter after taste, but not as much chocolate flavor as other chocolate stouts. All around, this was the least favorite of all the beers. Someone said, "Interesting, but I don't want to drink a whole one". Also, our opinion of this beer seems to have nothing to do with the description on the website.

B. South Shore Rhode Scholar Stout
This was everyone's favorite. It has a smooth start, followed by an intense smoke/ burnt middle which mellows into a roasted coffee aftertaste. Delicate carbonation and creamy body help to deliver the wonderful taste. This was one of my favorite beers going into the tasting, and I wasn't surprised that it came out on top.

C. Rogue Mocha Porter
The Mocha Porter snuck in to the tasting because I saw "Rogue Mocha" and quite reading. But, despite only being a porter it didn't throw off the results. As a group we did notice that it had less body and more carbonation that the other stouts. It started off bitter or burned, had a smooth finish, and then a bad coffee after taste that lingered on the tongue too long.

D. Young's Double Chocolate Stout
This was one beer that I had high hopes for, and was slightly let down. Young's comes in 4 pack cans with a widget to release nitrogen gas into the beer giving it a very creamy, straight off the tap feel. The can's preformed perfectly with very creamy and fine head. But, what it had it creaminess it lacked in body, some even described it as watery. Overall it was plesant to drink, chocolaty, sweet and mild - almost like chocolate milk. There were no hops or bitterness evident at all in the flavor. Overall we concluded that this was a good stout for people to start with.

E. Lion Stout
The Lion Stout was another beer that surprised me. I had this one before, loved it, but didn't remember it anything like this. This beer provided an excellent example of how blind tast tests can really let you taste a beer for the first time. It was sweet and roasted, with molasses flavors it was the sweetest beer of the night. But, it had plenty of body and roasted flavors with out as much bitterness as the Rogue or Ommegang. It was also the only beer that had distinct alcohol flavors, not a surprise considering it has 8.00% ABV.

Not a bad line up for our first go at Stouts. Eventually we will have to return to this genre because it is evident that we just scratched the surface. But, next time, we will have to move onto something new.... what will it be?

First Meeting

As your exalted Leader it is my duty to make the critical decisions. With out my even temper and guiding hand we would quickly fall into to anarchy... or worse, sobriety. It is with that in mind that I have set a date for our first official meeting and picked the style.

The First Meeting of Beer Club will be called to order on November 23rd, the chosen style will be Stout.

I know, I know, that seems like a long way away. But, do to several holidays taking place in sequence (Halloween and Deer Season) the 23rd is the soonest we can do it. The upside to this is that it gives you all exactly 1 month to research Stouts.

Stouts and porters are very similar beers, with the distinction that stouts include roasted barely. For our purposes we will not distinguish between the different varieties of Stouts, yet. Milk, oatmeal, chocolate and all other stouts are welcome. Today I picked up a pack of the Schell's Stout - a London style sweet Stout - just to refresh my memory.

Once a member has selected a Stout they should post a comment claiming that brew so that we can avoid duplicates. After everyone who is going to show has posted their choice I will pick a surprise brew, which will be revealed after the tasting.



Note: Leinenkugel's Creamy Dark is not a Stout.