Stouts! Yum!!!!

Okay so as I delve into the Craft Beers out there I am slowly realizing that Stouts may very well be the beers I enjoy the most. I love the Sam Adams Cream Stout, and as I said in a past blog entry Friendship Brewing Company Part 2....Three Brews From Friendship Brewing Company where I rated One of Friendship Brewing Company’s beers, their Imperial Stout, Cherry bombed very high. As a matter of fact I set it as a standard Stout with a 10 (and a bit of a spoiler regardless of the good words below it is still the standard Stout). 

 So over the weekend I added two Stouts to my list of beers to drink before you die. The first was on a visit to Stacked Burger Bar in St Louis  

 

From their list of about 27 beers (this does include the regular big box beers, but why have one of those when you can try something new or good) Their Beer menu   has some great choices

They also serve some killer food and burgers you can custom build...

 

 

So if you live in the St Louis Area or are here for a visit I highly suggest this as a place to have a burger and a beer

Anyway I decided on the Nitro Milk Stout   

 

Description from their site Taking America Back. Dark & delicious, America’s great milk stout will change your perception about what a stout can be. Pouring hard out of the bottle, Milk Stout Nitro cascades beautifully, building a tight, thick head like hard whipped cream. The aroma is of brown sugar and vanilla cream, with hints of roasted coffee. The pillowy head coats your upper lip and its creaminess entices your palate. Initial roasty, mocha flavors rise up, with slight hop & roast bitterness in the finish. The rest is pure bliss of milk chocolate fullness. - See more at: http://lefthandbrewing.com/beers/milk-stout-nitro/#sthash.2uSBOe8j.dpuf

 

Now this is a bad video but take a look at the end, it looks like Chocolate milk being poured and what you can’t see is the wavey head on top it was a work of art.

This isn’t so much my normal rating and compare type post as much as just a blog entry about two great stouts. But I will say this one as far as Milk Stouts go is my new 10 a Great coffee, vanilla, creamy taste and everything a beer should be. The down side is it is a filling beer so after two plus my burger I was quite full…But it was worth it!!!!

On Sunday the in laws came over for my birthday (since everyone was out of town on my actual birthday this was kind of a makeup party we grabbed some beer from the local supermarket and as usual I tried to grab something different, So I grabbed a 22oz  Stone Imperial Russian Stout

 

From their Site

Stone Imperial Russian Stout is so thick, rich and well, sinful, you might worry that you'll be doomed to the fiery pits just for thinking about a sip. Rest assured, however, that even though this seemingly pernicious brew is indeed as black as sin, we guarantee that no actual sin was committed in making it... you'll have to add that on your own. This massive and intensely aromatic beer abounds with notes of anise, black currants, coffee, and roastiness, and its heavy palate is nothing to be trifled with!

 

And let's be real I know what I like and I am learning as I go but here is a video from Youtube and Stone Brewings site that explains this brew a bit better....

 

With that, in my opinion a really great Stout not as thick as the Milk stout, and although a higher alcohol volume it did not kick like it had hard alchol in it. To me this Black Brew was delicious and without going into too much detail I would have to on its own accord give it a 10 but if I had to choose between the two I still give the Milk Stout the edge  10 and this a 9.8

How does it compare with the Cherry Bombed? At some point I will do a taste comparison as I get a few more Stouts under my belt (or with how heavy the Milk Stouts are maybe above my belt) Also as compared with my current go to beers but for now I highly recommend going out and grabbing either of these beers, and if you can catch Friendship Brewing at a brew fest here in Missouri or when they open, (I will have updates on that soon) the Cherry Bombed rocks. But for now Sit back and enjoy the beers out there that are not watered down and mass produced.

If you do have a chance to watch the pour on the Left hand Milk stout, as geeky as it may sound, it is very cool (and my camera phone does not tell do it justice)