#68: Rogue Double Chocolate Stout

It’s been a long few weeks at work… a very long couple of weeks, with more to come…
So when a mate of mine asked me if I wanted to come round and do nothing other than geek out about beers, and look at our next brew it sounded like a pretty fantastic idea!

We muddled around with some new brewing software (just btw for any budding brewers – Beersmith is the way to go!!) for a while, and as it generally happens when you discuss such things, the thirst began to take hold…
The intention was to keep it light, just something to quench the thirst, so we polished of a Liberty Yakima Monster, which was much mellower in the bottle than I’ve had on tap …but that kind of worked for it…
Moving into the Sierra Nevada Torpedo, which was gloriously hoppy, and oh so satisfying.
…but we just couldn’t help ourselves, we moved onto something a little more …delicious is the only way I can think to describe it… The Rogue Double Chocolate Stout.

It’s a beer that I have been staring at on the shelf, which may have a little to do with the fact that it is in a bright red PVC covered bottle, but the beer inside… well where to start…
Pours dark, very dark, almost black with about half a finger of mocha coloured head that disappears pretty quickly. The nose is like a mixture of dark chocolate, milk chocolate and darker chocolate …and if you try hard, there is some more stout-y, espresso like aromas. But overall very chocolate-y.
In the mouth, it’s got a great full body, almost like drinking 20/40. Big chocolate flavours dominate the palate, big sweet milk chocolate at first, but after a couple of sips it becomes more bittersweet, a little sweet dark coffee bringing up the rear. There is just enough hop bitterness to dry out the finish so that it’s not cloying.
I was trying to find a way to sum it up, when Harley – the friend I was drinking with – came up with something quite fitting:

“How could they make this beer better? …they can’t”

A pretty big statement, and I have been lead to believe there are other Imperial stouts that are as good if not better… Nonetheless it is a

courtesy of joesixpack.net

fantastically rich beer that was almost to easy to drink at 8.7%ABV. The kind of thing that could pair well in the winter with something hearty and beef-y, but for my money just the ticket for the stout float. If you don’t know it, get ready to have your mind blown!!
It’s a pretty simple, think just like a coke float, except replace your cola, with a big rich stout! The creaminess of the icecream compliments the sweet chocolate-y flavours of the stout, while the vanilla accentuates the coffee …yuuuuuuuummmmmmm! …Finally a manly  dessert!!

#63: Harviestoun Old Engine Oil

Today is technically my day off, but like most “days off” I find myself dropping into work to see what needs to be done, and going to meetings for the slightly less urgent tasks that need to be done.
Today it was about updating our website, mostly amending the “What’s on tap?” part of our website to make it a little more user friendly, and generally making a bit more space for Beer related stuff. After which, I had plans of being productive, going to the gym, updating said website with some of the propaganda that has been missing over the last couple of months, and doing a couple of orders…
But it is after midnight, and I still haven’t done any of this, not even close! And I blame it on Kyle, our web developer… Near the end of our meeting, after talking about beer related stuff for quite a while, we were both feeling a little thirsty, and he uttered those words I rarely seem to be able to resist: “Feel like a beer?”
Before I could even think about the rest of the stuff that I had to do tonight, I heard myself saying “…yeah sure, won’t say no…”
Next thing I know I have a glass in my hand, filled with Corsendonk Pater, an Abbey style Dubbel, that is fruity and dry, and oh so refreshing. We were still working, so I didn’t really pay the fullest attention to the beer, but it was damn good …and it seemed to set the pace for the night…

We didn’t finish up until a little bit later, so I got back to work, tidied things up, emailed a couple of things home, and left intending to get some stuff done there.
…well I had the best intentions…

I cooked dinner (some spicy burritos…) and sat down to get some work done.
….but everything else suddenly became so darn interesting… Beer blogs, then DIY blogs, then my flatmates terrible TV shows… Until I decided to just take a break, have a beer, and get back to it later…
A couple of hours later, I still haven’t been able to get back to it… And I am dreading looking at it… So I figured why not write a blog post instead? Then I can still call myself productive! Right?

