Day 688: Rogue Voodoo Doughnut

Several weeks ago I found out that my local Whole Foods got in a shipment of the Rogue Voodoo Doughnut Chocolate Banana  Peanut Butter stout. I like Rogue's beer. I really like Voodoo Doughnuts. And despite having heard from many people that the first iteration of the Rogue/Voodoo beer was a terrible, smoky mess, I could not resist the siren song of a stout with flavors of chocolate and peanut butter. (See evidence here, here and here.)

Can someone come over and rake all those leaves?
Mr. Blog and I are too busy drinking beer.

It poured an almost black brown color with a deep tan, full head. It smelled strongly of bananas that faded nicely into strong dark chocolate aromas. As it sat on the table next to me, I could easily smell the chocolate scent wafting over to me. I took a sip and my first thought is that it is kind of watery. Another sip. Yup, watery. There's some chocolate in the flavor but it's light compared to the smell. There is a lot of coffee, which I wasn't expecting. There was also something perfumey in there and I can't describe it any better than that. Sadly I'm not getting any peanut butter and I had to work hard to get any banana. I wavered between rating this one average, but the more I tried to drink it and then sleeping on it overnight, I decided that it was getting a poor rating. 

Beer stats

Style: Stout

ABV: 5.3%

IBUs: Unknown

Rating: Poor

Previously reviewed from Rogue

Beard beer, more Beard Beer, Eugene City Brewery Honey Orange Wheat Ale, Juniper ale, the sampler 

Day 651: Spring House Big Gruesome

Despite my general thinking that I don't like big stouts and porters during the warm summer months, that didn't stop me from trying a few of the new ones I found this summer (Tired Hands 5 out of 5, DuClaw Sweet Baby Jesus). This one goes in the peanut butter beer category, which surprisingly is actually a category of beer for me now.

This is the Spring House Big Gruesome--a chocolate peanut butter stout. It poured nearly black as night with a chocolate milk color head.  It smells of fresh peanut butter and cocoa. The flavor is predominantly coffee, bitter chocolate with undertones of peanuts. It's creamy of full of dark roasted malt flavor and finishes with a nice bite.

Beer stats
Style: Stout
ABV: 8%
IBUs: Unknown
Rating: Great

Previously reviewed from Spring House
After visiting their tap room this spring, here are reviews of Goofy Foot (summer wheat), Cliff (saison), Little Gruesome (PB&J stout)
I've also had Cosmic Monster (quad)

More Goofy Foot,  more Cliff, Robot Surf Factory (IPA), Seven Gates (pale ale)

Beer 360: Counting Down and Getting Nostalgic with Young's Double Chocolate Stout

I'm shocked that I'm up to #360 today. I've said this before, but this year has flown by in a blur of beer bottles, cans and drafts. I realize I'm the one writing the posts and trust me I have double-checked my counting on more than one occasion. But, wow, where does time go? How is it #360 already? Final tallies are being compiled so I have tons of proof to mark the past year. But still. Seriously.

Tonight's beer made me nostalgic for my childhood. Yes, my childhood. Bear with me...this all makes sense in my head. I'm drinking a Luxury Double Chocolate Stout from Wells & Young. It is a milk stout brewed in England with a 5.2% ABV.


This one is right up there with Left Hand's milk stout. The Young's pours black as night with a full, cocoa color head. It smells of chocolate and lightly roasted malts. The flavor and carbonation combine to remind me of a fizzy chocolate soda. There are also notes of lightly roasted coffee in there along with a nice general nuttiness. It's sweet but not sugary and very easy to drink.

And you wonder how this relates to my childhood? My grandmother always had Faygo soda in the fridge. If you're familiar with this brand, you'll know they made the most ridiculous flavors of soda. My go to Faygo? The chocolate, of course.

Cheers!

Beer 201: Back to Portland...Next Stop Rogue

Day #2 in Portland involved a trip to Rogue Brewery's outpost on NW Flanders. At the time I didn't realize it, but Rogue has a number of outlets. The Distillery and Public House on Flanders was fantastic and exactly what I expected.

What I didn't expect is for Rogue to also support a number of nano-breweries (exactly what it sounds like), a hop yard, barley farm and bee farm. The commitment to being local, sustainable and green is outstanding in Portland.

While visiting Rogue, I opted for the sampler and had the following:

Hazelnut Brown Nectar. It poured a shade of chestnut and smelled woody. The taste was nutty with lots of malt. Delicious.

Next up was the Chocolate Stout. Big aromas of chocolate. It was pitch black in the glass with a dense head. It had a great balance of roasted malts, chocolate with a touch of vanilla. Delicious but in a way totally different than the Hazelnut Brown.

The final beer in the sampler was the MoM Hefeweizen. This one was a slightly cloudy straw color and had no head. The scent was lemon and sweet. It was effervescent and lemony with wheat flavors. It's brewed with rose petals and honey, which don't lend overwhelming flavor...they just make it all the more tasty.

There was one more "beer" in my sampler. It was labeled kid beer. I'll leave you with my notes from that afternoon regarding my thoughts on being served root beer in my sampler...

Then the kid beer. I feel insulted. Dick.

Evidently I was none too pleased with that development. I'm also not holding grudges because Rogue is going in my top 25!

Cheers!