Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro

Recently Tom and I picked up a six-pack of Left Hand Brewing Co's Nitro Milk Stout from St. James Beverage. Tom loves milk stouts and couldn't resist when he saw this little beauty sitting there for the taking.

Left Hand Brewing Co. is located in Colorado, so we don't normally see their offerings available around here. Lucky for us Martin at St. James Beverage has connections.

So Tom, myself and his little brother "Little Buddy" each poured one into a pint glass as fast as we could, as suggested by the bottle's labeling to "Pour Hard."

The amount of head when poured hard is ridiculous so we had to wait a few minutes before drinking. The above picture shows the more drinkable condition after waiting.

Right off the bat I was reminded of drinking a Guinness as I indulged in my first sip. There was still a ton of foam between me and the beer, but that's part of what makes Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro great. The beer is extremely creamy and smooth going down.

The taste of Milk Stout Nitro is sweet and reminds me of enjoying an espresso from Starbucks. Both experiences are very enjoyable and I suggest you do both.

If you enjoy the occasional Guinness, try Milk Stout Nitro. It's the superior choice of the two and costs about the same. Even Little Buddy likes it and he doesn't like much.

Left Hand Brewing Milk Stout Nitro; Little Buddy Tested, Little Buddy Approved!

Founder's Porter

Continuing in my St. Patrick's Day escapades, I'd like to introduce to you the other beer I enjoyed that night after having Dogfish Head's World Wide Stout:

Founder's Porter. Printed right on the bottle are three words that can more than accurately describe Porter; dark, rich and sexy. There's even a beautiful woman on the label to entice you even more, that is if you weren't convinced to begin with.

Porter is another dark beer of Founders, but this one is surprisingly less alcoholic than most of their other offerings and stands at 6.5% ABV. Don't let that dissuade you however. Even though Porter has about half the alcoholic content of other Founder's beers, it still has just as much flavor, if not more.

I poured it into the same Blue Moon glass I used when drinking Dogfish Head World Wide Stout (don't worry I rinsed it first!). The beer had a beautiful black body and a small amount of head.

Porter smells of roasted malt and coffee. It tastes even better than it smells. The entire time I was drinking I couldn't help thinking I was enjoying a nice espresso except in beer form. With intense coffee and chocolate flavor Porter is one of those beers I could drink for days without getting tired of.

I continued my quest to defeat the computer controlled characters in Mario Party 9 with this little bottle by my side. My hate for Shy Guy only increased and even though I kept losing to him my desire to win only grew larger. I kept playing until I succeeded and I showed that little mask wearing asshole what's what!

Have a glass of Founder's Porter on me! It's a very good beer and a great motivator when it comes to unfair A.I. in video games!

Dogfish Head World Wide Stout

St. Patrick's day was a good day for me. Even though I had to work most of the day I came home to this delicious sight; Dogfish Head World Wide Stout.

I've tried a few of Dogfish Head's offerings in the past, but never their World Wide Stout. Many people have raved to me about how good it was, so I finally decided to bite the bullet and pick up a bottle from St. James Beverage. So glad I did.

I was saving the World Wide Stout for a special occasion and what better occasion than St. Patrick's Day? I cracked open this bottle and poured it into one of my Blue Moon glasses.

The first thing that hit me was the ridiculously strong smell of this beer right out of the bottle. Classified as a barley wine it smelled of alcohol and malt with a hint of chocolate and licorice.

Now the taste...oh my that's where the fun begins. I tasted a pleasant caramel flavor along with toffee and chocolate. This combination of delicious flavors made for a very enjoyable experience. There was also an alcohol flavor present while drinking, but mostly in the background and I could definitely tell I was drinking something very strong. World Wide Stout was also very smooth going down. 

Dogfish Head World Wide Stout is the strongest beer I have ever drank in my entire life. At 18% ABV this one will surely mess you up by the time you hit the halfway mark of drinking it. By the time I finished an entire bottle I found myself playing Mario Party 9 and cursing out Shy Guy like a sailor whenever he won a mini-game.

If you're a fan of rich and delicious beers try Dogfish Head World Wide Stout if you haven't already!

Wolaver's (Organic) Pumpkin Ale

It's the first day of Spring, so what better way to celebrate than talking about pumpkin beer? Okay so maybe I'm a little late in discussing my favorite pumpkin ales, but it just so happens that I had one left over from the Fall and I couldn't stand just wasting it.