The beer I grabbed was one that I have has been sitting in the back of my fridge, forgotten, for the last couple of weeks, the Harviestoun Old Engine Oil.
A Porter that claims to be: Viscous, Bittersweet and Dark …lets see…

It pours a deep dark brown, almost pitch black, with about a finger of tan head. The body is so dark, when I hold it up to the light to see if any light is getting through this bad boy, I just get my reflection staring back at me… So it definitely has the dark part down.
The first thing I get on the nose is, well, for lack of a better term “beer”. And while this may sound like a stupid thing to say, the kind of thing you hope your girlfriend doesn’t say while you are picking apart the intricacies of a beer with your beer geek mates, it is the first thing that comes to mind. It’s that kind of comforting smell of beer, one that hasn’t been crazily hopped, or infused with some weird spice, or smell deceptively like a dessert. It’s that grassy, herbaceous kind of smell I remember from drinking Dad’s beer as kid (although that probably sounds worse than I mean it too…). Like when you were a little kid, you would go to watch dad play sports, and take a little sip of his beer after the game… Like, well, beer…
There is a little more depth to this one than the terrible lagers Dad used to drink after a game of squash… A nice roasty, malty sweetness, dark fruits, prune(?) there’s an inherent earthiness to it as well. Nothing to outlandish, but good, really good.
In the mouth it’s surprisingly viscous, and really tasty. At first, it’s relatively light and creamy, but as I swirl it around in my mouth the body feels like it’s increasing, and tasty coffee-like flavour begins to build. The flavour just sort of lingers and keeps building, until the bitterness seems to be fading and blending into a nice bittersweet chocolate flavour, which kind of lingers and develops for a few minutes until you are left with just a twang of hop bitterness on the sides of your tongue.

Dark? Check!
Viscous? Check!!
Bittersweet? Check!!!
This is a seriously good beer that lives up to it’s claims, and definitely will not sitting in my fridge, forgotten about, ever again!

#56: The Tasting Panel

The Saturday before last, after I dropped Becca at the Airport, and finished off a looooong week at work it seemed prudent to catch up with a couple of mates and drink some beers …some good beers!

So the call went out and a line up was put together. When we looked at the line up though, it just looked too good for any old night… and so The Tasting Panel was formed, Harley, Kenneth, Jan and Myself each of us would taste the beers, try to break down the flavours we got from them and then give it a rating out of 10. Our rating system was not set out on any established set of rules other than a simple: “if you had to rate this beer, 10 being the best you’ve ever had, 0 being the worst, what would you give it?”
Starting with some lighter beers, and kept moving down the line to some pretty special ones …with a little palate cleansing lager in between…

The first part of the line up was a few offerings from the Brewdog family….

#1: Brewdog Punk IPA
I’ve had the Hardcore IPA on many an occasion, a big intense, oh so tasty beast! But somehow I have never gotten around to trying the original… It poured a light straw colour, with about half a finger of head. The nose is light and citrussy, kind of grapefruit-y. In the mouth it’s light to medium bodied with mildly hoppy, citrus-y characters coming through, moving into a short but satisfyingly hoppy finish. Tasty, sessionable pale ale, unfortunately for me, it was struggling to stand up to an incredibly spicy beef stew that I had for dinner…
The panel gave it a average score of 6.5/10

#2: Brewdog 5am Saint
Poured a light amber colour, with a fluffy white head. The nose was citrus-y yet sweet, some tangelo, pineapple, an underlying caramel sweetness, toffee like notes. In the mouth, the first thing I get is candy sweetness, some caramel balanced out by some fresh fruity notes. That tangelo sweetness comes through more and more, but moves into a lingering hop bitterness on the finish.
I haven’t always been the biggest fan of amber ales, but this one has just the right twist, and is amazingly balanced… overall, really good beer!
The panel gave it an average score of 6.7/10

#3: Brewdog Hop Kills Nazis
It poured a dark golden colour, almost copper-tone, Kenneth called it a darker Baltic Amber which I quite liked, very poetic. The nose is full of candy sweetness, a little citrus character, some burnt toffee undertones, the alcohol is just noticeable amongst all the other aromas. It has a medium body that coats the mouth a little, flavours of orange rind, following through to a grapefruit-y burnt toffee bitterness that lingers on the palate. Pretty good beer, but the alcohol content is a little more apparent, a little less balanced than what we wanted it to be… Damn good beer, but one was enough.
The panel gave it an average score of  5.5/10

