Normally I wouldn’t touch a stout this time of year, but it’s been stupidcold for May and I’ve been drinking like it’s fall again. So here is an absolutely out-of-season but still excellent beer:
That’s Tony making burgers in the background. Er, actually, here he’s chopping potatoes for oven fries and hamming it up at my request. The burgers happened later.
Basic Info:
Name: 8-Ball Stout
Origin: Lost Coast Brewery, Eureka, CA
Style: Oatmeal Stout
ABV: 6.3%
IBU: not listed that I’ve seen
I drank this: bottle pour while waiting for dinner
So this lovely beer really deserves some cool, misty weather, because it’s warming and happy but not so warming that one beer will send me into spins. It’s a lovely dark brown color and a complementary dark chocolate and roasted malt nose. A little toasty as well.
The first thing I noticed when I had this beer was the hop note, which surprised me. It’s a nice hop, not too bright, but definitely there in piney glory. It’s followed immediately by straight up Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup. Not Godiva, not Nestle, not chocolate chip form, not bar form, but Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup. After that, there’s some roasted malt and a hint of alcohol. There is absolutely no coffee anywhere in this that I could taste – that was a surprise.
The mouthfeel is really syrupy and thick – moreso than I would have expected for a non-Imperial Stout – and has just a touch of bite from the hops.
Overall, this was a good beer. It’s near-inexpressibly weird to drink a beer like this in May, however – it kept putting me in the mood of turtlenecks and charcoal gray nail polish and apple cider. At the same time, the last thing I wanted on a day when it was 48 degrees and misting was a Saison, so it worked out. Hopefully the weather out here in the flat states will go back to *cough* normal *cough* SOME DAY.
