Oh, hai #14-16

#14
Beer: Espresso Oak Ages Yeti Imperial Stout
Brewery: Great Divide Brewing Company, Colorado
Category: American Double/Imperial Stout
Date Drank: 3/13/09
Grade: A
Location purchased/drank: Common Ground in Allston
Served from a: tap

This beer was really amazing. Took forever to pour (I think I waited about 10 minutes for it). Gorgeously dark. Sweet, coffee-bitter, chocolately. Sensuous body--very smooth. This beer is well...sexy...and highly recommended.

#15
Beer: Left Hand Milk Stout
Brewery: Left Hand Brewing Company, Colorado
Category: Milk/Sweet Stout
Date Drank: 3/15/09
Grade: B
Location purchased/drank: The Miracle of Science in Cambridge
Served from a: tap

I loved this beer a few years ago, when I was really getting into craft. I remember that it won a gold medal at the GABF, which I thought was cool (but probably not the hardest thing in the world, either depending on category). It's got a great, creamy body/mouthfeel. The flavor, however, I find lacking, especially drinking this the day after the Espresso Oak Aged Yeti (damn, there are too many Yetis...but they're all so good!). This beer seems to me to be all about the mouth feel and not enough about the aroma, the flavor, the roastiness of a stout.

#16
Beer: Coffeehouse Porter
Brewery: Berkshire Brewing Company, Massachusetts
Category: American Porter
Date Drank: 3/16/09
Grade: A-
Location purchased/drank: The Independent
Served from a: Tap

This is one of my favorite beers. I get this quite often at the Indo, actually. Great heavy body, robust flavor, drinkable and just plain tasty. "Roasty" is a word used on beeradvocate and I have to agree. Yum! Not as refined in flavor as the Espresso Yeti, but still a great great beer.

5, 6, 7: Beth

This is where it gets hard for me...writing about beer after going somewhere socially/where I'm not necessarily there for the beer. But I'm just gonna do it and let it be fun! This is not about being right, it's about learning. With that, here are 5/6/7

#5
Beer: Raison D'Etre
Brewery: Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Delaware
Category: Belgian Strong Dark Ale
Date Drank: 2/26/09
Grade: B-
Location purchased/drank: Silvertone
Served from a: Tap

I loved this beer a year ago. I don't know if my tastes have evolved or if the year was better then (I think I was drinking the 2003) or if it's aged or what, but now I find it a little too...chewy and pruney. A little unpleasantness in the back of my mind as I drink this. It's even a little too sweet and I love a sweet, malty beer...I guess this is a sweet, fruity beer. I prefer sour fruity beers. I'm weird. Someone on beeradvocate mentioned it would be great for braising...and I think, in our hey-day with this beer we did make Flemish stew with it and it was great...I always think it would be great with pork or duck when I drink it. That raisiny, fruity sweetness would work well with those.

#6
Beer: Anchor Steam Beer
Brewery: Anchor Beer Company, California
Category: Steam Beer
Date Drank: 2/26/09
Grade: B-
Location purchased/drank: Silvertone
Served from a: Bottle

Another beer I've had before and didn't like as much this time. The restaurant served us just the bottle, we both took one swig and poured the rest into our glasses from the Raison D'Etre. I liked this on tap at the Burren, but now in a bottle it tasted stale (might be the restaurant's doing, though). Ben and I discussed its "honey and rye" flavors...not in a good way. Don't know a lot about the style, though. Just not my thing that night, but the more I think about how I liked it at the Burren, the more I think Silvertone skunked it. I added a link to Beer Advocate's style information.

#7
Beer: CaCow! Chocolate Milk Stout
Brewery: Cambridge Brewing Company, MA
Category: Milk/Sweet Stout
Date Drank: 2/28/09
Grade: A-
Location purchased/drank: Redbones
Served from a: tap

I really enjoy the creaminess of milk stouts. It's a pleasant chewiness. It's sweet and dry, too. Lots going on. It had a really intense flavor that reminded me of CBC's You Enjoy My Stout, but not as over-powering as that (I don't know how to describe it, but it was too much in YEMS, but a nice contrast in CaCow!). Rich and chocolately, dark and malty. Very nice beer.