This week I try Harpoon Brewery’s much improve Chocolate Stout.

I also try some beer from the _insert_stinky_body_part_ of Ohio, Akron.

Tonight’s musical pairing is Mr November by The National as I am working with #TeamBoston to raise money to destroy cancer. Any amount from $1 up matters. Thank you in advance.

Portsmouth Brewery has that classic New England brew-pub atmosphere, incredibly smart beers, great swag and unbelievable mussels. You can’t go wrong.

This is not a brown ale. Watch the video to find out what it really is.

This is the sort of stick-to-your-ribs breakfast is what gets the Brits to 10:00 AM tea and cake. I could get used to that. I could also see myself adding Founder’s Breakfast Stout to my regular rotation. Crack this English-styled brew and put your snout down in it. Take a deep snort and allow yourself to be overtaken by a nutty, coffee-chocolate, slightly smoky aroma that you can nearly taste. It pours like motor oil and has a gorgeous head that you could float a penny on. It has a deep, rich flavor and is a lot more viscous than it looks. It is complex, as a stout should be. The beer is pitch black with red hues and a thick head that seems to emit an aroma that draws you into the experience. If you drink more than one in a session, you might pay for it later. This is a sipping brew, an indulgence. There is a touch of carbonation for amusement, but overall I am in amazement.

Some folks call this a “very drinkable beer”. I found it to be heavy, and a sipper. I could see myself taking 2-3 times longer to finish a Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout than say a highly sessionable beer like Samuel Adams Boston Lager or even Brooklyn Lager. One was more than enough for me at 10% ABV.

This is a beer you must try (if you are of age). The flavor is balanced, but they might have called it “Black Coffee Stout” and noted hints of chocolate or chocolate aroma. It is deserving of a top-tier rating for its complexity, profusion and weight.

Happy New Year!

New Year’s in Japan is a major Buddhist holiday and is called Oshogatsu.  New Year’s here is home and family oriented. Most of the country businesses shut down for at least three days, sometimes more. The arrival of the new year is celebrated during the first two weeks of January, during which “firsts” of the year play an important role.  A “first” is called hatsu. Everything from the the first temple visit of the year (hastsumode) to the first business day (goyohajime), is duly noted.  So technically, I can call this my hatsuhihyou, the first review of the year. FIRST!

What I have for this review is Lake Towada Stout, locally made in Towada. 5% ABV in a 350ml bottle. The bottle’s label features a pretty winter scene of Lake Towada’s famous Maiden statue. The bottle cap was interesting, a hybrid between a cap and a pull-tab as seen in the picture. I’ve noticed lot more of these caps in the last several months.

My initial reaction to my first whiff of the pour was “burnt band-aids”.  After doing a little reading, in the future I will use the term “phenolic” to describe a nose similar to this, but I think “burnt band-aids” catches the imagination, even if it doesn’t sound polished.   I was a bit concerned that I got a bad beer and since I was put off by the smell, I didn’t have a drink right away. A few moments later,  the phenol gave way to an almost-but-not-quite-burnt toast scent, along with a a bit of coffee.

Getting the beer into the glass, I found the dark, black-brown color of the beer to be  handsome and very visually pleasing.  The pour resulted in a rich, creamy, coffee colored head rising up, but settling quite quickly.  It was very hard to see bubbles, but they were there.

I like bitter and sour tastes but my first taste of the stout was so surprisingly bitter I was taken aback. For the first half of the glass, I wasn’t really sure about the beer and prior to doing reviewing probably would have foisted it on my spouse or poured it out but I wanted to really work through the beer and challenge myself.

I made sure the beer wasn’t too cold and I took my time with the glass and found that the patient approach paid off . The stout did a reverse-origami sort of thing, several flavors unfolding and revealing themselves. By the end of the glass, I found a  lot of  nice things going on in the brew that I really liked. I was pretty excited and proud of myself for sticking with it!

The carbonation was nicely done; active but not turbulent,  I particularly felt the fizz at the sides of my tongue. Mouthfeel was smooth but not overly creamy with a medium-rich body that was substantial without being chewy.  Almost too bitter at first, although this settled down as I worked through my glass.  Smoky overall with tastes of coffee in the middle, dark toasty malt with perhaps a bit of burnt toast or very dark caramel. Nutty and toasty in the mix as well as a nice touch of hops. Despite the intial band-aid (phenolic) smell of the beer, no weird aftertaste in the very long-lasting swallow.

Near the very end, I enjoyed a piece of gingerbread spice/dark/white chocolate bark with the brew. I love pairing chocolate and beer, but if that’s not for you then this brew might be good with a hearty beef stew.

I got to the end of the glass, and noticed some sediment at the bottom.  Peering into the bottle itself, I noticed a ring at the bottom.  This leads me, in my very inexpert opinion, to think the brew was bottle-conditioned. I’d welcome corrections and explanations if I’m mistaken.

Overall, a solid dry stout, nicely made and good for a chilly, windy New Year’s Eve.

Kampai!

Brooklyn Ale / Pennant Ale ’55: Rating: B
Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout: Rating: A-

This is my first post as a Belching Monkey correspondent. As such, I want to preface my review with a brief intro. I am something of a “food dude”, an espresso freak and a beer imbiber… not necessarily in that order. Now, as a morning person, I hold a special fondness for espresso. It might even be said I adore it. How the bean is chosen, picked, blended, roasted, aged after roasting, the grind, the brewing pressure/temperature/time…you get the picture, all important. Not a lot of ‘dunkin d’s for me. I also love beer! The chill, the tingle, the sound, the variety – a beer for every occasion, every mood. Nothing warms my heart like a “…cold beer on a hot Christmas morning” (Homer Simpson) So, very appropriate that my start as a BM correspondent is a review of a local brew here in Calgary, the Big Rock Espresso Stout. Beer and espresso – what could be better?

Upon opening, the initial waft of smell was amazingly underwhelming. I expected a stronger, heavy malt smell. What I got was a sweet, toasted barley odor, but very subtle. The pour was very reminiscent of a perfect espresso pull – dark, almost black with a thick, dense, crema like head. 

The first sip was a fantastic surprise – almost carbonated on the tongue, a bit of gingerbread, lightly sweet yet very flavorful, a strong roasted barley flavor without a hint of bitterness. On the tail end of the swallow, there it was – the espresso. Not the bitterness normally attributed to espresso, but the sweet, almost oily slide of a perfect crema on a perfect espresso shot. As a way of explanation, only a very few espresso shots achieve the venerable “sweet” nomer. A perfect pull will extract only the most complete flavour attributes leaving all bitterness behind. The resulting taste, rather than being the normal “kick in the head” bitterness we are all accustomed to, is actually sweet and very thick and syrupy in consistency. What Big Rock has done, amazingly, is achieve that with their blend here.  And no aftertaste, no bitterness whatsoever. 

Interestingly enough, as the stout increased in temperature, the complexity of flavour increased as well. There was more caramel and chocolate coming across. So much so that since I was baking chocolate cupcakes for my daughter’s birthday while tasting, I decided to sample one at the tail end of my glass. Fantastic! Truly one of the only beers I have ever known that not only holds up against something as sweet as a cupcake, but actually added to the experience. The cupcake, bitten after the stout, achieved an almost smoky chocolate taste. And the espresso of the stout deepened and became even bolder, yet still without a hint of bitter.

Summary? A very sessionable stout that goes extremely well on its own but could shine as a dessert beer too. I will be keeping a case of this in my fridge to drink responsibly all through this holiday season.