CrashOctopus Blog

I went out to sushi the other night for the first time. I liked it. It didn’t go all that well with beer, but I had to try the Japanese stout on the menu: Hitachino Espresso Stout.

It was complex and interesting. Full-bodied, rich, and bold, it had a slight bitterness, but also had a hint of sweet so the bitterness didn’t linger. It was more like coffee than any other stout I’ve tried.

Rating:
M: 8.5
N: 8.5

Been awhile since I posted about beer. Luckily, it hasn’t been awhile since I drank some, so here you go. Image swiped from Breckenridge’s website.

Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout is complicated. It tastes roasted, reminiscent of the bottom of a burnt cookie. Except not sweet. At all. It has a really bitter aftertaste that I don’t like. Could be the same reason I don’t like coffee. Perhaps if you like coffee, you’ll like the beer better than I do. However, Nathan likes coffee, but says the beer is tasty, but hoppy and sour.

Ratings:
N: 8
M: 5

A tall bottle of Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout was hiding on the shelf at the Beverage Resort. We brought it home and fell in love. Late last week, we went to Taco Mac and they had it on tap, and it was even better. Incidentally, Left Hand Milk Stout is the beer of the month at Taco Mac, and I’m going back this week for the free glass.

This stout is tasty and sweet, with a tang, and you can really taste the coffee. It has that coffee bitterness, and it lingers in the aftertaste. It’s smooth but with a slight bite, and the tap is even smoother. If it had a bit more secondary flavor, it’d be a 10.

Ratings:
M: 9.5
N: 9

I’ve rated Terrapin Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout before, but it was the bottled version. In case you don’t recall, we gave it very high marks.

This delicious beer, also known as Wake ‘n’ Bake, is smooth and rich. It tastes like coffee (appropriate, since it’s made with coffee) and a hint of cookie. It’s nearly as good as the bottled version, and it has even more coffee taste. The scrumptious flavor hits right away. There’s no strong aftertaste and no bite. An all-around winner.

Ratings:
M: 9
N: 9

Back to beer blogging! This week we feature Victory Storm King Imperial Stout. It is full, rich, and savory. There’s a hint of sweetness in the first taste, but afterwards it is quite bitter, and has a strong aftertaste. Overall, it is bold and bright and tasty.

Ratings:
M: 7
N: 9

Hopback Brewery Entire Stout is another beer that went bad in our fridge. I am wondering if we’re doing something wrong. I drive straight home from the liquor store, but maybe the beer has enough time to get warm… I don’t know. It seems to happen randomly.

Anyhow, as best we could tell, it was a fairly boring beer. As N said, “might as well drink a Guinness.” (It does come from England…) It’s smooth, fairly tasteless, and has a tiny bite combined with a mild sweetness. One interesting note – it’s vegan. It has lots of little brown thingies at the bottom, which look natural enough, but I’ve never seen them in a dark beer before. I wonder if the vegan/organic aspect is related to our flat beer problem?

M: 6
M: 5

My short absence has not been idle – I was on beer vacation! It was planned as a regular family reunion, but unexpectedly turned into a beer vacation, which is perfectly fine with me.

Day 1: Meet with Casey Klahn of The Colorist, who has the most beautiful backyard ever. Got to see some of his originals and his awesome new studio-in-progress. He has cute kids and gave me beer. Thumbs up!

Walnut Brewery Old Elk Brown Ale: a nice red beer, tastier by far than Killian’s. Ratings for a non-dark beer… M: 7 N: 6.5

Day 2: Family reunion in beautiful Leavenworth, WA. Found out that I have the same birthday as this handsome fellow, my great-great-grandfather the horse-wrangler.

Also found out that I’m related to an excellent botanical artist, Catherine Watters. My family rocks.

