Lagunitas Brown Shugga'

Cheap and tasty.  Everything I want in a beer.

You can sip this or drink quickly.  A touch of sweetness and some body too.

Worth the adventure if you like them dark and sweet!

4.5 stars.

Couple more notes: 9.7% alcohol.  Reminds me of Old Skull Splitter a  beer from the Orkney Islands (you used to be able to get it at BevMo!)

Grand Teton Brewery Black Cauldron Stout

Ah,  we've found a winner!

Smooth,  creamy, with hints of coffee.   7.87% alcohol and it provides a bit of a buzz.

"Do not operate machinery when drinking heavily" or so they say.

Nice to sip and thick and just the item I've been looking for.   A bit of sweetness with hints of the bottom of the Cauldron. 

Nice head when poured down the side.   Pleasant to the palate.  

Mother suggests hints of chocolate and "God I don't know what else, perhaps malt!"

" Nice after taste allows for sip by sip. " " God,  I love the clouds. "  (Off topic,  but I'll let it through.)

That is the Black Cauldron Imperial Stout by Grand Teton Brewery out of Utah.   Provided by an unknown visitor to the folks' house.   I pass on my thanks for that too.

Smith's Double Chocolate Stout

I'm pretty sure this is another English stout.

What I liked about it was the texture.  This is not a thin drink.

But like almost all of the English drinks, a bit too dry for me.  It filled my Duval glass, probably the wrong way to drink it, but handy most handy.

I tasted more coffee flavours (it is a British stout!) than chocolate in this one. 

I'd drink it again, but I've still not found my drink.

I picked up a bottle of Cali Creamin' Vanilla Cream Ale from the Safeway.  If I break 80 today, I'll crack it and we'll see.

The Famous Taddy Porter

This is from Samuel Smith Old Brewery Tadcaster and it's the Famous Taddy Porter.

English made and a bit on the thin side, but more body and a hint of sweetness distinguishes it from the other English Stouts I've discussed.

I enjoyed this as it's closer to what I want.  But I'd prefer more body, depth and sweetness. 

There doesn't seem to be much alcohol, and I don't see the amount on the bottle.  But they say it's brewed in stone squares in Yorkshire.  That ought to be important to someone!

It came in a 550 ml bottle and I've just about finished it and there is no real buzz going on.  Considering I may be a bit dehydrated, it's a bit strange.

I'll give this 3.5 stars.  More to my liking then the English stouts I've talked about earlier.

Double chocolate is the next up and then it will be shopping time again.

Murphy's Stout and St. Peter's Cream Stout Report

The Murphy's comes in the handy 4 pack of 14.4 ounce cans. 

I would characterize this as a typical British beer/ale/whatever.  I mean by that is a bit thin and very dry.  I'm not saying I didn't drink them with joy, but I wish for a bit more body and more sweetness. 

I'm sorry I didn't save prices, but by the ounce, Murphy's is probably fairly inexpensive.

I took this over to David and Sue's and David, an Englishman, had a Wexford Beer which I drank.  Same stuff as the Murphy's (which was described as Irish Draught Style), dry and thin.

Ok, on to St. Peter's, which I've not had.

This is also from the UK, Suffolk per the bottle.  The bottle was oval in shape and is described at an authentic replica of the 1770 model.  They tell me that the oval style was typical of that period.  But a nice clear green and Barb had claimed it for a vase.  More reason to empty in one go around.

Pint bottle, described as a chocolate stout. 

It's nice and heavy and thick.  Contrast that to the Murphy's and Wexford.  Still a touch dry, but it's so thick that one doesn't mind this too much.

Very much a sipping stout and not a toss it back pint after pint drink. 

I like this a lot.  It's probably too pricey for my Scottish soul, but for special occasions, it does a nice job.


Murphy's and Wexford a solid 3 stars.  They lack body and sugar to get another star from me.

I'll go 4 stars for the St. Peter's a surprise from England and worth a try.

Introduction and all of that

Hello Kind Readers,

I've found myself gravitating towards the stouts and darker beers lately and I wanted to jot down a few notes to keep track of what I've had.

I've had some BevMo gift cards in my wallet (Thanks, Jay and Renee!) for a while and the wallet is getting too big, so I thought I'd see if I could empty it a bit.

So off to BevMo Barb and I went.

I was looking for Milk Stouts that I had just heard about.  They are supposed to be a bit sweeter than the stouts.  I ended up with some others and didn't see any milk stouts, but at check out the clerk mentioned they did have them, and I had him show me where.  So next time I'll get a couple of those.

But this time around we have:

• Young's Double Chocolate  Stout
• Taddy Porter
• St. Peter's Cream Stout
• Murphy's Stout

Most of these are British, which I've found in the past to be to dry for my taste.  Murphy's is in the fridge and I'll have one after my round of bridge this afternoon.

 One of the issues with some of these is that they come in a 20+ ounce bottle and if I drink it myself and the alcohol is a bit high, I'm pretty useless for the rest of the day.  But I'm up to the challenge!  Murphy's is a 4 pack of 16 ounce guys.  I think they have the magic carbonation depth bomb in them, so they might not be a full 16 ounces.  I'll let you all know. 

 Cheers, Rich

9/16/2016