Before a few days ago, I had never tried Wolaver's Organic Pumpkin Ale. I made it my mission this past Fall to try as many different pumpkin beers as I could and compare all the different offerings, but this one somehow slipped under my radar. Lucky for me, my brother decided to bring it over months ago and leave it here.

I've tried countless pumpkin beers, so I know which are my favorites and which ones I will not be drinking again any time soon. Wolaver's Pumpkin Ale falls right smack dab in the middle.

It poured a beautiful clear orange color and still retained a good amount of carbonation even though it was a few months old. The smell of Wolaver's is pleasant and was similar to a lot of other pumpkin beers I've tried. A nice pumpkin smell to say the least.

I enjoyed the taste as well. The most dominant flavor being pumpkin, Wolaver's Pumpkin Ale also had hints of cinnamon and nutmeg within it. Overall I'd say it's a decent pumpkin beer and above average when compared to all the other pumpkin beers I've experienced.

Now I wouldn't go out of my way to pick up a 6-pack if I saw it in the store, but if I was at a party and it was there I wouldn't hesitate enjoying a bottle.

Not the best, but still pretty damn good. Give Wolaver's a try, especially if you're into the whole organic thing. It's one of the only two organic pumpkin beers on the market!
   

Young's Double Chocolate Stout

Time to discuss another one of my favorite beers; Young's Double Chocolate Stout. My co-worker Chris was telling me how he had one the other day and it just made me want to drink one. I had one bottle left from the 4-pack I bought months ago, which I was saving for a special day and I figured last night was as good as any to enjoy it.

Let me start by saying that Young's Double Chocolate is a very good beer; definitely in my top 15 beers of all time. You don't find a chocolate beer much better than this one. I can confidently say that this is the best smelling and tasting chocolate beer I've ever had.

At 5.2 % ABV one can enjoy multiple Double Chocolate Stouts before passing out ;). Honestly I can drink this beer for weeks and never get tired of it. The chocolate flavor paired with malt is perfect and make for a highly drinkable beer.

Young's pours a dark brown color and whenever I have one it is a highly enjoyable experience. So what are you waiting for? Go out and get yourself some Young's Double Chocolate Stout. It's available at just about every beer store and you can't miss the bottle; it's purple and has ram horns on it!

Drink Young's Double Chocolate Stout. Trust me. 

Kona Koko Brown (Coconut Ale)

If you have been following my blog at all then you know that I'm a huge fan of beers that taste like fruit. I've done a post on Blue Point's Blueberry Ale and Southampton's Black Raspberry Lambic already so what's next might you ask?

How about toasted coconut ale? Sound good? It sure sounds good to me. Lucky for us, Kona Brewing Company, a Hawaiian based brewer, thought so too.

Kona created a brown ale which they brewed with real toasted coconut and I'm happy to report that the end result is very satisfying.

Koko Brown poured a clear brown color and was very appealing to me. The smell is nothing I have ever experienced before when drinking a beer. A very pleasing coconut smell accompanied with a bit of malt. But how does it taste?

I took a sip and the coconut flavor was definitely there but a little more subtle than the smell. Not a bad thing, but those of you expecting an insanely strong coconut flavor might be let down. I on the other hand think it is a good balance. As I drank my bottle of Koko Brown I couldn't help being reminded of enjoying an ice cream float with whipped cream on top.

Never having tried a coconut beer before I think that Koko Brown was a great first choice and I can't wait to finish my remaining bottles when the weather is nice and warm. I'll have to try some other coconut offerings and compare.

Koko Brown is delicious! Try it! Especially if you're a fan of coconut flavored things.

Tröegs Nugget Nectar

Last night Tom and I each had a bottle of the birthday present I got for him; a six pack of Troegs Nugget Nectar. Now we've had this beer before, but it's been almost a year since we last had it, so my memory of its flavors was a little hazy before last night.

This delicious Imperial Amber Ale is one of Tom's favorites and he simply can't stop raving about it. To be fair, this beer gives him good reason to though. Nugget Nectar has a beautiful red-orange color and is very appealing to the eye. We poured ours into snifters and began enjoying them.

It had the perfect amount of head after being poured and the small carbonation bubbles were easily visible throughout the entire beer. The smell of Nugget Nectar reminds me of a lot of all the different IPAs I've had and smells just like fresh pine trees.

