Originally
posted by
SAM_DANGER:
Originally
posted by
Rockman:
Some of my favorites:
Dominion Oak Stout
Flying Dog Kujo Coffee Stout
Left Hand Milk Stout
Duck Rabbit Milk Stout
DuClaw Sweet Baby Jesus (Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter)
Founders Porter
Keegan Ales Joe Mama's Milk Stout
Ninkasi Vanilla Oatmeal Stout
Hoegaarden White Ale
Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier
Nice selection there.. I see you get Ninkasi where you're at.. Ever tried Oatis? (Their regular oatmeal stout without the vanilla).. Pretty good, IMO. There's some in my garage fridge right now, making me wish I wasn't on the road for the next two weeks.
Rogue brewery makes a pretty good oatmeal stout too. Shakespeare oatmeal stout.. I also really like their hazelnut brown.
I've actually only had Ninkasi out in Oregon, but my mother's family was from Oregon. She was born in Corvallis, and my grandfather owned a house in Yachats when I was a kid, and later on owned a house in Seal Rock (about 10 miles south of the Rogue Brewery in Newport). So I've gone out to Oregon a bunch of times for vacation. And I've had both the regular Oatis and the Vanilla Oatis.
I've had Rogue's oatmeal stout and hazelnut brown ale, and both were good, but not good enough to make my favorites. Rogue's oatmeal stout was one of the darker, more charred oatmeal stouts that I've had. But that's not really a quality I am looking for in a stout (although it doesn't turn me off the way a dark fruit type flavored stout will, such as the Allagash Black or Buffalo Bill's Blueberry Oatmeal Stout). I prefer the vanilla or coffee flavors in stouts, and I especially like milk stouts. I also like the smoothness or creaminess of an oatmeal stout, and the Rogue Oatmeal Stout didn't really stick out in that way. I actually like the Deschutes Black Butte Porter and Deschutes Obsidian Stout more than the Rogue offerings.
I also don't like the higher ABV beers as much, which is why I prefer the Founders Porter to the Founders Breakfast Stout. Although the Keegan Ales Joe Mama's Stout and Flying Dog Cujo Stout are both pretty high ABV, and they both made my favorites list.
I tend to drink Stouts about 80-90% of the time, and most of the rest of the time it's a White Ale, except for autumn, when I will drink the Oktoberfest beers. I always get a sixpack of the Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest and a six pack of one other Oktoberfest, and see if any can match up with the original. The Great Lakes Oktoberfest is the only one that's done it so far. The Sam Adams and the Paulaner both came up short (I've only done this tradition for three years). On rare occasions I'll get a Dunkel or Schwarzbier, but never a doppelbock or brown ale.
So yeah, I'm definitely a beer snob.
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