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Stouts are my favourite family of beer styles, and are the variety that got me into good beer (Young’s Double Chocolate Stout being the specific beer). When your average person thinks of stout, they usually think of something along the lines of Guinness; however, that’s not particularly representative. Stouts vary a lot in bitterness from sweet stouts like Youngs to some truly brutal Russian Imperial Stouts. What stouts generally share is an intense maltiness with generally lighter influence from aroma hops. There is no way I could cover all the varieties of stout in one post, so I am just going to pick two of my favourite styles.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/rHgnbl.jpg)
This is Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout and is, unsurprisingly, an oatmeal stout. Oatmeal stouts use oatmeal as an adjunct (as you can see, beer is an esoteric field that takes advanced technical knowledge to understand). The oatmeal adds significant amounts of protein to the beer that result in it taking on an incredibly smooth mouthfeel that is pretty unique to the style. In general, oatmeal stouts tend to be sort of like super-Guinnesses—they are more flavourful and fuller of body than your average Guinness, but usually have a similar flavour profile (Guinness is actually a pretty thin stout on flavour and body). The Sam Smith example pictured is a really good oatmeal stout and one of my favourite beers to grab when I feel like a pint (the St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout whose glass I used in my last blog is another favourite).
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/FFeqal.jpg)
This is Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout, a member of the classification of stouts called Russian imperial stouts (or just imperial stouts) due to Catherine II’s preference for the style. RISs are basically the granddaddy of stouts; they boast very high alcohol contents (Brooklyn BCS is 10%), thick mouthfeel, little carbonation, and are just bursting with dark roasted malt flavours (read: probably not a good idea to try a RIS until you are used to lighter stouts). My personal favourite beer is a RIS produced by the Oskar Blues Brewing Company called Ten Fidy, but I haven’t had the chance to try any of the really rare RISs like Dark Lord and similar. Anyway, despite the name, Brooklyn BCS doesn’t actually contain any chocolate; instead, it gets its dark chocolate flavour entirely from careful brewing with well selected malts. To sum up my favourite type of beer, imagine a bitter molasses with 10+% alcohol and you’d come very close to a RIS.
PS: Most RISs will not produce much head. High ABV beers in general have trouble with head formation and retention, which isn’t really helped by the lowish amount of carbonation found in a typical RIS.
PPS: The first time you have a very high ABV beer like a RIS, Belgian quad/tripel, etc. you will probably experience an unusual rapid buzz. My theory is that this is a side effect of the increased rate of alcohol absorption with carbonated beverages, but I don’t actually know.
PPPS: Drinking a RIS makes spelling a chore.
  
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have you tried sam adams cream stout? its the only stout ive ever had and it was mediocre imo. im interested in oatmeal stouts as ive been hearing a lot about them lately. im going to go down to the liqour store in a few minutes and see what i can find.
edit; also props on the samuel smith, ive had the organic lager and ale and they are very good quality.
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On May 19 2012 12:11 heliusx wrote:
have you tried sam adams cream stout? its the only stout ive ever had and it was mediocre imo. im interested in oatmeal stouts as ive been hearing a lot about them lately. im going to go down to the liqour store in a few minutes and see what i can find.
I haven't had Sam Adams Cream, but it's a milk stout, which are pretty polarizing in my opinion. I don't really like them as I find them far too sweet, almost like milk chocolate; however, some people (like my brother), really enjoy them.
Edit: Just to add some detail, milk stouts are stouts that contain lactose (ie milk sugar). One could say that brewing yeast are lactose-intolerant; in other words, they can't digest lactose. Therefore the lactose makes it through the brewing process unfermented and the resultant stout is much sweeter than other stouts (also has the side effect of making it so that lactose intolerant people probably shouldn't drink them).
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I don't have much productive to post in these blogs, so I haven't said anything. However-- I am really enjoying reading these so tyty for writing them! ^^ They are quite informative for me, and I like the pics. It's sparked my interest in trying things, even though I can't stand the taste of alcohol. XD
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I don't know the regional availability of this, but the 7 Grain Survival Stout from Hopworks brewery in Portland is the absolute fucking bomb.
![[image loading]](http://www.flavouredbeer.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/HUBSurvivalSevenGrainStout.jpg)
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On May 19 2012 12:46 RedJustice wrote:
I can't stand the taste of alcohol. XD
OMG I'm so sorry 
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On May 19 2012 13:03 sam!zdat wrote:Show nested quote +On May 19 2012 12:46 RedJustice wrote:
I can't stand the taste of alcohol. XD OMG I'm so sorry
haha for me it was the same, my first beer tasted like poop. then i loved the buzz so i kept on trucking. many years later i became interested in good beer and now i love the buzz and the vast assortment of flavours and styles!
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I actually like the taste more than the buzz.
not to say I don't like the buzz
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young's double chocolate stout is delicious! ill have to check out the recommendations you made!
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United States11637 Posts
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On May 19 2012 14:29 boesthius wrote:
that black chocolate stout makes me want to rip my arm off i want it so bad
Yeah, I had 4 of those a while back and my god they were good. Maybe the best stout I have ever had.
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Really been enjoying these blogs. Stouts are easily my favorite as well, nothing better than a great oatmeal stout on a blustery winter night, or any night for that matter  . My favorite is Winter Warlock, not available this far east which sucks, but whenever I head to Colorado my in-laws always have six of it waiting for me.
![[image loading]](http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lww6erihLv1r36xpi.jpg)
Only 6% ABV but its so drinkable and delicious it's easy to overdo it  .
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EPT
