Beer!

I lived in SE Asia for 15 years before coming to the US so I really love the fruit. The smell is very distinct and strong though personally I don't find it repulsive. Probably because I grew up around it.

 

A favorite of mine from Portland, OR.

 

Durian ice cream isn't bad.

 

Durian ice cream is a good way to enjoy the flavor while keeping the "fragrance" in check (subdued by the temperature and other ingredients).

 

Favourites of the week:




Stone Brewing Co. Enjoy By 10.31.15 IPA


Presentation

· Pours opaque gold, with fast rising bubbles. The thick, foamy head reaches about three finger widths in height in my IPA glass.

Nose

· Piney hops scent

· A little grassy?

· Light alcohol after disturbing glass

Taste

· Quite piney

· Subtle sweetness to balance out hop bitterness

· Not excessively bright (problem with some IPAs)

· Slight hint of tree nut flavor?

· Long hops aftertaste, citrus notes become more pronounced, grass again

Mouthfeel

· Moderate carbonation; tingly without being bubbly

· Very slightly oily?

· Coats the whole mouth

· Large sip becomes foamy as it swishes back toward the throat

Overall: Perhaps my favourite IPA so far. Takes the place of Torpedo Extra IPA by Sierra Nevada and Tricerahops Double IPA by Ninkasi. Almost too drinkable, well balanced and delightful on each and every sip.



No tasting notes on this one, but I can say this much: It was damned good.

 

Finished up a St. Bernardus Abt 12 and have Allagash Curieux in the glass now.

In a couple hours I have a beer share and will be consuming too many to list.

 

Great beers. I have Otter Creek's Couch Surfer oatmeal stout for myself today.

 

Rogue Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout, 22oz bottle poured at about 45-50 degrees. Good chocolatey and dark roasted malt aroma. Slightly sweet at the beginning of the sip, to dark chocolate, to toffee and roasted malts. Slightly heavy and thick. Completely coats the mouth on every sip. I don't think I like this as much as Ninkasi Oatis, but I think it's a great oatmeal stout. On par with Brown's, in upstate New York.

 

Drinking Otter Creek's Couch Surfer oatmeal stout. Nice moderately roasty with some char and dark chocolate. Nice beer.

 

Might pop open a Stone Smoked Porter later. Pretty satisfied with that oatmeal stout earlier.

 

Schlafly's Oatmeal Stout is also very good. I thought Rogue's mouthfeel was more syrupy than creamy but was still a good beer; nothing like Boris the Crusher motor oil. There doesn't seem to be a huge variance in the quality of craft oatmeal stouts except for the awful ones like Trader Joes's Stockyard Chalk Stout. Almost all would benefit from being on cask though.

Porters seem to vary a lot more. The better stuff like Deschutes just completely shits on decent but not great ones like Edmund Fitzgerald which sometimes seems watery, overcarbonated, and cola like a bad schwartzbier in comparison. It almost feels like they are trying to use hops rather than roasted malts (or old sour beer in the case of 18th century beer/Guinness FES) to balance out the sweetness of the malts and those hops faded.

 

I agree that oatmeal stouts tend to have less variance than other dark beers. I think there's enough variance to describe the differences, but there aren't a whole lot of mediocre or "just okay" oatmeal stouts. It seems to me that they're either very good or unimpressive.

Chocolate stouts, regular stout ales and imperial stouts have greater variance as well.

I haven't had enough porters to build many strong preferences, though I can say that Black Butte is certainly a better beer than Stone's Smoked Porter. This is a good beer, without a doubt, but having had Deschutes' flagship brew, I find it somewhat lacking.

 

If you drank Edmund Fitz and it was overcarbed and watery then your distributor is doing something horrible to the beer. That's a consistent as heck beer and has been for the 8 years I've drank it.

 

Founder's Harvest Ale is great as always.

I used to think it was a great beer until I regularly started drinking better done examples of the style. Fresh it's a good beer but I can't go back to that schwartzbier soda like carbonation, thin mouthfeel, and wonky malt bill. People just think it's "better" as it's hoppier which is fine but the hops definitely serve to mask the beer's flaws. The six month shelf life Great Lakes puts on it is horseshit.

 

Our new home is 15 mins from here.. so I'll be picking this up.. thanks Cee!

 

Eddy Fitz is widely regarded as a top 5 porter in the world. Black Butte and Founders Porter being two others that are phenomenal. I don't know what condition the Eddy Fitz your getting is, maybe the quality took a shit recently, but your description doesn't fit any Eddy I've had, and I've had a lot of it.

It certainly has never come across as hoppy to me and at 37ibus it's not convincing any IPA drinkers to switch over. In comparison, Black Butte is 30 ibus and Founders is 45. Yes there is a lot more when considering bitterness than ibus, but let's not get into that as 30-40 ibus is widely considered on the mild side regardless of residual sugars, hop schedules, and etc.

Not sure why you mention shelf life, but I'll pick up a 6 pack once my cold goes away and report back. If it's turned to shit then I'm going to be really pissed off.

#2 ranked here
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/159/

#9 here, though some of the ones above it aren't straight porters
http://www.ratebeer.com/beerstyles/porter/5/

 

Picked up an old friend at the behest of science. Normal pour with a soft aroma giving chocolate and a mild malt sweetness. Flavor certainly not overcarbed, mild char/astringency with dark chocolate and a creamy/near full mouthfeel. Solid porter.

 

It's a solid beer, not even close to a top five porter though. Deschute's, Founders, Maine's King Titus, Port City, and Bell's were all better American robust porters in a blind porter shootout I had last year. The winner was the British Meantime Porter with it's slight 18th century lactic tang but I haven't seen that one for sale in my area since SABMiller bought Meantime. RIP that and cask Pilsner Urquell after the InBev takeover. Hopefully they will just collapse under a mountain of bad debt and decreasing cash flow.