Stone Brewing Co. "W00tstout" imperial stout

Today's beer is another Stone Brewing Co. collaboration - a three-way collaboration in fact between Drew Curtis, Wil Wheaton, and Greg Koch. It's called the "W00tstout," a rather-strong 13.00% ABV imperial stout. It's their third year releasing the W00tstout, and in celebration of that fact, they've barrel-aged some of the beer inside. According to Stone's website, the bottle art was also drawn by comic artist Dave "The Reverend" Johnson, to raise money for the Hero Initiative, a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to financially supporting retired comic book and graphic novel artists. Pretty cool if you ask me. 

A little bit about the people involved: Greg Koch is the CEO and co-founder of Stone, and Drew Curtis is the founder of Fark.com, which I had never heard of. It's apparently a news site, much like Reddit. Curtis also ran unaffiliated in the 2015 Kentucky gubernatorial race, unsuccessfully. And, of course, those of you who are Star Trek fans may remember Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher, the adolescent son of the Enterprise's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Beverly Crusher.

I now realize all of you are silently judging me for my nerddom, however I can assure you that Star Trek: The Next Generation was a pretty great series and you all should watch it. Especially the episodes "The Defector," "All Good Things..." (which is the series finale), "Inner Light," and of course my favorite, "Cause and Effect."

Apparently both Drew Curtis and Wil Wheaton are homebrewers, and this beer is the result of their interest. I initially had hoped to interview Wil Wheaton for this blog, but requests for comment went unanswered. That being said, looks like it's time to try this out.

As you can see, it pours a deep brown, with a deep tan head that leaves some lacing in the glass. 

Good coloring in the head - some of the darkest foam on a beer I have seen. As expected, the beer is opaque and can't be candled.

Jeez. The first sip was one of deep, creamy chocolate with a LOT of alcohol flavors. In actual fact, I was amazed at how boozy this tasted. "Booziness" is a word that beer aficionados use to describe a beer that has prominent alcohol tastes. Some beers hide it well, others do not. Well, this is one that doesn't hide it, but brings it front and center. There's some chocolate flavors, but the malty alcohol flavors really bulldoze anything else that tries to make an entrance. The beer finishes nicely, kind of like Boulevard's Bourbon Barrel Quad, but with a much darker, roastier flavor packed with alcoholic sweetness. Whew.

In retrospect, I think it's fun to try, but I don't know if I would necessarily buy it again. It was frankly too strong for me. My appreciation of it was blocked in part by the overwhelming strength of the beer; I just don't really like that much power. And it doesn't have a lot to do with the alcohol content, either - I've really enjoyed the Dogfish Head 120 minute IPA, which is stronger than the W00tstout by several points. It was just the powerful flavors and overwhelming booziness made it a little unpalatable.

Legal fine print stuff: Star Trek GIF and Crusher photo property of their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended. All borrowed content used for comic purposes .

Beer Flash: Bell's amber ale

Beer flash - today's potent potable is Bell's Amber ale. It's a delicious and crisp 5.8% ABV amber ale from Bell's, out of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Those beauties on the trays are some of the best ribs I've ever had - courtesy of TD Burger in the NoMA neighborhood of DC. Look at those rosemary sprigs! And those huge meaty ribs!

Toiling away at the smoker is the man himself - Timothy Dean. As in "TD." He says hello to all Sip and Puff readers.

Maryhill Winery: 2009 zinfandel (Columbia Valley, Washington)

Today's wine review is from a few weeks back when I was doing my West Coast tour.  It's a bottle my brother Dan had in his cellar, and after a long day of wine tasting at Chateau Ste. Michelle, we were in a vintage wine mood so we cracked this open to pair my homemade goat cheese alfredo sauce over quinoa pasta. The bottle is a 2009-vintage zinfandel from Goldendale, WA,'s Maryhill Winery, located on the Columbia River, about 150 miles southeast of Seattle.

Zinfandel is a kind of high-sugar, black-skinned grape very commonly made into wine. It's also known by the name "Primitivo," which you may recall I reviewed a while back. The "Zinfandel" grape is very popular in California, with at least 10% of vineyards planting it.

I love the ruby color on the pour - really pretty both in the air and in the glass. I didn't refrigerate this; just poured it out and let it sit. 

It was decent - smooth but not a lot of depth. The age of this wine really shows - it mellowed out quite a bit, too much in my opinion, so some of the flavors were lost. There was a dry straw flavor to it, not too much alcohol tastes either, and a slightly sweet finish. I sort of struggled a bit to nail down the taste, I think the grape (and the age) makes it very faint and mellow, almost bordering on clean and tasteless.

I'd be curious to try a young example of this wine and see how it when "fresh." Trying a vintage bottle is tough when you have no reference point. Perhaps next time I'm out West, Dan and I will check the place out.

