Arthur Guinness & Co. - "The 1798 Limited Edition" double extra stout [Ireland]

After a long career as an attorney, my father retired in August and took a monthlong sojourn to Europe. Besides a fine sampler of Irish pot still whiskey, on his way back from Dublin he kindly brought me back this - a 9.00% ABV special release stout from Arthur Guinness & Co.

So the Guinness that you're used to ordering at a bar or seeing in the stores is their "Guinness Draught", known by its iconic gold harp and black bottle and one of the most popular beers in the world. Now owned by Diageo, this 258-year-old brewery was once the largest and most productive brewery in the world and in 2011, it produced almost a quarter of a billion gallons of beer. But as it turns out, this brewery makes many more offerings than the everpresent inky-black draught, some of which are just now making their introductions to North American markets. You may see their "Foreign Extra Stout" or their "Harp" lager in stores, and with the explosion of fancy craft beers over the last decade, sometimes the big brewers want to make something special...so enter this series.

This is called "The 1798 Limited Edition" double extra stout, and at first glance, seems a bit superlative, a la "double secret probation" from Animal House. But the terms "double" and "extra" have historical meaning, especially for English beers: these terms denote the strength and gravity of the beer. So we've got a special beer, heavier than the usual but still made with the usual roasted barley and 100% crystal malts, and my research reveals that this beer is finished over oak chips from the original beer vats in Guinness' oldest brewhouse - Old Vat House No. 1. Pretty neat! It's also been aged for 18 months in the cask, for all that wood-finished goodness. So this looks really cool, and let's dive in.

Pours a root beer color, substantially lighter than the normal Guinness draught. It's also carbonated, not nitrogenated, so is fizzy (although generates a thin, creamy layer of tan-colored head.)

Smooth and a bit oily at first, the primary flavor I detect is is cocoa mixed with a sort of burnt sugar / brown sugar flavor. As I have a few more sips, more recognizable flavors come through - molasses, raisin, some more of that cocoa. A little bit of licorice but not too much, thankfully. It's not super thick, basically the same consistency as the Draught, but more oily I think. 

It's rather interesting - quite a divergence from the usual Guinness - and at first hard to place, but I can find some nice parallels to the Boston Beer Co.'s "Sam Adams Tetravis" in terms of that raisin and burnt sugar flavor. It certainly lacks that almost-bland quality that you'd find in a Guinness draught; it's more on the imperial stout end of things, specifically with the oiliness and the complexity of flavors. I'm also happy that in terms of consistency, it's not overly heavy. Overall quite good, and although only 2400 bottles have been made worldwide, if you can get your hands on this, please try it - it's interestingly different than the usual and worth a try...especially if you don't like other Guinness offerings!

Beringer Vineyards - 2012 Knights Valley cabernet sauvignon [California]

Here's a wine we had a few weeks ago; one my father had been saving for quite some time - a 2012 cabernet sauvignon from St. Helena, CA-based Beringer Vineyards.

California cabernets have a stellar reputation, as the grape can produce very complex, spicy, and well-round wines able to be aged for decades. Sonoma County in particular makes some of the most desirable of all the California cabernets, that is, provided when it is not a wind-fueled inferno. True story - a lot of Sonoma and Napa wines will suffer for years as the result of smoke exposure from the recent fires. Yields and quality in many fields will be diminished through 2020, sadly.

Today's bottle was produced in Beringer's Knights Valley vineyard, located in the Knights Valley AVA which was awarded an American Viticulture Area designation in 1983. This area, about 16 miles up Route 128 from Beringer's headquarters in St. Helena, is the warmest of the valleys in the Sonoma region, which is important for growing grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux. This area has what's known as "cobbled alluvial soil" - essentially sandy, loose soils with some clay and rocks tossed in. Sounds terrible, but it's actually a good soil in which to grow wine.

I like the coloring around the edge; there's a deep garnet color with no bricking.

Up front there's some delicate fruit (Dan thinks blackcurrant) but mostly "dark" fruit and skins. The wine is quite delicate, naturally a function of the aging, but also probably the grape as well. On the finish there's a quite long savory quality, which I think is the most dominant flavor. The closest I can come to describing it is salt, but it's not super salty in the way that a Pico Maccario barbera is, or some Chiantis are. On the aftertaste, there's a bit of that dark fruit coming back, mixed with the salt and some slightly sweet alcohol esters.

Despite all the flavors in this wine, it's quite delicate.  It was a good pairing with turkey, since the meat wasn't heavily spiced, but the wine lacked any true standout flavor - which is both good and bad. On one hand, soft and complex wines like this one shouldn't overpower, but they also need to have a bit of strength to them. I thought the wine could have a bit more fruit character, which would make it richer and a little sweeter. Still - a nice bottle for a nice holiday dinner.

