Georgetown Brewery: 9lb Porter

I don't see this at the bar too often so I'm happy to find it at The Grande in Bellingham. Copared to a typical porter it's a little heavier hopped like BrewMunkey's IPArter. It still maintains a great chocolate and brown malt mouthfeel with a heavier than light (medium light?) presence. This beer got Judges Choice at 2008's April Brews Day beer festival here in Bellingham as well.

Southern Tier Brewing Company: Unearthly Imperial IPA

11% abv, 23* Plato, very well balanced and has a thick mouthfeel, nutty hop flavor, and a litght golden brown color with a light haze. I've never heard of this brewery before but I like what they've done with this one. The hops and flavor cover up the alcohold and it goes down very well. Something I'd definetly try again. Hailing from Lakewood New York.

http://www.southerntierbrewery.com/

Kettle Hops
Chinook, Cascade

Hop Back
Styrian Golding

Dry Hop
Cascade, Centenial, Chinook

Lazy Boy Brewery: Irish Amber

I've liked the IPA for a while now so it was a treat to find this at Ishka's here in bellingham. Poured as a typical amber, medium mouthfeel, dark amber body, not a great smell but it has a peaty taste to it. I liked it as a basic amber but I've had ambers that have a heavier feel to them. Overall a decent drinkable amber.

Stone Russian Imperial Stout - 2007 VS. 2008

Stone Russian Imperial Stout - 2007 VS. 2008

'07 on the right, '08 on the left.

Both definatly pass our Stout Hole test.

Both excellent beers, I would have a hard time telling them apart, but I did like the '07 better. It smelled syrupier and the extra time the flavors had to blend added to the already excellent taste. I liked the body of the '07 better, slightly smoother and thicker. The head on the '07 was not quite as developed as the '08, but they both stuck around for most of the glass and both had a nice tan tinge. Carbonation was about the same between the two, on the low to moderate side like a good thick stout should be. I was kind of surprised the differences between the "standard" and "vintage" were not as pronounced as our test of '06 VS. '07 Double Bastard.

Now for the disclaimer...High alcohol content (over 10%) coupled with an affinity for stouts probably skewed the results, if we were really trying to be scientifice we would have used smaller "fun size" samplings. But really, who came up with the "fun size" crap anyway?

Bottom line - great stouts, get yourself some and try this experiment for yourself.

Lager's

To decern what exactly it is about Blue Paddle that makes it not great, I branched out. I had a few crappy beers in the fridge from random visits, random people, and randomness. So I put together a mini lager tasting of the following beers:

MGD (Miller Genuine Draft)- Has a bit of skunk to it. Comes in a clear bottle like Corona (notorious skunk beer). Not good at all.

Molsen - Very light, tastes like absolutely nothing. No hops, no flavor, no body. As if you  watered down some MGD and got rid of the skunk you would pretty much nail this beer.

Budweiser - Compared to Molsen, this is way sweeter. It coats my mouth like salt water taffy and is hard to swallow. Again, no hops.

New Belgium Blue Paddle - This is what the other beers were missing. It has the same super light body but has a clean finish and some hops! Hallertaur? It's not super great (few lagers ever are by definition) but this is far better than the others.

So in conclusion I've organized the beers by how I like them starting with the "winner" and ending with fail.

Blue Paddle -> Molsen -> Bud -> MGD

Guiness: Stout

It was St. Patricks day and Guiness is what you're supposed to have. I will no longer honor this tradition in the fashion consumed. It was poured from a can and then put in their can-to-tap piezo thingy. It has the wrong body, wrong flavor, and was missing the very essence of a nitro-pour, being the frothy thick cream like head. Even still, the glass was hard to finish but I did anyway. Even consumed with Baileys it kept the same qualities (just more kick). 

And it fails the Stout Hole Test (sorry no picture).

April Brews Day 2009

This year the event will be on April 25th. Enter this in your calendars and start training for the event today!

http://www.maxhigbee.org/aprilbrewsday.html

Rogue: Chocolate Stout

This one poured thick black (dark brown) with a brown head. Before I took my sip I caught a whiff of the chocolate and hops. It isn't as sweet as most stout's I've had but it has a smoothness and a lingering bitterness. This could be bit thicker but being it is a chocolate stout I think it was blended well. It has a sharp bite from the alcohol content but is very drinkable and smooth. It was good but not my favorite Rogue beer.

Bridgeport Stout

Bridgeport Stout

Stouty goodness - passes the stout hole test. Nothing crazy here, solid stout that covers all it's bases.

de Boomgaard - Tropicale

de Boomgaard - Tropicale

http://www.deboomgaard.nl/page.php

Tastes like sweet fermented mango juice - too sweet and fruity for my taste.