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Lost Abbey Serpents Stout

March 3, 2009 By Shea 2 Comments

I don’t blog about beer too often, mostly due to the fact I used to consume a lot more wine than beer. Being in the US, however, has provided me with access to an incredible array of microbrews and so I’ve been tasting through quite a bit of fantastic stuff. This often happens at some great beer joints in town, which I have blogged about before. A few choice selections made it home, however, with high hopes.

Lost Abbey is a pretty fantastic California brewery that specializes in Belgian ales. Their sister brewery, Port brewing, focuses on american styles. This particular beer, however, is billed as a Belgian style stout. I love Belgians and I love stout – so I had to pick this up. This is their first release of the beer as a winter seasonal.

Sitting at a heavy 11% abv, this is rich and malty, with a sweetness more in the Belgian style than in a traditional sweet stout like Guiness. The roasted malts give this a hint of bitterness and make it fairly robust. The carbonation is taken up a notch – likely due to the Belgian influence – and this adds a good crispness and layers the flavours well. In the end this is very solid, and one of the better stouts out there, even if I was expecting something a little more interesting.

Very Good to Very Good+
$11/650ml at City Beer
Filed Under: American Beer, Stouts, Very Good

A Pacific Northwest Beer Sampler

February 24, 2008 By Shea Leave a Comment

So I’ve finally had a chance to consume the four pacific northwest beers I picked up at Brewery Creek on Main St. and it is time for the final report. The Pacific Northwest is a beer maven’s dream with its dozens of craft breweries and its natural abundance of a wide variety of hops for these crafters to work with. Today I’ll be looking at two breweries from two states, four beers, 2 porters, 2 stouts, and a bunch of empty bottles.

Rogue Brewery hails from Oregon and is widely distributed across the US, but not so much in Canada. Elysian Brewery is based in Seattle and is far more of a local micro-brew, rarely seeing the light of day outside of the Pacific Northwest.

Beer #1 – Elysian Perseus Porter

This is one hell of a beer. Balanced and subtle with low alcohol levels for a porter (5.4% abv), this porter has an abundance of robust dark beer malty flavours without being over the top, unbalanced, or overly bitter. It’s texture is fantastic and every sip suggests the next. This is hands down one of the best porters I’ve ever had.

Excellent+
$7/bottle at Brewery Creek

Beer #2 – Elysian Dragonstooth Stout

This heady stout is dark and broody, creamy and delicious. It has great depth and concentration but wicked balance. This comes in around 7% abv, but you don’t feel the alcohol as this is quite an easy drinking stout. Rarely do I taste stout of this level. Good job Elysian!

Excellent
$7/bottle at Brewery Creek

Beer #3 – Rogue Chocolate Stout

I’ve reviewed this beer before, and it certainly is tasty. However, next to the Elysians it doesn’t quite hold up as well as it used to. Yet, this is still chocolate malty goodness in a glass with a beautiful silky texture. So, while not as subtle and well integrated as the Elysian, it’s still a very tasty brew.

Very Good+
$8/bottle at Brewery Creek

Beer #4 – Rogue Mocha Porter

The mocha porter is slightly bitter, but still reasonably balanced. It is fairly roasty and toasty with the malts, and has a nice length on the finish. The texture is creamy, but overall this beer lacks the complexity of the Elysian Perseus Porter and the sheer smooth chocolatey intensity of its brother the Chocolate Stout. So, while still a decent beer, this is my least favourite of the four.

Very Good
$8/bottle at Brewery Creek

So what has this tasting shown? The Pacific Northwest is the place to be for a good micro-brew. Plus, Elysian is a fantastic brewer that deserves more exposure – I highly recomment you seek out whatever you can from them. I’ll be going to a beer tasting in Seattle in the summer, and if these four beers are indicative of the selection and quality I’ll be a party to there, I am really looking forward to it.


Filed Under: Porters, Stouts, Tastings

Phillips "The Hammer" Imperial Stout

February 10, 2008 By Shea Leave a Comment

Being ill is not fun. Being ill when you love wine is just cruel. I am finally on the path to recovery and had the chance to taste a tiny bit of this beer. I limited my intake to a couple ounces so I don’t have the full experience, but I just couldn’t resist trying this new beer from a BC brewery I generally like a lot and in a style I also tend to love.

The first time I tried this beer I had it at room temperature, which tends to bring out the flavours a bit more in this style. It was very dark, chocolately, very roasted charcol-like flavours and also reasonably bitter. It wasn’t my favourite Imperial Stout since I felt it lacked complexity and depth in the finish, despite being pretty well balanced.

However, when I drank another couple ounces of this cold it was quite a bit tastier and smoother, as the bitterness was tempered and the balance accentuated. So, while not a favourite of mine in this style, I think it might be a great place for someone new to heavier beers to start, given it is far more balanced and less alcoholic than many.

Everybody raise a glass to getting better!

Good
$7/650ml at Private Stores

Filed Under: Good, Stouts

Young’s Double Chocolate Stout

December 13, 2007 By Shea Leave a Comment

I hadn’t had this in a while but felt like a stout tonight so I picked one up from my local BC liquor store. I forgot how tasty this was. Moderate roasted malts coupled with a nice creamy chocolatey flavour. The texture is great and this is very easy and very tasty drinking. Highly recommended as an every day tasty stout. I will be away for the holidays so I won’t be posting here for a while. I will resume the tastings when I return. Happy Holidays!

$3.25 at BCLDB
Very Good

Filed Under: Stouts, Very Good

Rogue Chocolate Stout

December 3, 2007 By Shea Leave a Comment

First of all, I am a huge fan of stouts – so know that going into this ‘review’. This is what you might call a cross between the smoother/sweeter style of stout and the really heavy duty imperial style stouts. It’s got a great intense after taste, but it has added chocolate to give it a robust silky smoothness that makes it pretty darn delicious. I’m not sure if you can get this in BC yet, as I have seen some of Rogue’s other products here, albeit not this one. Rogue hails from Oregon and is well stocked in Seattle so it’s not too hard to make a US road trip to pick some of this up.

Excellent

$? Was a gift from a friend in the US (Thanks Trevor!).

Filed Under: Excellent, Stouts
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