#4: Maui Coconut Porter
A bit of a favourite from way back! …I picked this one because Harley was planning an Imperial Stout for his next brew, with coconut and vanilla, seemed applicable…
Poured dark brown, nearly black, with a little bit of mocha coloured head. Nice warm roast-y coffee notes, with sweet coconut, and some kind of earthy notes coming through. In the mouth it’s got a light to medium body, with all those awesome notes you get off the nose coming through. Satisfyingly roast-y toast-y goodness, with a little sweet coconut, and just a tinge of underlying citrus …a lot better than the last time I had this, all kinds of fantastic!
The panel gave it a rating of 8.3/10

#5: Brewdog Tokyo*
The Main Event! For anyone that doesn’t know this beer, it is the second batch of their Intergalactic Fantastic Oak Aged Imperial Stout, much bigger and badder at 18.2%ABV. Big bold and brewed with Jasmine and cranberries… Mmmmm…
It pours pitch black, no light making it through the glass at all! With a small mocha head …impressive to even have a head with an 18.2%ABV! As you put your nose over the glass there is an alcohol burn at first, but once you get past that there is an aroma of coffee rinds, cedar-y oak, dark toffee, some dark fruit and it just keeps developing and changing in front of you… The mouth is insane! Rich, intense, viscous, there’s chocolate, vanilla, macerated fruit, coffee, white pepper …layer after layer of awesome!! 
The description of this beer talks about moderation.  Everything in moderation, including moderation itself. What logically follows is that you must, from time, have excess. This beer is for those times. …this is the beer that pushed us into excess this time!
The panel gave it an average of 9.7/10 …a beer that will take a bit of beating!

#6: Rogue Double Mocha Porter
I had been looking forward to this one for aaaaaaaaaages! The bottle completely covered in gaudy blue wax, letting absolutely no light in, the great beer that is it’s little brother, and the all round awesomeness that is Rogue… The Tokyo* was going to be a hard act to follow but this was setting out to be all kinds of good.
Poured a deep dark brown almost black, with about a finger of tan head. Smells exactly as you expect from a mocha beer, chocolate, coffee all the way. In the mouth there is a lot more body than expected, light to medium, but with a creaminess to the texture. Carrying on with those coffee and chocolate flavours, rolling into some balanced pine-y hop bitterness. So so good!
The panel gave this one an average of 7.9/10 

There were a few more beers after this, and some damned good ones; The Tuatara XI, Ballast Point Seamonster Stout, Avery Hog Heaven and Harley’s own Hopopitimus IPA. But to be 100% honest, with the combination of high ABV Beers and “palate cleansing” chasers, we just started to get a little pissed… and the night, like my notes, just began to degenerate into an indistinguishable mess…
…but a fun indistinguishable mess!

#42: Renaissance Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

All right almost up to speed with these posts now…

I was a little disappointed this past week, when I heard that Renaissance Brewing was staging a Tap Takeover up at O’Carrols, in Auckland, for the release of their new batch of the Craftsman Chocolate Oatmeal Stout. Their sales rep invited me along, but I had some work commitments that I just couldn’t seem to get out of  *sigh*

But it just so happened that we were having a bit of an event at work in the weekend, something I had been pushing for, for about six months now…
Fill Your Own Taps for Craft Beer! Yes! Here in Hamilton!
It took a bit of organising, but I finally got the boss to agree to it! They were installed earlier in the week, and Saturday (yesterday) was the day of our big launch!
So when I found out that I wouldn’t be able to make it to the launch of the Craftsman, I rang Renaissance, begging and pleading for a keg that we could have by the weekend.
Being the awesome guys they are, they turned around and said: “Yeah, Sure”
And so it was, we got to tap a keg of the Renaissance Craftsman Chocolate Oatmeal Stout at our little Tapstravaganza!

