It seems like Stone puts out a special beer every month. Though they have a lot of really tasty mainstay beers available, they put a lot of effort into crafting interesting beers to change the perception of what can be done. Imperial stouts are delicious, and stone has a really good one with their Imperial Russian Stout. However, with the w00tstout 2.0 they decided to take things a little further.
w00tstout 2.0 pours dark black.
The w00tstout 2.0 is the second version of this delicious beer. This stout pours thick and black and offers 13% alcohol. It mainly smells like sweet bourbon and caramel. When you taste it, it has a lot of these same flavors. The bourbon and caramel are balanced nicely so neither one overpowers the other. There is also a distinct flavor of burnt sugar that you might recognize if you are a fan of creme brulee.
w00tstout 2.0 bottle closeup.
I tend to not focus too much while I am tasting the beer on what the bottle says though later I checked and it claimed there were some flavors of chocolate. I didn’t notice much chocolate in this beer. I was quite satisfied with w00tstout 2.0. Despite its high alcohol content it is not particularly boozy and has delicious sweet flavors. Keep in mind that this is not a beer that presents heavy chocolate or coffee flavors so if you prefer that in your stouts you should look elsewhere.
Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.
Properly differentiating between a porter and a stout is pretty difficult but they have some significant similarities that make them quite popular especially the way breweries in the US tend to make them. The one thing that generally identifies porters and stouts is their dark, almost black color.
The flavors can vary quite widely depending on what the brewers tend to focus on. One reason a lot of people love porters and stouts is that they tend to be on the sweeter side. It is common to see chocolate or coffee used to give flavor to these beers.
Most porters and stouts have some form of roasted malt that gives it a unique flavor. Sometimes oatmeal is used to create a silkier brew. You sometimes see these beers served “on Nitro.” This style of serving a beer works great with porters and stouts because the Nitrogen gas helps to make the beer appear creamier due to the much smaller bubbles it forms.
When ordering a porter or stout, pay close attention to the way it is described on the menu. If you don’t see a description, ask the bartender to describe the flavor so you can get an idea before ordering or ask for a small taste. I frequently will ask for a taste before ordering an unfamiliar beer because you don’t want to drink a full pint of something you don’t enjoy.
Porters and stouts vary widely in the alcohol percentage. Some go as low as 4.5-5.5% and many breweries make imperial or double porters or stouts that are around 8-9% with some especially strong brews hitting 12% or higher. Most imperial porters or stouts focus on chocolate or coffee flavors to help balance out the stronger alcohol content.
Imperial stouts and porters also tend to pour much thicker and are sometimes compared to motor oil because of how thick they can get. Other flavors that can be quite prominent in stronger porters and stouts are some plum and ripe fruit flavors from certain varieties of malts. You can always ask where a flavor in your favorite beer comes from if you are tasting it at the brewery.
Local Favorites: Green Flash Double Stout, Alesmith Speedway Stout, New English Zumbar Imperial Stout, Ballast Point Porter, Imperial Porter, and Imperial Stout, Council Brewing Imperial Oatmeal Stout, Rough Draft Vanilla Stout.
Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.
Ironfire Brewing in Temecula has some wide distribution so you might see a bottle or two in the store in San Diego. I stopped by to visit the brewery while I was driving through and got to try some of the beers I might have skipped if I saw them in the stores. The specialty beers I got to try were very nice but you should be able to find two beers, the 51/50 IPA and 6 Killer Stout in bottles around town. Visiting the brewery has the added bonus of a super cute female bartender. If you do decide to visit, know that it is easy to miss because the sign you see from the street sounds like a winery.
There were too many beers on tap for me to try everything but I did get to try most of them. I had tastes of the 51/50 IPA, 6 Killer Stout, Vicious Disposition, India Pale Lager, Dead on Arrival Double IPA, and Double Chocolate Stout on Nitro. The lineup was quite impressive and I might be hooked forever on the 6 Killer Stout.
Taster flight at Ironfire.
The 51/50 IPA is much more bitter than any other single IPA I have ever tried. It had a nice grapefruit and citrus flavor going. Though I enjoyed it I think it was a bit too bitter for the flavors it had. I love bitter brews but this was a bit much. The 6 Killer Stout is an explosion of coffee flavors and uses coffee from a local roaster. Though not too heavy on the alcohol, this beer has some serious coffee flavors. The coffee had nice nutty and chocolate flavors. I was so impressed that I left with 2 22oz bottles of the stout.
Tap list when I visited.
The Vicious Disposition is a stronger stout made with local avocado honey. This was a tasty beer that was very well-balanced, which is good because honey can sometimes become too much. Even if you haven’t enjoyed many honey beers, this one is still primarily a stout. The India Pale Lager was totally different than any I have ever tried. Not only is it not very bitter at all but it is also very light in color and body. It almost drinks like a light beer and yet it has plenty of grapefruit and tropical fruit flavors. The alcohol percentage hides very well here and you would never guess its percentage from drinking it.
The Dead on Arrival Double IPA was a solid double with plenty of floral and citrus flavors. I also got a lot of tropical fruit flavors from it. It seemed like it went a little too overboard with the mosac hops though because it had a light soapy finish. Finally I tried the double chocolate stout on Nitro. The guys I talked to at the bar told me they found this one to be too boozy. I have to agree. Though I did taste some chocolate at the back end, it was masked by a heavy boozy flavor that was a bit too much.
In the end, I would say there is a good reason why the 51/50 IPA and 6 Killer Stout are the big sellers because they are both fantastic. If you see either of them in stores down in San Diego, pick up a bottle if they sound like your kind of beer.
Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.
One of the more interesting breweries I visited in Portland was a smaller brewery called Hair of the Dog. I only tried three different beers there but I had some very impressive brews. While there I tried tasters of the Blue Dot Double IPA, Beer Week Strong Pale Lager, Adam Stout, and Bourbon Barrel Aged Beer Week. I only got a small taste of the Adam but it was enough for me to review it.
Blue Dot Double IPA was a delicious slightly sweet beer that focused on the citrus and tropical fruit with a little bit of a soapy flavor in there. At 7% it doesn’t really fit what I consider a double IPA but it had a lot of good flavors. Second on the list was the Beer Week Strong Pale Lager. The higher alcohol content was certainly noticeable but I really liked the way it mixed the pilsner flavor with the citrus hops. It also wasn’t as bitter as the Blue Dot while still presenting plenty of hop flavors.
Blue Dot Double (left), Beer Week Strong Pale Lager (right).
The Adam is very close to a stout so I will refer to it as such though the brewers don’t want to label it a stout. The flavors tended towards the plum malts with a little bit of chocolate. Though I could taste some chocolate flavors, I found that they were overpowered by the malts a little too much for me.
Finally, the bourbon barrel aged beer week was a great introduction to how a hoppy beer responds to bourbon barrel aging. Because it wasn’t particularly malt-forward to begin with it had plenty of room to highlight the flavor of the bourbon. This is one of those beers best saved for those who appreciate a good bourbon. Some might say that the brewers went a bit too overboard with the barrel aging, but I think it was just right.
With plenty of bold flavors from intense amounts of hops, I was quite impressed overall by the beers offered by Hair of the Dog. I also really liked the Brussels Sprouts they had as an appetizer. It was reasonably priced and yet perfectly cooked and delicious. It was just the right size for a good snack to go with the beers.
Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.
Council Brewing is currently in a soft opening phase but you wouldn’t know it from visiting. They are already offering a good variety of brews that will satisfy the majority of beer fans who show up and have a professional look inside.
With the gavels for tap heads you’d be excused for assuming it has something to do with the law. When I asked, I was told that the brewers wanted to set up a place for having debate and discussion. It just happened that the name made sense to include some gavels. They also have free Wi-Fi that is properly secured.
Beer wise, I was quite impressed with the lineup at Council. Small breweries come in all shapes and sizes but I think Council is going to become big very quickly. Not only do they have a fantastic stout and IPA but some of the other beers are very solid as well.
I decided to get a flight of six tasters so that I could try every beer currently offered. This meant that I had a taste of the Farmer’s Gold Saison, Lively Banter Hoppy Wheat, America’s Finest Pale Ale, Gavel Drop IPA, Imperial Oatmeal Stout, and Belgian Triple. Even though some of the lighter offerings didn’t blow me away, I was still quite impressed with the lineup on the whole.
Saison farmers gold
I’m not normally a fan of this style of beer but this is a tasty one. The beer has a little sweet flavor and not too sour. I think the higher alcohol content helps to mellow it out a bit compared to the typical Saison.
Lively banter (hoppy wheat)
Hop flavors come primarily from Centennial. This beer isn’t as insanely hopped as the modern times beer in a similar style. It won’t satisfy those looking for a session ipa style but it has some solid flavor. Flavors of the wheat still hang around, giving it a balanced flavor.
America’s finest pale ale
Delicious crisp flavor and not as heavy as the green flash pale. Great citrus flavor and not too heavy on the malt. The brewers said that this was supposed to be closer to 5.5% but ended up 6.1 by the time it was brewed so future versions should be a little lighter on the alcohol.
Gavel drop ipa
This beer has the quintessential San Diego IPA flavors from the Nelson hops. This beer was so popular that the brewery almost ran out of the first batch before the second batch was done. Hard to say if it is going to last much longer. If you aren’t familiar with Nelson hops this is likely to make you a convert. The grapefruit flavors it offers have become popular among hop addicts like myself. San Diego beer fans who can’t seem to find the Nelson IPA from Alpine Brewing should come by and check this out.
Gavel Drop, Imperial Stout, and Tripel.
Imperial oatmeal stout
Thick and sweet this should satisfy fans of stouts and porters. Flavors of milk chocolate are clear and a little caramel. Little alcohol sweetness finishes it out. Very impressive. I left here with a 32oz growler full of the stout because it really impressed me. I think my husband would really like this one.
Belgian triple
Bright citrus flavors and a bit sweet. Not too heavy. Great flavor. Though it is a little sweet like you would expect from a Belgian beer, it isn’t overly so. This beer was also a bit different than the typical beer of the style you might see around San Diego.
In the end, I was quite impressed by Council Brewing and I think they will have great success once they officially open sometime in June. For now you should make your way over to try the stout or the IPA. Both are excellent and likely to draw large followings.
UPDATE New Beers on May 30, 2014
I returned to Council brewing a few weeks after my first visit to introduce some friends to the beers and I noticed they added three beers that weren’t available when I was last there. Here is what I thought of each.
Chazzam! IPA is a lighter colored IPA that uses a number of piney and citrusy hops in a deliciously crisp brew. It is also a little cheaper per glass than the Gavel Drop because it doesn’t use those elusive Nelson hops. The new Imperial Red is not what you would expect. This is not some overly sweet brew but instead a smoky beer with a light hop kick. I really enjoyed it. Finally the Belgian Dubbel was a solid representation of the style with plenty of plum malts and the spice flavors that come from the Belgian yeast. Some time soon they should be debuting their ESB so stay tuned and come back to Council.
Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.
