Tag: Stout

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Black 2020, sorry, Black Tuesday

When I saw that the classic Black Tuesday was going to be put in 16oz cans, I was happy. I will be even happier when they come in adorable little 10oz bottles.

So, I typed that intro before I received a mega bounty of Black Tuesday 2020 which included cute little 10 ounce cans of three different variants!

You’ve got your maple, vanilla and Port barrel-aged versions but those will wait until November. Can’t rush a beer that hasn’t been rushed.

First, let’s talk the original. Almost drank it straight out the can like a libertine. It is boozy. But not as hot with alcohol as I feared. There is a burn. At 19+%, there is going to be one. But this drinks smooth and might well smooth more with extra aging. I get raisin and fig and big bourbon notes swirling. I can totally see why other flavors would appeal as additions to this.

It may be passé to say that we as beer fans need to hew close to our roots but there are relatively few beers that I believe need to be tasted each year. Black Tuesday is one of those beers.

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A Stout Shop

We are living in a to-go curbside contactless world which sucks for browsers like me. But maybe the new Stout Bottle Shop will have a nice robust online shoppe for me to wander through from the seated position. Good to have outlets for both customers and the breweries.

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Featured Review – Partake Stout

We are at the end of the five part series of reviews of Partake Brewing, and we close with the Stout.

This beer garners the silver medal even though it is more a porter or brown ale. It has good flavor and is less watery than the rest. There is a bit of coffee taste as well as a slight tinge of cola. A bit of minerality in the finish that could be toned down but overall decent.

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A Bit of a Turn

Firestone Walker can do a wide variety of beers but even with that skill, there are some flavors that I do not associate with them. Pils, sure. IPA for sure. Sours and Wild Ales for damn sure. Barrel-aged of course but chocolate cherry stout? No doubt they will pull it off but I like that they are doing something off their Central Coast path. And canning it too.

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N’Owt 2020

You know you can’t always have a Hazy IPA, so when you return to other styles, return in a big way. Might I suggest Stout, at Yorkshire Square?

There is a crackin’ list of breweries set to appear at the 2020 edition of N’owt But Stout…

Over 30 breweries pouring including:
Beachwood Brewing
Bottle Logic Brewing
Brewery X
Burnin Daylight Brewing Co
Cellador Ales
Chapman Crafted
Creative Creature Brewing
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
GameCraft Brewing
HopSaint Brewing Company
Laguna Beach Brewing Co.
Marin Brewing Company
MacLeod Ale Brewing Co.
Mission Brewery
Morgan Territory Brewing
Pizza Port Brewing Co.
Riip Beer Company
Smog City Brewing
SouthNorte Beer Co.
South Park Brewing
State Brewing Co.
Thr3e Punk Ales Brewing Co.
Yorkshire Square Brewery

Quite a few are not seen around L.A. so this is a great chance to check out places normally out of reach.

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IPA or Stout Jameson

I have been eyeing the Jamesons whiskies aged in casks formerly home to IPA and Stout but since I am not a big Whiskey person, the prospect of buying a full bottle without a sample first seemed like too big of a flyer.

But, I stumbled across little sample bottles and that was an easy purchase. Of the two, the Stout seemed to have more of a residual beer flavor to it. But if handed both blind, I would have had a really hard time picking which was which.

It is an uncanny valley thing. You know when something looks fake and tastes fake but the closer you get to the look and taste will leave people weirded out even more. I would have needed to get a citrus or pine hop note in the right quantity to have been happy and the same with the Stout, I really needed to have some Black Patent Malt note tucked inside.

For me, the Stout version seemed more on that road than the IPA version but not by a galloping head start for sure.

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Guin & Timm

I do not know when this beer came about, if it’s a retired beer or if it is being sold in the US but when I saw that Guinness spun two of their beers into a blend with Timmermans of Belgium, I really wanted it.  This Lambic meets stout is a mix of Guinness West Indies Porter (1801), Guinness Special Export (first brewed in 1944 exclusively for John Martin) and Timmermans Oude Kriek (the world’s oldest lambic brewery).

The description from the Timmermans website sounds delicious, “A unique dark beer with a subtle pink hue in the foam. Aromas of chocolate, oak & cherry. Full flavoured and beautifully balanced.”

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N/A Day – Athletic Brewing Review

I have been long fascinated by the Non-Alcoholic sector of craft beer. It seems so wide open. Then I taste an N/A beer and realize that it must be harder than thought ’cause they always taste off in one small way or another.

In one of my bursts of podcast binging, I heard about Athletic Brewing and for Christmas, I bought the IPA and Stout. Will my bad run continue?


Starting with the IPA, Run Wild, there is a pronounced orange and grapefruit aroma as you pop the can.  This is quite hoppy with a bracing bitter finish.  It has a watery quenching mouthfeel like a session IPA.  As the beer warms up I get pine and grapefruit pith tastes.

All Out Stout starts off with a big pillowy espresso hued head.  A bit like a cold brew coffee taste. It is a little thin with a mixture of tastes like licorice and cocoa beans.  It is more a porter to me and a touch too sweet.

Overall though, these taste like beer.  None of my quibbles are do to the usual N/A complaints of tasting like wort or having a weird secondary flavor.  I would drink the hell out of the IPA, especially on a hot day.  I guess the best recommendation is that I want to try more.  Their Saison really intrigues me.