Beer Review: Oskar Blues Ten Fidy Stout

It’s awfully cold here in Middle Tennessee, and the roads are pretty near impassable in places, thanks to the ice and snow we received in the last 36 hours. It’s a great time for a stout! Unfortunately, I don’t think I have any stouts on hand to enjoy, so instead I thought I would post a review of one I’ve tried recently: Oskar Blues’ Ten Fidy Stout.

About the Brewer

Great canned beer? The term has been an oxymoron for craft beer lovers used to getting their full-flavored beers from bottles only. But in November of 2002, Oskar Blues Brewery (in tiny Lyons, Colorado, pop.1400) changed that by launching its “Canned Beer Apocalypse.”

The brewery began hand-canning its hoppy, assertive-but-elegant Dale’s Pale Ale on a table-top machine that sealed just one can at a time. The move made Oskar Blues the first US craft brewer to brew and can its own beer.

(From Oskar Blues’ Web site)

The Pour
This pours thickly out of the can to a very thick, dark caramel colored two finger head.  The beer looks as black as black can be…as a matter of fact, I think it sucked some of the light out of the room, like a black hole in a glass!  The head doesn’t lace very much to speak of.

The Nose
This has a great stout nose.  There is a great deal of roasted malt and smoky notes, with traces of caramel and oak also popping up now and then.  There are strong hints of espresso.  This smells like it’s going to be one big bold beer, one that lives up to the moniker, “stout”.

The Taste
This beer seems very thick (which is fine) and overly sweet (not so fine). The sweetness lingers well past the finish.  It is the very epitome of full-bodied, like a fine 10W-40 motor oil.  There is some roasted malt flavor, but it is quite overpowered by what tastes like a heavy dose of saccharine sweetness.  You only slighty notice that is has a higher ABV, and as it warms, it gains a hoppy edge on the finish.  More espresso notes, hints of chocolate and some slightly musty, dark fruit flavors (raisins?) also make an appearance as the stout warms.

Overall
This could have (should have?) been a better beer.  It seemed to me they sweetened it too much, perhaps to make the higher ABV less noticeable?  A higher ABV, and the flavors and warmth it can bring, is not necessarily a bad thing…as a matter of fact it can add great character to a beer. They shouldn’t have tried so hard to hide it.

Recommended: Not really

Price: Not sure…was part of an auction package

ABV: 10.5%

Beer Review: Guinness Draught

I’ve been reviewing beers with this blog since January 2007 (3 years now….wow!) and oddly enough, I have never reviewed Guinness Draught.  That changes tonight.  Now, I first tried Guinness years ago, when I began experimenting with different beers.  I tried it, and….how can I put this delicately….I hated it!

Well, I hadn’t touched a Guinness since, until Mrs. Beer Snob decided to make beef and Guinness pie, and I had some leftover cans of Guinness Draught.  Naturally I thought it would be great to do a review of it.

The Pour
Upon pouring this into a pint glass, the first reaction is, “This is one beautiful beer!”  When you first pour it, it looks brown in the glass as it comes alive in the glass and releases bubbles into a gorgeous very light beige (almost white, really) thick pillowy head.  When the beer settles down, the beer itself is almost completely black in the glass with the most beautiful head you can find in a beer. The contrast in the beer and the head is striking!

The Nose
This smells lightly of roasted malts, but without any hint of sweetness.  It is an Irish stout, after all, which is a drier stout than some other sweet stouts.  It smells somewhat clean, and there are definite hints of coffee beans.

The Taste
This has a very clean, smooth and refreshing mouthfeel and is lighter bodied than you would guess from the pour alone.  There is a very slight roasted flavor profile and it is somewhat dry on the finish.  Sounds good so far, but despite the previous descriptions, the flavor leaves me literally with a sour look on my face (something akin to the old bitter beer face).  It tasted metallic and just unpleasant to me.  I had to  follow it with a bowl of Lucky Charms to get the taste out of my mouth.

Overall
I hate Guinness. It can’t be more clear than that. It tasted metallic and just bad, and was not a pleasant beer.  If you like the flavor, for some weird reason, it is very drinkable. To me, it tastes like some sort of chemical, and Guinness’ success can be directly attributable to a job well done by their marketing folks. All hype and not much else.

Recommended: Not to my worst enemy.

Price: $7.99/4 14.9 oz cans

ABV: 4.2% (+/- 1%?)

Beer Review: Adelscott Biere Aromatisee Au Malt A Whisky

This, it turns out, is my 100th post. I decided to post a review from tasting notes I took on my trip to France last year. As best I can tell, Adelscott Bière Aromatisèe Au Malt À Whisky is a beer aged in whisky barrels, though I can’t be sure of that at all.

I bought the beers I tried in France with absolutely no frame of reference at all, so I had no idea if I was buying something akin to our Budweiser or something of quality.  I tended to lean towards beers that said “brune” (brown) somewhere in the name, or this one, because it sounded like it was aged in whisky barrels. I’ve had very enjoyable experiences with beers aged in whiskey or bourbon barrels, so I gave it a shot.

The Pour
This poured to a two and a half finger thick head that was quite white in color and dissipated quickly. It did, though, leave great lacing on the glass. The beer itself was a gorgeous coppery caramel color.

The Nose
There were definitely biscuity and caramel notes. Hints of malt and whiskey were also present, so it lives up to its name.  The whiskey hints seemed to be smoky and woody notes.  There were hints of fruit there as well, perhaps sour cherry.

The Taste
This beer was full of smoky and woody flavors, as the nose promised, but without being ridiculously smoky or like licking an oak armoire or anything!  :)  It was medium bodied, and the smoky and woody flavors were prominent throughout, and lingered on the finish well past the last swallow.

Overall
Overall, it was a pretty decent beer, although honestly, my enjoyment of the beer could definitely have been influenced by the fact that I was drinking it in Paris, France.  There’s just something about Europe that makes everything taste, sound and smell better.  There was one thing the beer purist in me didn’t like. The can said it contained colorant. Don’t color the beer….ever.

Recommended: If you are ever anywhere where this is available, absolutely. You never know when you’ll see it again!

Price: €1.67/50cl (50 centiliters)
ABV: 5.8%