…not to brag, but I think I managed to get a pretty good line up organised for the launch, we had 4 taps on which we had:

1.  Emerson’s Brewers Reserve: Oreti red
2. 8 Wired Hopwired IPA
3. Renaissance Craftsman Chocolate Oatmeal Stout
4. Moa Reserve St. Josephs Tripel

The steady flow of people coming through from when we kicked of at 2pm right through to about 5 when it finally began to slow, seemed to solidify a little that this was a good way to go.
The crowd favourite was split between the 8 Wired Hop Wired and the Emerson’s Brewers Reserve, a lot of people were commenting on the fact that they loved the Craftsman, but they thought it was a little sweet to get through a full bottle …I wasn’t so sure…

When Everything wound down I took home a flagon of each to tide me through the long weekend. On the back of a cold winters night, I figured I’d start with the Craftsman I had been looking forward to since Wednesday.
…and what a good choice! It poured a deep dark brown, almost black, with about a finger of mocha coloured head. The nose was a big hit of  bittersweet chocolate, with notes of chocolate and just a hint of (you guessed it) chocolate.
I hadn’t even put the glass to my lips and I was already pretty impressed.
When I did finally get it up to my mouth it was just an explosion of more dark bittersweet chocolate! Maybe some nutty characters in the background… It had a dry, bitter finish that lingered on the palate for quite a while, really good for a chilly evening.
If I had any criticism, it would only be that I wanted it to be a little fuller on the palate, but don’t take that as a complaint! I loved every drop!

And to those who though that it was going to be too sweet to drink a flagon of it …wrong! Within the blink of an eye I had devoured the entire flagon of it, and was thirsty for more! …mmmm chocolate…

#40: Renaissance Elemental Porter

It’s been a little while since I’ve posted anything, but this time I think I have a good excuse… I was moving house!
My flatmates and I have made what we are hoping to be a “financially responsible” decision, moving out of our brand new little townhouse with all the mod cons, to a little old concrete villa on the other side of town. I am probably going to miss my air conditioning, gas cooking and underfloor heating… But it is only a short walk to work, which will hopefully be even better for the wallet. The only thing is, that means it is only a short walk from town as well, which may not be so good for my wallet…

But that’s getting ahead of myself a little… Last week I had some pretty interesting beers before the move got under way. A couple of beers that simply have to be written about! (Anybody who has let me chew their ear off over the last  few days will know exactly what I am talking about…) But before I do, I felt I should mention a beer that I had all but forgotten about for a little while, the Renaissance Elemental Porter.

Last Wednesday it was Dave’s last day at work, he was finishing up, ready to go back to Ireland for good. So after we finished up at work, a few of us sat down to have a quiet little drink. At this point I was thinking to myself: It’s OK, I may be moving in the weekend, but it;s Dave’s last day! I can have a drink…?
Then we got word, House on Hood was tapping a new keg of the Elemental Porter. I started to have a little internal struggle… I need  to be packing, but it’s good beer, with a good mate that I may not see again for a loooong time…
It’s pretty obvious which direction I went in… (otherwise this would be a pretty boring post about packing socks…)

It was a cold, wintery Wednesday night (by Hamilton standards anyway), the bar was deserted which meant that we got our beers pretty damn quick. Straight away there were these amazing roasty coffee notes on the nose. The mouth was full, without being heavy, carrying a perfect balance of  dark fruit, chocolate and coffee like flavours, leaving a moreishly long, chocolatey finish. Such a great beer! If you haven’t had one, GET ONE! Every time I have this beer, I am amazed at how they can balance the flavour so well, it straddles that line where one can be satisfying, but I could happily drink pint after pint.
…so we did!

Needless to say, didn’t get a lot of packing done that night. The next thing I knew I was at another bar down the road, at 2.30 in the morning, with a group of people I hardly knew. Discussing the finer points of growing your own herbs with possibly the most tattoo covered man I think I have seen… (Really nice guy though!)

#20: Liberty Never Go Back Imperial Oat Stout

Well, after I got all of my procrastinating done, I managed to get down to Wellington in good time on Saturday. Not too worse for wear after a seven hour drive!