Domaine Franck Millet - 2014 "Sancerre" sauvignon blanc [France]

You may recall last August, I served a charcuterie with another Sancerre sauvignon blanc - a 2014 bottle from Domaine Patient Cottat. Today's wine is another entry from the Sancerre AOC, this time a 2014 sauvignon blanc from Domaine Franck Millet, located about two hours south of Paris in the village of Bué, Cher department, of the Centre-Val de Loire province.

Also known at the Loire Valley, this area is world-famous for making excellent wine. So what about this valley is so great? It's the soil. Soil is an important variable in winemaking - in fact, the most important. The minerals, composition, and bugs in the soil directly and dramatically affect the yield, quality, and character of the grapes grown therein. Many of the wines grown in the Loire Valley are grown in a soil called "Kimmeridgian" - a term used to describe a very minerally soil containing limestone, clay, and fossilized shells and coral. The result is a soil rich in nutrients and excellent for growing grapes; so excellent in fact that WineGeeks.com calls it "the most famous and important [wine soil] on Earth" and rated it #1 of all soils used to make wine. So let's dive in!

In the glass, it's clearish yellow - a little bit like a light gold. The nose is quite delicate - mostly some fresh flowers. I should note that I served this slightly chilled.

It's perfect - everything I'd expect from a Loire white...a low-sugar wine with strong mineral notes, some green melon flavors, and nice crispness, too - not at all buttery. It's mildly acidic and finishes with a steady, medium/full flavor, which is kind of the sweet spot in my humble opinion. This wine also delivers a slight tartness on the aftertaste, which adds a pleasant way to recall just how tasty this was!

Vinified in stainless steel, this fresh Sauvignon Blanc is a perfect example for wine from this area. For pairings, we served this with homemade rosemary / mint lamb shanks, mashed potatoes, and gravy jus, and I really liked to contrast between a crisp, fresh, white wine and a heavy, savory meal. It's not a common pairing, but it works.

If any of you are fans of clean, fresh Sauvignon Blanc with no bite, definitely seek out wines from the Loire Valley. At a cost of $24.99, I obtained this particular bottle a year or so ago from the former Charles Fine Wines, but it is available at select stores (as are other wines from this area - just look for the name Sancerre or Loire Valley) and enjoy!

Stone Brewing Co. / Abnormal Beer Co. - "Neapolitan Dynamite" imperial stout

Here's a funky collaboration from Stone and Abnormal Brewing Co. - it's an 8.50% ABV imperial stout brewed with chocolate, vanilla, strawberries, and coffee. Sounds great, right?

This beer, born from a partnership with the American Homebrew Association, is the 2017 winner of Stone's homebrew competition. Homebrewers from around San Diego get to pitch their ideas, make a beer at home, then offer it up to Stone's experts for judging. The grand prize in this contest is a limited production run of the winning beer by Stone. Chris Banker, of Cervezeria Insurgente, won a few years ago with his now-famous "Xocoveza."

According to the bottle, this beer was inspired by "...that humble box of striped ice cream from our childhoods." The bottle also suggests that this beer be paired with liger meat, which is a nice reference to the Napoleon Dynamite-inspired name of the beer.

It pours silky black and generates a dark brown head - very stout-like.

There's a nose of sweet malts, but not much else. To be honest I sometimes have trouble detecting aromas in stouts. It's easier as it warms up. In the glass, it's an inky black, and has some dark brown bubbles.Some of the bubbles stick to the glass, which is cool.

Since it's a Stone stout that's super heavy and strong, as expected it initially presented some dark, burnt cocoa / coffee bean flavors. As the beer warms up, and after a few sips, an interesting parade of flavors come through. The coffee makes the first appearance, and while it's strong, it's not dominant. The chocolate comes up - competing for the star role - and delivers nicely. If you like chocolate in beer, this is the stout for you. Interestingly, there's strawberry on the finish and aftertaste for sure. That's a neat flavor and definitely one I don't encounter too often in a beer, and it lingers for quite a long time.

Overall, this was a fun idea, as the stout is a perfect vehicle for these dessert flavors, but trying to cram so many competing flavors into one beer is a tall order. Although the beer delivered the flavors in "steps", I feel like at times they blended together and weren't as distinctive as they could have been. Personally, I'd prefer this beer to be parsed out into two or three versions, such as chocolate/coffee, vanilla/strawberry, and coffee/vanilla versions. That might make the beer less "crowded". 

Napoleon Dynamite GIF courtesy of Fox Searchlight pictures. GIF grabbed from the web at IndieWire.com