Upland Schwarz- not a huge fan of this black lager. Though I do love Schwarz Bier in general. The German versions are better, like the Sam Adams better. Nice smokey bacon flavor that comes and goes as you drink. Not that enjoyable overall compared to other brands. Worth buying if the selection is domestic. C+
Founders Breakfast Stout- another overly concentrated, over flavored microbrew stout. COFFEE. CHOCOLATE. Motor Oil. Drink one. B
Stone Russian Imperial Stout- Read the above add heavy taste of alcohol. C+
Steelhead Extra Stout- Like this stout a lot. Coffee, chocolate, smokiness, nice complex flavor without the syrupy thickness that makes it hard to drink a bunch. Drinky, drinky! A-
Rougue Dead Guy Ale- B
Victory Hop Devil- Hoppy but Bleggh. Did not finish. Not what I wanted that night. D
Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout- Not what I expected at all. Way too sugary, without much bitter or hops, or flavor. Poured it out, and I rarely do that. Could have been a bad one. F
Schneider Hefe Weissen- Love this beer, brownish wheat beer with lots of floaties. Oh so good. A
Spaten Oktoberfest- Good drinking Oktoberfest that I am sure I had a better version of somewhere. Spaten's beers all seem to have a slight 'Spaten' metallic flavor. Price was right, different enough to be enjoyable. C+
Breckenridge Vanilla Porter- Liked this one- a subtle vanilla flavor porter wanted to drink more. Wish it had more carbonation or thickness to it B
Short time subscriber, first time commenter.
ReplyDeleteIf you're going down the Sammy Smith route, try an Imperial Stout. I've argued on many occasions that it's the best stout on the market.
Keep the posts coming, I like the read.
A post about beer is without question the next best thing after one about fishing!
ReplyDeleteMy comments:
Founders Breakfast Stout - very harsh when fresh, but if you let it age (in the neighborhood of a year), it drinks a lot easier. Still not my favorite, but it improves a lot.
Stone Russian Imperial Stout - same as above as far as aging. However, this was THE beer that got me into heavier stouts; I absolutely love it! I'm saving one of each year's vintage to do a vertical tasting in the future.
Victory Hop Devil - I thought this was a solid IPA. It's hoppy, but not as excessive as the name might suggest.
Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout - Nothing wrong with it, but nothing particularly exciting about it either. I agree with the previous poster that their Imperial Stout is better (but still doesn't compare to Stone's).
Cheers!
The Samuel Smith Taddy Porter is more enjoyable than the Oatmeal Stout; never tried the SS Imperial.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm thirsty.
Dude, brutal on the Hopdevil. Just brutal. If you think the same thing about Prima please don't write it here because it will make me cry. And I liked this year's Upland Schwarz a good deal, though I rarely drink Upland out of bottles, so that might have something to do with it. Also, there really aren't that many German examples of black lagers available in the states, in fact, the only one that comes to mind is Kostrizer (sp?).
ReplyDeleteSam, welcome and thanks.
ReplyDeleteBen- fire away. I want more instant gratification in a beer but I do wonder about Aventinus 2003 and such. As long as I don't have to wait.
I liked Founders more as I tried the 4 pack, but it still came off as way too instense. Subtlety is a craft as well. I like to think how did they do that? It's like they superconcentrated a hersheys bar, starbucks coffee and some vodka.
To be fair to Hop Devil, I'm burned out on IPA's. There are so many good ones, they are so simlair... I drank it in between a couple of stouts, that were very good.
Matt, couple of other German Schwarzes I have had from Khans in Indy... Monschoft Schwarzbier was one. The other escapes me. Sam Adam
I'm not a huge Upland fan in general. I would probably order the Schwarz again because I am a fan. It seemed new and made by a machine while Kostrizter seemed old and complex.
Thanks for the response guys. I'm definately in the mood for some Stouts and Doppelbocks with the weather turning!
Sam Adams Black Lager is great if you don't do a side by side comparison. if you can find it, pretty good at 6.99-7.99 for 6.
ReplyDelete