I arrived at a friends place, where I was going to be staying, a little before 5pm. We discussed our options for the evening. I had just driven half way down the country, and she had just finished a long day at work so we were feeling a little Nanna-ish to put it politely. So, we decided on dinner and a movie.
Our original plans had been to check out The Tasting Room, check out a selection of good beer and wine. When we arrived though, it was pretty packed, and there was nothing that really took our fancy… Nothing was really wrong with the place, but nothing was really right either …if that makes sense.
So the decision was made to go to this little hole in the wall Italian spot down the road, Nicolini’s. It was one of the tiniest restaurants that I have been in for a long time. Long and skinny, and packed full of as many little wooden tables and chairs as you could possibly fit in there, but cosy somehow, not cramped. The décor was cheesy, stereotypical “Italian”, bad paintings on the wall, candles in Italian wine bottles, mismatched chairs, “Italian” music (i.e. lots of Dean Martin). It was all so tragically cliché but it came together seamlessly. Paired with good service, and the most amazing Lamb Faggatini I’ve ever had! It was a winner! They had no real beer list to speak of (aside from the essentials), and I know this is supposed to be a “Beer Blog” but it was such an amazing little place, it just  had to be mentioned!
Long story short, next time you are in Wellington, make sure to visit Nicolini’s! I’d say get in there early though, we watched quite a few people get turned away because they were just too busy (…understandably so!).
Oh, afterwards our movie was The Hunger Games, which I am not going to talk about at all, because you need to see it! Great movie! Really intense… I’ve found that most movies that have been talked up as much as this one has, generally fall a little flat for me …they can just never live up to the hype. But… I’ll say no more, just watch it!

Easter Sunday was billed as our Lazy Sunday, we stared with brunch at a local café in Eastborne, and progressed into a jug of Sangria and a few beers in the sun. Most of them were pretty run of the mill, a few of the good old Emersons Bookbinder, and Emersons Pilsner. Not to dismiss them at all, great beers in their own right, but more session beers when compared to the little surprise that was waiting for me in Wellington.

Even though it’s not the beer I wanted to write about, I needed to show you just how good this beer looked, on the deck, in the sun… *sigh* I wish I was back there right now…

My friend, possibly being one of the most awesome people in the world!!! (yes she deserves 3 exclamation marks!) Instead of getting me an easter egg, bought me a bottle of Liberty Brewing Never Go Back Imperial Oat Stout.
I was lost for words! I’m not what you would call a “sweet” person, so a good beer is a much better fit for me. Not to mention, as much as I have wanted to, I haven’t been able to get my hands on anything from Liberty yet. Plus, you may recall in one of my recent posts that I am a Dark Beer fiend.
This was a hat-trick of awesomeness! All in one 750 mL bottle! (She even helped me “set the scene” for the lovely Easter photo)
The beer itself pours pitch black, with about a finger and a half of incredibly dark head. So dark it took me a second to see where the beer ended and the head began. The nose is big and rich, full of roasted malts, coffee, dark chocolate, and just a hint of boozeyness …getting pretty damned excited by this point…
And in the mouth it does not disappoint!  Holy crap it’s good! All the layers come together, it’s just so well balanced that you don’t even notice the big 10.6%ABV. I would actually liken it to drinking dark chocolate, but the good stuff. Think Swiss, maybe like 80% cocoa solids. Just the perfect end to a great Easter Sunday…

Thank you Becca for indulging my taste buds! …I’m salivating just thinking about that beer…

#11: Titanic Stout

Monday is my Sunday. With the combination of miserable weather, and just simply waking up with a serious case of the cbf”s, it quickly became a lazy Monday. Chances are, there was probably quite a lot that I should have been doing …but nothing which I couldn’t find a good excuse for.

During this day of relaxation (read: being as lazy as possible), around about dinner time, it occurred to me that this weather could best be described as very “English” by nature. So I figured, why not have an English beer? I chose the Titanic Stout.
It pours a deep dark brown, almost black if not for a reddish tinge, with a mountain of head, that sticks around forever. The nose is not particularly strong, mostly cocoa, with a hint of sourness…? It’s hard to pick, but there’s something a little savoury going on somewhere deep in the background, I can’t really distinguish what it is, but there’s something there…
It’s quite light on the palate, the first thing to hit you is burnt coffee, followed by a big chocolate hit. There’s a sour note as well, which I’m not sure if I like, but at the same time I wouldn’t call it offensive either. The finish is also pretty short.
Overall, decent beer, probably not going to make my top ten list any time soon, but decent enough.

This does seem to be one of those curious beers though, that tastes better the bigger the mouthful you take …go figure…