The Beer Baron - St. Patrick’s Day Showdown

This post comes from Matt, the Beer Baron. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @geekcanuck 

When Oskar Blue Brewery released their Ten Fidy imperial stout in Ontario for the first time, I was pretty excited and wrote a pretty glowing review, calling it the Chewbacca of beers -- high praise, indeed.

I had squirreled some away and was planning on having one for St. Patrick’s Day, since I have long espoused the enjoyment of Russian imperial stouts rather than merely dry Irish stouts on St. Patrick’s Day. Just before the big day, I noticed that the LCBO had another treat in store: Dieu du Ciel’s Grande Noirceur.

Both beers rate a perfect 100 overall on Ratebeer, with Grande Noirceur taking a 95 for the style and Ten Fidy besting it with a 98. Both beers clearly kick ass and at 9.0% abv for Grande Noirceur and a whopping 10.5% for Ten Fidy, both would no doubt kick my ass too. Clearly, no cars or heavy machinery were operated during this showdown.

Dieu du Ciel in Montreal makes some truly incredible stouts, including Peche Mortel and Aphrodisiaque, which has earned them some pretty awesome bragging rights. As for Grand Noirceur, it is more of a pure imperial stout and isn’t brewed with cocoa beans or vanilla or coffee like Dieu du Ciel’s more famous stouts. That said, it still has strong notes of chocolate on the nose, followed by almost bracingly bitter dark coffee once you take your first sip. It hides its alcohol level well but lacks the oily and sticky mouth feel I tend to associate with my favourite imperial stouts.

When they say let the wookie win, it is because they are known to rip your arms off if they lose. In this case, it wasn’t such a clear cut victory, but Ten Fidy still pulled it off. Ten Fidy actually smelled a bit more bitter and couldn’t mask its higher alcohol content, but once you tasted it, it was sweeter, sticky and while there was still a dark coffee bitterness, it was balanced by dark fruit and notes of sweeter chocolate.

Regardless of which beer won, I was obviously the real winner, as I got to enjoy two wonderful imperial stouts for St. Patrick’s Day. I hope you were just as lucky this St. Patrick’s Day. Cheers!  

The Beer Baron - Get It While You Can: Oskar Blues Ten FIDY

Do you like stout? Do you like things that are awesome? If so, please stop reading this and head over to the LCBO website to check to see if there is any Oskar Blues Ten FIDY left at a store close to you. Yes, it is just a little can. And yes, it is $4.85 for that little can -- but it won’t be around for long and you’ve probably had coffees that cost that much.

Now that I’ve said the important part and assuaged any guilt I might feel if you don’t get any Ten FIDY, let’s move on with some context: Ten FIDY is a Russian Imperial Stout (which I’ve lovingly written about in the past) from Oskar Blues Brewery in Colorado. It has a near-perfect score of 100 overall / 98 style on Ratebeer. It was among the first really epic craft beers to be available in a can. And before now, it has never been available in Ontario.

So, what’s it like?

It’s the Chewbacca of beers, that’s what. 

It is strong (10.5% abv), powerful but friendly, dark, wonderful, aromatic and it comes out of a grey metal object -- like the Millennium Falcon -- that some people might underestimate at their own peril. Also, if you have too much of it, I have to assume it would rip your arms off.

Geekery aside, we are lucky to have Ten FIDY at the LCBO. It has a viscous pour like engine oil, a beautiful dark brown head, aromas of roasted malts, vanilla and toffee, a deliciously sticky smooth mouthfeel, and tastes of bitter chocolate, dark roast coffee and molasses that would embarrass any $4.85 drink from Starbucks.

So, a high five to Oskar Blues for sending their delicious Ten FIDY up to Ontario. Get it while you can (that’s a pun because it comes in a can) because it won’t last long.

This post comes from Matt, the Beer Baron and you can find him on Twitter & Instagram @geekcanuck

The Beer Baron: One Stout to Rule Them All

This post comes from Matt, the Beer Baron. You can find him on Twitter @geekcanuck

For St. Patrick’s Day, Ontario Craft Brewers are encouraging beer lovers to support craft brewers by drinking local stouts and seasonals. It is a noble and worthwhile goal but if you really want to raise a special pint, you owe it to yourself to track down not just a stout but one of Ontario’s amazing imperial stouts. Imperial stouts and Russian Imperial Stouts take all the lovely, malted notes of stout and dial it up to 11 with even more depth of flavor, complexity and awesomeness.