Leavenworth is a Bavarian Village, and has tons of good beer on tap. Here’s what we drank:

Big Sky Brewery Moose Drool Brown Ale: chocolatey, mild, complex, and dark for an ale. On tap at Gustav’s, which makes kick-ass cheeseburgers. Non-dark beer ratings… M: 9 N: 8.5

Boundary Bay Imperial Oatmeal Stout: served room temp, it’s dessert-sweet and rich, like a mild black russian. On tap at Ducks and Drakes. M: 9 N: 9

Elysian Perseus Porter: complex, better than Guinness. On tap at I forget which beer garden. M: 7 N: 7.5

Hales Brewery Sleeping Maiden Porter: deep, rich, tasty. On tap at, and made exclusively for, Gustav’s. M: 7.5 N: 7

Deschutes Brewery Black Butte Porter: smooth and mild, a typical porter. On tap at Gustav’s. M: 8 N: 7

Day 3: Drove to Dayton, WA to visit my grandmother, a 96-year-old firecracker with a 20-year-old sense of humor. Visit Palouse Falls. Successfully take photos without falling in.

Day 4: Visited Little Goose Dam and its fish ladder. I’ve never seen salmon so big.

Day 5: Dinner at Skye Book & Brew in Dayton. It’s an awesome little mix of cafe, coffee shop, and bookstore. Their brewmaster makes excellent beer that is only available on tap at this restaurant. They have $1 pints on Monday night. ONE DOLLAR. I love this place.

S. McTaggart Scottish Ale: dark, complex, and earthy with a hint of cocoa. Non-dark beer ratings… M: 9 N:9

Pataha Creek Porter: light for a porter, smooth, complex, and bitter. M: 7.5 N: 7

Tucannon Honey Wheat: not dark beer at all, but Grandmother liked it, so I had to try. Sweet and tasty.

Startin Starveout Stout: I had this on my last trip to Dayton, and it was delicious. They aren’t making it right now. Shame.

Day 6: Pick wild blackberries. Dinner at the Weinhard Cafe. Awesome food.

Deschutes Brewery Obsidian Stout: full, smooth, thick, nutty, and sweet. M: 9 N: 8.5

Day 7: Had beer on tap at Squatters Pub Brewery in the Salt Lake City airport while waiting on a layover.

Squatters Polygamy Porter: mild, smooth, with a small bite. M: 7 N: 5

Squatters Captain Bastard’s Oatmeal Stout: complex but verrry bitter and sour, smells like coffee. M: 6  N: 5

That’s it! Hope you enjoyed my beer vacation as much as I did.

This week’s beer is only available on tap, I believe. It was also a limited local run, and I don’t know if it’s still available. But we rated it, dammit, so I’m reviewing it, even if it’s obsolete. They might bring it back, you never know.

Sweetwater is a local Georgia brewery. I love their Sweet Georgia Brown, even though it isn’t dark. So I gladly tried Happy Ending Stout when I saw it on tap at a local tavern. It’s a high-gravity beer, which usually earns points in my book. However, this one’s taste left something to be desired.

It’s light & spicy at first. The second taste is very bitter and leaves you with a strong aftertaste. One acquaintance gave it a 6 and says it looks like Guinness but tastes more like a light beer. An astute and accurate observation.

Ratings:
M: 5
N: 5

Imported from Jamaica, Dragon Stout is one of our favorites. I’d give you a link, but all my googling was in vain – I can’t find them on the web!

Dragon Stout comes in fairly small bottles – less than half a pint. It is smooth and slightly sweet, with the interesting characteristic that retains the same slight sweetness even after eating something sweet (like, say, chocolate). It goes down easy, like lighter beers, but with lots of flavor, like heavier beers. It has a hint of caramel flavor, and is full, rich, and savory.

Ratings:
M: 9.5
N: 9.5

This week’s beer is another big bottle o’ fun. Avery “The Czar” Imperial Stout is a newcomer at the store; not yet popular enough for six-packs, only expensive pint bottles.

It is delicious. Sweetness fills your senses, but there’s a hint of tangy, too. It does have a tiny sour aftertaste, but I’ve yet to find a beer without one. It’s verrry smooth and velvety going down. I don’t know how it got its name, but it’s appropriate – The Czar is a beer fit for royalty. And for me.

Ratings:
N:9.5
M: 9