What's your favorite Beer?
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Obviously there is a lot of personal taste involved here but a stout should still be a stout imho. That is to say it needs to taste like beer above all else. The dessert stouts I've had that have actually tasted like the desserts they're named after have managed that by using artificial flavouring and have been uniformly awful as a result. Amunden's are a good example.
Stouts have often been inclined to be sweet, have chocolate or caramel notes, or use lactose. Adding berries, coffee, vanilla, nibs, chilli or other natural flavourings is a natural progression. Mix in the high alcohol content and barrel ageing and you have enormous opportunities for complexity and variety.
The creative naming of dessert stouts seems to me to be a result of the things they are inspired by as opposed to an effort to make them actually taste like that dessert. That may be changing now as dessert stouts have become a more popular sub genre. As with most other beer genre's some brewers do great work and others come up with shite. There's a lot of mediocrity in-between.
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As with most other beer genre's some brewers do great work and others come up with shite. There's a lot of mediocrity in-between.
That's been my experience since jumping into this craft beer thing for the past month or so. I think i've tried a half dozen or more porters and stouts, most of which have had chocolate or peanut butter flavoring. Only a couple truly had that peanut butter taste, whereas, the rest were fairly mediocre at best. But I have to admit, the gimmicky dessert marketing is working because I still want to try some of these beers. The downside, i'm starting to develop a Homer Simpson gut :o
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First answer: I love barrel aged beers, but Grappa aging is special. The normal Spaghetti Western was lame, the Grappa aged is great!
As I have kids, I know Wallace and Gromit. But point me to the ‚Cheese Reference‘ please
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@gaseousclay to throw some of my thoughts into the ring…
I'm personally not a fan of pastry/dessert stouts. Artificial flavors tend to be used, they often lack any semblance of balance, and are frequently overly sweet. I find them to be gimmicky, but consumers are really into them right now. I have a feeling it will be a passing trend, but who knows. They are also good gateway beers that get people who might not otherwise be interested in it into craft beer, so there is that.
When it comes to flavor they often aren't dead on representations of the confection, but I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. I prefer it when the base beer shine's through and the additional flavors are more of a complement to the underlying stout. And as @neph93 said, the ones that are bang on often taste artificial.
Some flavors are also very difficult to achieve through natural means as many of the inspirations contain artificial flavorings. Let's use a theoretical almond joy (coconut/almond) stout as an example. Coconut is a very delicate ingredient/flavor and to get the flavor and intensity specific to the candy bar is going to be damn near impossible, but through the use fresh coconut and oak aging (oak has compounds that present as coconut-y) you could achieve a different, but still very tasty character that is more "inspired by" and less "tastes just like"
All that said, when it comes down to it I'm a firm believer that you should drink what you like. If you enjoy seeking out and trying these dessert stouts I say go for it! They may not all be winners, but some probably will. I'm not sure where you're located @gaseousclay, but I always recommend seeking out local examples if possible. If you let me know where you are I may be able to recommend some for you…
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Weldwerks Juicy Bits. By no means a secret, but if you see some of the orange creamsicle-esque pint cans, pick em up and try this lovely NE IPA.
Picture shamelessly linked from buddhabrews on seemit.
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I'm in Minneapolis. I agree that finding local breweries is the way to go, but sometimes I come across something off the beaten path that looks really tempting. This is what i've mainly been doing since there are well over 100 craft breweries in Minnesota, so there's no shortage of good beer. Bad for my wallet and gut
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First answer: I love barrel aged beers, but Grappa aging is special. The normal Spaghetti Western was lame, the Grappa aged is great!
As I have kids, I know Wallace and Gromit. But point me to the ‚Cheese Reference‘ please
.. Wallace and Gromit just loved cheese,and go to the moon because it’s made of cheese This one’s for you.
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I always liked this story about Wallace & Gromit and cheese.
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mclain that's funny - I'm in an FB group with that lad… I recognise his buddha statue...
As for sweet stouts with tons of adjuncts: yes please. Maple, coffee, almond, tonka, cocoa, vanilla beans; whatever... YES PLEASE.
Btw Aardman (W&G) is releasing two new flicks in 2019. Keep those eyes peeled and watch CHICKEN RUN again in the meantime.
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