Storm King Imperial Stout
Brewery: Victory Brewing Company
Where: Downington, Pennsylvania
Style: Imperial Stout
IBU: N/A (My guess is 80)
ABV: 9.1%
Now we're talkin'... Imperial Stout. A beer not for the faint at heart but for one who truly admires complexity in a beer. It's also not a good beer for anyone who includes light beers as part of their diet. Where Bud Select 55, or whatever it's called, has only 55 calories per bottle, A good imperial stout might ring in at 450 calories per pint. It's a meal in a glass!
Anyway... Victory's Storm King is an excellent example of a good imperial stout. This beer pours black like used motor oil from the bowels of a '68 VW Beetle. The extra thick and creamy tan-colored head on this pour immediately releases a hop and roasted malt aroma that sets your salivary glands in motion before you even pick up the glass. The Victory website is rather cheap on information about this beer. It simply states that the brew was concocted of Imported 2-row malts and American whole-flower hops. C'mon guys... why can't you be like some of your fellow brewers and give it up a little more than that? I guess Johnny Budweiser would be impressed with the fact that you listed your ingredients this way, but a home brewer likes to have a little bit of inside info!
The flavor of this beer hits you quite prominently with the roasted malts as dictated by this style. I won't bore you with the detail of roasted barley, black malts, and chocolate malt possibilities in this brew, but I'm sure its a nice mix of those along with some crystal malts as well. This beer is very well crafted and deserving of anyone's tasting regimen for imperial stouts.
Just a short FYI on my imperial stouts in the future. I do have a bottle of the Olde Hickory Brewery's imperial stout from late 2009 that I have been sitting on letting it age nicely. In fact, I might be one of a very few people who have a bottle of this on hand. It will be coming around the tasting queue before too terribly long. I also have a bottle of Stone's 2010 spring limited release of their Russian Imperial Stout. Stay tuned...
Homebrew – Dark Warrior Imperial Stout
Brewery: Homebrewed
Where: Hickory, NC
Beer: Dark Warrior Imperial Stout
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
IBU: 80 IBU
ABV: 10.1%
Out of all the homebrews I have made since I got into all-grain brewing, I believe this one is my overall favorite so far. This is almost perfect in regards to my goals with this beer. I had some problems with the fermentation process of this beer and thought I was going to have to toss it out. I'm glad I didn't. With a little extra effort and patience, I managed to get the fermentation complete and the results seem to be outstanding at this point. This beer also won a bronze medal in the Olde Hickory Brewery Pro-Am this past summer. Here's the goodness that went into this 5.5 gallon brew:
14 lbs Pale 2-row malt
1.1 lbs Roasted Barley
1.0 lb Victory Malt
1.0 lb Dark Wheat Malt
0.75 lb Flaked Oats
0.6 lb Black Patent Malt
0.5 lb Black Barley
0.5 lb Cara-pils malt
0.5 lb Crystal Malt (120L)
0.5 lb Crystal Malt (60L)
1.0 lb Molasses (secret ingredient) ;)
1.0 oz Warrior Hops (15.8%) @ 90 minutes
1.0 oz Warrior Hops (15.8%) @ 60 minutes
1.0 liter yeast starter with SafAle American Ale #S-05
That's a monster grain bill for a 5.5 gallon batch of beer. This recipe was also an excellent learning experience for me. I had never brewed a batch this size that had 21.5 lbs of grain in it. That, along with the combination of grains I used, actually needed to be handled a little differently in the mash. My next batch of this beer will have some minor modifications to the grain bill and the mash process to smooth out the process.
As far as the beer taste is concerned, I'm pumped about this one. All these dark malts along with the molasses create a flavor symphony that I can't really begin to describe. All I can tell you is that I love it! So, next time I post an invite to come up and have some beer, you better come on up and help me get rid of this one. As of today, only four 12-ounce bottles of this one have been opened. I'm saving it for cold weather.
Cheers!
Founders Breakfast Stout
Brewery: Founders Brewing Co.
Where: Grand Rapids, MI
Beer: Breakfast Stout
Style: American Double / Imperial Stout
IBU: 60
ABV: 8.3%
I hate days like today. I have had a long work day and I was looking forward to having a good beer tonight. I came home and pulled the Founders Breakfast Stout that I have been saving for a while. I picked up a four-pack of these at Gail's Hops and Grapes last week. I'm a fan of stouts and imperial stouts. I love the richness of body and the roasted barley flavor dominance in most of them, but this particular choice is not good for me.
This beer poured the standard coffee-black color with an extra thick molasses-colored head. The aroma was definitely producing a coffee scent, and the label on this beer does boast double chocolate, coffee, and oatmeal, so I thought it would be fun to try. When I tasted this beer, there is only one word that comes to mind: ACRID. In my humble opinion, the coffee is overpowering in this beer. There is no essence of chocolate that I can detect and the roasted barley is present but it's simply overpowered by the coffee. My problem is that I'm not a coffee drinker at all. I can handle an occasional french vanilla cappuccino, but I never drink regular coffee, even with cream and sugar. To me, this beer tastes like what I would expect to find leftover in someone's coffee pot around noon or so after everyone had their morning fill. Once again, that's just me. If you ARE a coffee drinker, I would have to highly recommend giving this beer a whirl. I can't let myself underrate a beer that might be excellent because of my simple dislike of coffee.
This is only my second try of a Founders Brewing Co. beer, so I'll be sure to try some more in the future. I have three of these left if anyone is interested in trading me three other beers for them...
Post Calendar
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Mar | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | ||||
Pages
Recent Comments
- TGTondini on Man Cave Hot Dog Chili
- john Womack on Hop Slam Ale
- Hoegaarden Original White Ale | Beer For Beer Drinkers on Hoegaarden Original White Ale
- John Setzler on Double Bastard Ale
- Tom Devlin on Double Bastard Ale
Categories
Associations
Blogroll
- Asheville Beer Blog
- Beer Examiner
- Beer for Dinner
- BeerPorn
- BeerSmith Home Brewing
- Drunken Polack
- Geistbear Brewing Blog
- PintLog
Stuff
Supplies
- Austin Homebrew Supply
- Brewmasters Warehouse
- Midwest Homebrewing Supplies
- Northern Brewer
- William’s Brewing