Half the fun of craft beer is sharing and the sense of community, so rather than just my own, personal preference for imperial stouts, I rounded up a group of eight stout lovers from my local beer appreciation group and decided that together, as a fellowship, we would find one stout to rule them all.

In the hopes that you have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day full of delicious, Ontario-brewed imperial stouts this year and beyond, we present our top-12* Ontario imperial stouts:  

12. Grand River Brewing’s Russian Gun Imperial Stout 8.0% ABV

There are no losers in this competition and Russian Gun’s No. 12 proves it. While it does mask its 8.0% ABV wonderfully well, it just came across as more stout than imperial stout, especially against the heavy hitters we gathered.

The Beer Baron - You Got Chili Peppers in My Porter!

This post comes from Matt, the Beer Baron... 

You Got Chili Peppers in My Porter!

In the 1980s, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups commercials touted “two great tastes that taste great together”. While my peanut allergy – and aversion to creepy guys on the street looking over my shoulder when I talk to Walkman-wearing girls – didn’t make me susceptible to such brilliant advertising, I’ve recently been thinking about that tagline thanks to some wonderful experiences with beer.

The Beer Baron - You Had Me at Stout: Testing the Spiegelau Stout Glass

Post by Matt, the Beer Baron

Like many a good beer geek, I have far too much glassware. What started with a few Chimay chalices has blossomed into several shelves of everything from Aquaman pint glasses to a Westvleteren glass I had to beg the store owner in Belgium to sell me. For the most part, they are mementos from brewery tours and are all variations of a few classic beer glass styles. I’ve got countless pint glasses, tulips, chalices, shakers, steins, snifters and steins, so I really don’t need any new glasses – or so you would think.

Enter the Spiegelau stout glass. If you recall from my post about Bell’s Expedition Stout, I hold stout in high regard, especially Russian Imperial Stout. Actually, that is an understatement akin to saying the aforementioned Aquaman holds water or punching bad guys in high regard. So, when news broke that Spiegelau was following up their IPA glass with a stout glass, I was instantly reduced to an internet meme:

Since the Spiegelau stout glass was developed in partnership with Rogue Ales and Left Hand Brewing Company, I figured it would be apropos to try out my new stout glass using Rogue’s own 99/100-rated Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout. For the sake of comparison – and to drink two stouts rather than just one – I also used an American-style pint glass. The bottles were purchased, stored and refrigerated in the same way and I did my best to pour the beers at the same angle and rate.

As you can see, the stout glass encouraged more of a rich, creamy head. While what little head did show up in the pint glass dissipated quickly, the head in the stout glass remained for the better part of 45 minutes – and would have remained longer if, you know, I wasn’t thirsty.  

The biggest difference I found in comparing the two glasses was in the aromas from the stout glass. While the pint glass presented hints of coffee or roasted malts or caramel, it was relatively subtle. However, with the stout glass, everything has not just amplified, but enhanced – it became the kind of alluring, complex aroma that made you wish you could crawl into the glass for a bath. (The Clockwatching Tart herself joined in the comparison and agreed the aromas were much more complex and full bodied, so you don’t have to be a stout fiend to appreciate the difference.)

As for the taste, the biggest difference I noticed was in the mouth feel. Because the angles of the stout glass helped to create and maintain a better head, the stout glass provided a much creamier, smoother sensation. Personally, I didn’t notice a marked difference in the actual taste of the stout from either glass but because aroma and mouth feel are such important aspects of how you perceive taste and enjoy something, I absolutely preferred the stout from the stout glass. (Your mileage may vary, as they say. I’m no supertaster, so you might notice and appreciate even more of a difference.)

So, should you buy Spiegelau stout glasses? The short answer is yes; the longer answer is absolutely yes, you fool; and the less sarcastic answer is that if you enjoy stout – especially oatmeal stouts, American-style stouts or Russian imperials stouts – and you have room for and can afford a $9 glass, you owe it to yourself to get one, posthaste.

A set of two glasses direct from Spiegelau will run you $24.90. If you don’t mind labels on our glasses (which I don’t, obviously), you can save yourself a few dollars and get them from Rogue for $18.00 or get a single glass from Left Hand Brewing for $9.00. For my fellow hosers, the Canadian shipping from Rogue was pretty reasonable and the package arrived safely and quickly, eh.