Now the taste of Nugget Nectar is where it really shines. As you drink it you'll notice a nice citrus flavor, as well as hints of pine. Each taste is ended with a small bitter hoppy explosion of flavor and is delightful! The beer is also very smooth and goes down easy. I got through my beer in less than 15 minutes and was sad when there was none left in my glass after that.

At 7.5% ABV, Nugget Nectar is a nice intermediate beer that can be enjoyed with friends and family willing to try out new beers that are slightly more alcoholic and bitter than what they're used to ;). Drinking Nugget Nectar again was a real treat and I could hardly wait for the next time we crack open another couple of bottles on a warm evening in the coming months. 

Try Nugget Nectar...it's delicious!

Rogue Double Chocolate Stout

A few nights ago I got to enjoy a bottle of Rogue Ales Valentines Day release; Double Chocolate Stout. Tom picked up a bottle of this a couple weeks ago from Ronkonkoma Beverage and we finally got around to drinking it.

Over the years, Tom and I have both tried our fair share of chocolate beers with mixed critiques. Some were too syrupy for our liking, while others didn't have enough of a chocolate taste to keep us drinking them. In conclusion there are A LOT of different chocolate beers out there and they all vary in quality.

Lucky for us, Rogue Ales offering was one of the better chocolate beers we've had.

When poured there was a huge amount of head, so we waited a minute or two before drinking. Like most chocolate beers, Rogue Double Chocolate Stout is dark brown in color to the point of almost appearing black. Its ABV is 8.00% so it has the alcohol content of about two beers.

The taste of this particular beer was very nice. At first the chocolate flavor was subtle and then a few sips later it was a lot more noticeable. The taste isn't overpowering in any regard and has just about the perfect balance between bitterness and chocolately goodness. The aroma of this beer is also very appetizing and helps in enjoying it even more.

Last but not least, Rogue Double Chocolate Stout is made with honey and their very own Pacman yeast. Now I have no idea what Pacman yeast is but I imagine it's something like this:

Bonus points for naming your yeast after an iconic video game character Rogue.

Overall, I liked Rogue Double Chocolate Stout. It's not my favorite chocolate beer (Young's Double Chocolate Stout and Southern Tier Choklat still hold that honor), but it is a good beer and definitely worth trying. 

A beer after work is always more enjoyable

Victory At Sea Coffee Vanilla Imperial Porter (Ballast Point)

Anyone reading this blog knows that I have already done a handful of posts on what beers I enjoy, but maybe it's time to get a new take, from someone other than me, on what beers they feel are worthy of mingling with your taste buds.

Today I will discuss Ballast Point's Victory At Sea Coffee Vanilla Imperial Porter; a favorite of my good friend Tom D.

Ballast Point Brewing Company, located in San Diego, CA, may not be as well known as other, more popular brewers, but they sure as hell can make one delicious Imperial Porter. Their Coffee Vanilla offering contains a beautiful combination of flavors that will have you taking another sip long before you have even finished with your first.

Tom and I split a bottle last night. Served in my Ommegang goblets, Victory At Sea pours an extremely dark brown color (almost black!) and has a nice frothy head. Think if you were enjoying a nice latte from Starbucks, except that particular latte was highly alcoholic in nature.

Victory At Sea Coffee Vanilla comes in at a whopping 10.0% ABV and isn't a light beer in any regard. Splitting a bottle with a friend is more than enough to get you both feeling "nice."

The taste of Victory At Sea Coffee Vanilla is out of this world. I applaud the guys over at Ballast for coming up with the perfect balance of rich coffee flavor paired with just the right amount of sweet vanilla. In addition to these great flavors, the coffee smell of the beer makes it even more enjoyable as you are drinking it.

If you're a fan of anything coffee or vanilla flavored, or both, you owe it to yourself to at least try Ballast Point's Victory At Sea Coffee Vanilla Imperial Porter (that sure is a mouthful).

Look at how much Tom is enjoying it!

Doesn't that face just scream: "Why are you not here enjoying this delicious beer with me?!"

Tom loves Victory At Sea Coffee Vanilla Imperial Porter and so should you! It is one of his favorite beers and he thinks you should try it...and that's a fact!

Look how happy he is! What are you waiting for? Go out to your nearest beer distributor and go get yourself a bottle!