An evening with Mr. Stout and Mr. Porter

I threw out an idea over at Hoosier Beer Geek for a tasting with nothing but stouts and porters, and it came together last night. I enjoy beer tastings for many reasons. Tasting the same style from multiple brewers is not only interesting, but you can taste subtle and major differences in a brewers take on a beer style, and you get a chance to taste multiple beers in a beer friendly environment.

I am not going to write a review on each thing that we tasted, so I am just going to write some highlights and disappointments from the evening.

We started the night off with Samuel Smith's Taddy Porter. I've said it before, but Sammy Smith can do no wrong in my book. Sweet toasted malt with roasted grain with a touch of smoke in the flavor profile with a silky smooth mouthfeel. This was one of my top three beers of the night that we sampled.

Another winner for me was the 2000 Sinebrychoff Porter. I've reviewed this beer before, but not the vintage bottle that Mike and Gina brought with them. I really enjoyed it when I reviewed it, but this beer with some age on it was well done. It was malty and chocolaty on the flavor profile and was big and chewy on the mouthfeel. The vintage bottle is worth the extra buck, and I plan on enjoying it again.

Another beer I was very surprised by was North Coast's Old #38. North Coast makes the famous Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, but that is the only beer I've ever reviewed from them until I had the Old #38. I really enjoyed the bitter cocoa and toasted grain in the flavor and how easy this beer was on the mouthfeel.

My personal favorite of the night was the Abyss from Deschutes. This beer was unlike any other Russian Imperial Stout I've ever encountered. It is a big beer, but it somehow is so soft and gentle on the palate and in the flavor profile. Big flavors of espresso, bourbon, smoke, and dark fruits. It somehow remind me of sitting around a campfire on a cold evening. I think it was deserving of the hype that the beer gets.

My dissapointments from the evening were the Left Hand Black Jack Porter and the Goose Island Oatmeal Stout. The Left Hand was very thin on the mouthfeel and had a bit of sour milk going on in the nose. The Goose Island wasn't bad per se, but wasn't really something I would drink again either.

The biggest disappointment for me though was Sam Adam's Triple Bock. The scent was very dominant of soy sauce and a flavor profile dominant of vinegar. I kept smelling it though over and over just to see if each smell would still be as putrid as the last, and yes, it was each and every time.

I had a great time last night and I want to thank the Hoosier Beer Geeks for coming out and bringing some great beers to share. Thank you to Mike and Gina for bringing some tasty cupcakes and thanks to Kelly for giving me my word of the week: cadamom!

Cheers!
Matt

Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout

Beer: Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout
Brewery Location: Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, UK
Beer Style: Oatmeal Stout
Serving Style: Bottle
ABV: 5.0%

This is one of my favorite oatmeal stouts. This is brewed all year long, and it is available pretty much anywhere at any time. Trader Joe's has the best price on this that I've found in Indy.

I have personally never been disappointed in an offering from Samuel Smith's. Their winter warmer that I reviewed was one of my least favorites by them, but even with that it was still a pretty damn good beer.

Jeopardy side notes about oatmeal stout: It's popularity started in the mid 1800's and was once prescribed to nursing mothers because they thought it was healthier. The beer almost entirely died out until the beer I am reviewing started making it again in the late 1970's after the last brewer stopped making it. According to Wikipedia Michael Jackson, the beer hunter, is credited with getting the style back online by mentioning it one of his books. From that book is where Samuel Smith's began making oatmeal stout and now it's still a growing style with more brewers making a seasonal oatmeal stout.

Pours a nice deep black with two fingers of tan head. Head had great retention for the entire beer, and it left nice lacing on the walls of the pint glass. Great nose for an oatmeal stout with scents of sweet malt, coffee, toasted grain, and a bit earthiness as well. Taste is where this beer separates itself from other oatmeal stouts. Strong coffee and cream flavor mix well with roasted malt, chocolate and a slight grain/oatmeal flavor lingering at the back of the palate. The mouthfeel is like silk across your palate with a medium body on it. At only 5.0% ABV the drinkability is holds up very well. I could drink several of these and be just fine.

Outstanding example for the style. If you have never had an oatmeal stout before start with this one. There are many bad oatmeal stouts out there and very few that hold a candle to this brew. Grab yourself a few for the winter and enjoy this quintessential oatmeal stout.

Cheers!
Matt

Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome Ale

Beer: Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome Ale
Brewery Location: Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, UK
Beer Style: Winter Warmer
Serving Style: Bottle
ABV: 6.0%


I wanted to try a seasonal winter beer while we were at the Heorot. I have seen this bottle at Party Pak and haven't yet tried it, so this was a good opportunity for it. This is actually my first "winter warmer" styled beer. The BJCP says this about winter warmers:

Winter warmers are a more modern style that are maltier, fuller-bodied, often darker beers that may be a brewery's winter seasonal special offering.

I didn't notice until after the beer was almost finished that this was the batch from 2005. I would really like to try this as a vertical tasting to see if there is much difference at all.

Pours a medium ruddy hue with slight orange accents with three fingers of head from an unaggressive pour. Head dissipated rather quickly and left only a very thin blanket of lace with little to no lacing on the glass walls. I smell a sweet scent of toffee and caramel at first with slight touches of biscuity malt and cinnamon. The scent isn't heavy and you need to really get your nose into it for those smells to become dominant. The taste is very light and easy on the palate. I do pick up slight flavors of malt, dark fruit, and butterscotch. Mouthfeel is very smooth with low carbination and a nice sippable factor to it as well and lends itself for great drinkability all year long really.

Not personally one of my favorite offerings from Samuel Smiths, but a good effort nonetheless. I am going to give this another try from this years batch and see if there anything different about it.

Cheers!
Matt