General Cigar Company - "Macanudo Estate Reserve Jamaica" churchill (Jamaica / Connecticut)

Today's cigar is a special super-premium offering from Macanudo. It's the "Estate Reserve Jamaica," a blend of aged Jamaican longfillers and a Connecticut shade wrapper. Macanudo, as a brand, started out as a sub-brand of the Cuban version of Punch, and actually started out in Jamaica, but switched over to the Dominican Republic in the year 2000. I've enjoyed many a Macanudo in my day, from the pleasingly dark maduro Prince Phillip to my first ever cigar, the Portofino.

I really like the wooden box "tubo", which has a little piece on the back that raises the cigar when you open the lid. In appearance the cigar is a light wooden color, with an even color throughout. There are no seeds or knots in the tobacco as far as I can see. It's a nice-looking stick.

Lights up slowly at first, and takes a few minutes. But once it gets going, it burns OK. The chief flavors here are dry and wheaty - like cereal. It's grassy, smooth, a has a little hayseed taste thrown in there. The texture is really mellow, and pleasingly well-balanced. It produces a light grey, cement-colored ash which burned evenly and almost all of the way down before I had to put it out.

I'm a bigger fan of mild / medium-mild cigars than I am of fuller-bodied smokes, so I'm glad I got a chance to try this one. It's a little expensive for a single cigar - $17.99 I think - but a good purchase nonetheless. It's definitely heavy on the presentation points - the special wooden box, the uniform and flawless wrapper, but luckily has a nice mellow taste as well.

Beer Flash: Fremont Brewing Co's "Dark Star" imperial oatmeal stout

When I was in Seattle, my brother Dan and I happened to swing by the (phenomenal) beer garden in Fremont district of Seattle to grab a pint. Lo and behold, they have the "Dark Star" on nitro!

The Dark Star is an 8.00% ABV imperial oatmeal stout, very deep and silky, with some tasty roasted malts and chocolate, coffee and tobacco flavors. I found it was sweeter and smoother and lighter than most imperial stouts, and the nitrogen made it much creamier that it is in cans. Really nice on a hot day. 

By the way - a few words about "nitro." When someone says a beer is on "nitro," they're referring to the type of gas used in the carbonation process. That gas is nitrogen. Nitrogenated beers often feel creamier and smoother, due to the smaller bubbles produced by the gas. 

Brouwerij van Honsenbrouck: 2010-vintage "Kasteel Cuvee du Chateau" quadrupel (Belgium)

I've been meaning to review a true aged Belgian beer for a while now, so here we go. Todays' beer is an 11.00% ABV quadrupel by Brouwerij van Honsenbrouck, located in Ingelmunster, West Flanders, Belgium.

As you may recall from previous posts, there are a lot of Belgian-style beers out there. They are, of course, not true Belgian beers unless made in Belgium. However, in the US there are some pretty great Belgian-style offerings. Ommegang Brewing Company makes some fine beers in the Belgian style, including the Three Philosophers, a great go-to quadrupel for me. But there are hundreds of breweries in Belgium, and among those, there are special designations, such as the special "Trappist" designation, which is a beer made using certain methods by monks in one of ten specific monasteries. Ales made in this style, but not in these methods, are often called "abbey ales." Others, like today's, are simply "Belgian ales."

So here we have this beer, made not by brothers of the cloth but by a medium-sized West Flemish brewery. I'm kind of pumped because the beer is five years old - it's a 2010 vintage, and I'm really curious to see what changes the beer has experienced in that time. When they age, any beer will change flavor and texture, not always for the better. Some, but not all, will increase in alcohol content (as a result of the active cultures inside.)

Let's dive in. It pours fast, murky brown in color, with little carbonation and no head. There's powerful apple aromas shooting out of the glass, with some cinnamon and allspice notes as the beer warms up. Interesting.

The taste is also peculiar and powerful. It's got strong booziness flavors with some dried fruit notes, lots of yeasty goodness. Apple is a strong flavor here. Some sourness, not as much as other Belgian quads though, which is noteworthy. It's strong, heady, and had an interesting vinegar tartness on the finish with white grape / apple flavors on the aftertaste.

I liked this beer, although I caution that it's not for everyone. The tart flavors, coupled with an ABV close to wine, makes this a potent potable that's not a casual beverage. It has the feeling of a dank, sour cider, refined somehow, and I think cider lovers will enjoy this beer. But beware, it's pretty strong as beer goes, and is an acquired taste. 

Beer Flash: Fort George Brewery's "North VII" IPA

I picked this bad boy up at the Fort George Brewery in Oregon. It's their "North VII", part of their North series of winter seasonals. This particular one is a barrel-aged Belgian IPA, clocking in at 9.0% ABV. There's a floral yeasty predominance to the beer, which is almost sickly sweet in the middle, very strong, the beer forming a sweet hoppy singularity in your stomach. It's got a a flat, dark bitterness with a really aggressive "middle". On the finish, there are some flavors reminiscent of a light saison, but finishes with strong punch of hops on the aftertaste.

Dan says it works great with spicy sushi - I couldn't say for sure, since I have a seafood allergy - but for those of you out there, enjoy it with sashimi!