It was unusually cool yesterday, which worked to our advantage considering we had the Whitey's down and Joel and Maggie over for some grilling and Sunday stout drinking. Thanks to both Whitey and Joel for contributing beer and food to the afternoon...
While we waited for Joel's arrival, Whitey and I sampled one of the most heinous beers we have each ever had: La Migra Imperial Stout... from "Mexico's best craft brewery," Cucapa. Seriously, the beer smelled like piss...we each had a sip and dumped it. Oh well...
When Joel and Maggie showed up, we decided to get a real start to the afternoon...Goose Island Big John. Unfortunately, this brew is now discontinued...but wow...very impressive. Big John was bottled just over a year ago, and held up very well. Very rich chocolate and coffee flavors, but with an incredible smoothness. This is certainly not a sessionable beer, but a bomber split three ways was perfect. Big John was very deserving of my Ba 4.5...
Next up was Cigar City's Humidor Series Imperial Stout. This is their basic impy stout, but aged on cedar...the cedar was extremely obvious. Too obvious. The pour was viscous with barely a hint of carbonation, but a full nose of cedar. The cedar completely dominated the flavor as well...pushing all other flavors to the back of the line. It was unfortunate, considering the level that Hunapuh attains...a 3.5 from me on Ba, as it was just too much.
The afternoon lead us to a mini vertical of Stone's Imperial Russian Stout...Joel brought over a 2011 and we cracked open one of my 2012s. Obviously we started with the 2011 IRS, which (at just shy of a year old) had aged nicely. It is much smoother than I remember from last year and was damn near to perfection. Despite the flavors mellowing a bit, it is still a rich beer and still one of my favorite stouts. The 2012 was also delicious, but in a different way...I don't want to say that it is too young...it is just slightly young. There is a distinct hop characteristic based on the freshness of the beer, but it is still just as rich and complex as the 2011. I would still be happy to open a 2012, but it will certainly get better with age. Overall Stone kills it again, and IRS (no matter the vintage) is still high on my list.
After the mini vertical, we had a nice palate cleanse in the form of burgers and dogs (thanks Whiteys!) and crisp, refreshing Dale's.
To close out the evening, we decided to bring out the big guns...one of my favorites: Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel...no need to re-hash this one...just go read about it here.
Overall a great afternoon with great people and delicious beer...we really should do this every weekend.
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