Samuel Adam's Thirteenth Hour Stout

Good day and good evening wherever you are. Doug the Thug is back. I finally am posting after losing my password so I'll be posting with a new name...D dub. I'll also be posting on another blog as well regarding my upcoming travels. But let's get to the task at hand here, this 100 cask barrel brand Sam Adam's ale which they describe as a...Belgian Strong Dark Ale!?!?!? Sounds bewitching. First I think it's worth noting, for as commercialized as Sam Adam's has become they were very big on developing the American craft brew "movement". I bought this when I was at their brewery right outside of Boston in Jamaica Bay, MA. It was a $2 suggested donation but tons of beer and the money all went to a charity for underprivileged youth in the Boston area. I'm always down with that. So I don't care what people say about them, they're a good company and they make some damn good brews. I wish I could say that about this one but I can't unfortunately.

They tricked me at several points here. 1. This is part of a 100 cask barrel brand that basically you can only get at the brewery or at a few select Jamaica Bay liquor shops. 2. 9.0% ABV 3. Seems like a worthwhile try because it is actually a combination of a rich dark stout and a well balanced and aged Belgian ale. 4. $10 for a 22oz. bottle with a cork. (I know but considering how much some nice 22oz. bottles go for sometimes in Chicago that's a deal)

Here's where I would say they went wrong. An aged Belgian Ale and a rich heavy stout don't mix well, or at least they couldn't find a way to do it. As far as having flavor they didn't miss that. There are some coffee, milk chocolate and dare I say caramel notes but they're not very potent. What's most potent are the spices and dark fruit flavors which are almost citrusy. It has the maltiness of a stout definitely but then it was also aged in oak barrels so there is a very noticeable oak taste. The mouth feel of it is almost watery which is not what you would expect from such a flavorful beer at all and I was supremely unimpressed with that. And you definitely feel the 9.0% overwhelmingly on the finish. I think the main problem is your expecting a rich stout (which I was on a rainy Chicago night on my deck) and you don't get that. It's not exactly an ale either because there are too many stout notes. Plus the watery mouth feel was a big downer. That's what pilsner's and Olympia are for.

Rating: I hate to do it...but I have to. Debating the Meaning of Life with Your Fellow Beermigos Brew. I think I'm pretty clear that I am not a fan of this beer. However, this is a complex one. This is one that promotes a solid discussion with your beermigos. It may have a watery mouth taste but it's no skunk beer. Like it or hate it, you're gonna drink it. It's not horrible, it's 9.0% and you just spent 10 bucks on it. It's going down the gullet. The main thing I would say that makes this beer get this rating is the discussion. You are gonna be talking about all the idiosyncratic details of the weird little tastes you get and trying to figure it out. This will inevitably lead to deep discussions about beer, which leads to deep discussions about life.

Ninkasi Renewale Porter

Now that was a defining day. My steadfast flagship of Oregon beer, the brewery I have praised with the greatest praise all my legal drinking years as the finest, most consistently satisfying and rejuvenating, not to mention intoxicatingly addictive this side of Mars, did, indeed, disappoint.

I do not use the term "disappointment" lightly. Especially because, as a promotional deal, the six-pack was significantly discounted, making it the cheapest six-pack in its weight class. I never thought, especially with a label that said Ninkasi, that they were cheaper because they were of lesser quality. It was an obviously amateur mistake that I take full credit for: always beware the outward appearance of a deal (read: Yoav): take it with a grain of barley. That being said, I still drank four of the six, having pawned off the others in the name of objective scientific research. And its not a bad beer...for a Porter.

I should have known.

See, the Stout, a style of beer made for rich complexity and body can withstand the sheer quantity of hops the Ninkasi brewers attack with. A Porter, although dark in color, lacks the depth of character that a Stout can provide. While the Ninkasi Imperial Stout, for example, boasts an impressive 9.2% ABV and a healthy dose of hops (and on whose reputation I approached the Porter), the Renewale's relative translucency made it crumple under the intensity of production. It tasted like a half-hearted attempt at a NorthWest Black IPA and whimpered in with a 5.4% ABV. It was a sad day indeed.

I realize that my standard are high, spoiled as I am, and I realize that perhaps my demands of Ninkasi were unattainable. Their production and expansion have been growing steadily and no doubt creating pressure to diversify and release new special brews, but when you work under pressure one of two things can happen: you can make a mistake (case in point) or you can start the Revo-Fucking-Lution (see every other example of Ninkasi).

Status: Onesy Brew. You really only want to drink one of these, just to get the curious itch out of your system.

Boneyard IRA

Recently, perhaps I've spent a bit too much effort on my palate of vinafera--this being a direct result of outrageous quanties (read:free) of fermented grape juice. Despite this, I've struggled against the grain (pun intended) and have made the extra effort for fellow beermigos. Availability and consistency may be in flux, but my preferences remain the same; as we all know, in beer, wine and women, my tastebuds favor reds.

And the Boneyard is a whippersnapper! I mistook it at first glance--and indeed glanced no further--for I believed it to be a Boneyard IPA, which in it's own right it a magnificent brew, but when informed otherwise, that the on-tap offering was the India Red Ale instead, I could not help but congratulate my good fortune.

As with most Red Ales, Boneyard's was sufficiently well-hopped and malted with complexity. The unique part was the bitterness, more like a dried-out old elk skull than the heavy floral heartiness of the West Cascade beers. And that sere, unforgiving dryness on that finish, that's the rodeo. Definitely from the other side of the mountains.

Status: Burger and Brew: Alongside a Hellion Jalepeno Burger from Cornucopia, the compliment of food helped keep me calm despite the natural nationalism inspired by the IRA.