What We're Drinking

Rogue Brewery's Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout

There is nothing better than a pint of stout to help ease you into the week. Enjoying a bottle of Rogue's Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout last night was the perfect answer to a long day.

This stout pours a dark brown color with a frothy tan head. Its rich, creamy taste balances flavors of roasted malt, oats, coffee and a hint of dark chocolate, and the hops bring a slightly citrusy taste at the end. This is a solid, complex stout that sports a variety of flavors that blend together quite harmoniously - no individual taste is ever overpowering and it goes down crazy-smooth.

This beer recently won Bronze in the American-Style Stout category at the Great American Beer Festival, and it's not hard to see why.

What We're Drinking

Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale

I love fall, and I am sucker for all things pumpkin. Breads, cakes, ice cream, pasta, and most importantly - beer. The arrival of pumpkin ales on the shelves and on the taps is the first sign of autumn for me, and I was psyched to sample my first pumpkin ale of the season earlier this week - The Elysian Brewing Company's Night Owl Pumpkin Ale.

Night Owl was the brew that got me hooked on pumpkin beers a few years ago. The pumpkin is very present in both the aroma and the taste (each batch of the ale is brewed with pumpkin, as well as with pumpkin seeds). It is also flavored with nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and ginger. The nutmeg and the cloves are the most prominent of these flavors, and are present throughout, giving the beer a spicy kick and butching up the flavor (like if your mom's Thanksgiving pumpkin pie got all hopped up on steroids before being served). Then it wraps it all up with a warm, slightly hoppy finish. Yum.

Great start to pumpkin beer season, and I am looking forward to many more over the coming weeks. Happy Fall!

What We're Drinking

Left-Hand Milk Stout

I've talked about it a bit before, but I wanted to write a post dedicated to the Left-Hand Brewing Company's Milk Stout. We picked up a 6-pack last weekend, and I really can't sing its praises enough. This is a great stout.

This stout is made with a sugar called lactose, which comes from milk and is not affected by beer yeast. Because it is not broken down during the brewing process, the finished product is characterized by a creamy sweetness. This flavoring helps to neutralize the bitterness that tends to characterize stouts. The beer is still very rich in flavor and has the roasted quality typical of stouts, but minus the bitter finish.

In a moment of pure genius, we paired Left-Hand Milk Stout with Triple Threat cupcakes from Cupcake Royale. WOW. That's really all I can say. That, and F#%&@$* AMAZING. The two complemented each other ridiculously well. The chocolate brought out the barley and the coffee flavor in the stout, and the stout, in turn, highlighted the dark chocolate in the cupcake and balanced out the sweetness.

Like bears and chainsaws, both elements are fantastic on their own, but are a force to be reckoned with when brought together.

What We're Drinking

Alaskan White Ale

My parents were in town from Illinois last week. One of our favorite activities for visitors is to head down to the Pike Place Market; after we have perused the various food, craft and jewelry stalls, we swing by Pure Food Fish on the way out and buy something to cook later that evening. It's a fun activity for everyone, and allows us to treat our guests to something they might not ordinarily have access to. Our favorite purchase has always been crab. Most of our visitors hail from the Midwest, and are always wow-ed by the size and freshness of the crab legs that can be acquired in a coastal city.

This was exactly what we did on Saturday, and to great success. We steamed the crab legs and picked up the perfect beer to complement them - Alaskan White Ale. Alaskan brews this ale in the Belgian witbier style (translates to "white beer"). This light, wheat ale is great for warm weather, and absolutely perfect with seafood. It is a light-bodied beer that has a distinctive flavor without being overpowering. It has a crisp, slightly sweet taste with a hint of citrus in the finish.

In addition to being fantastic with seafood, we also recommend this beer to people who aren't traditionally drinkers of wheat beers, or who are new to the craft beer scene. It is a good introduction to both, allowing them to try something new that is simultaneously flavorful and not overly complex or aggressive.

What We're Drinking

Deschutes Twilight Summer Ale

Nothing beats a summer beer in July (now that summer has finally decided to join us). Over the weekend, I grabbed a six-pack of Deschutes Twilight Summer Ale and kicked back to enjoy - and enjoy I did!

This is a golden-colored brew that balances a citrusy, hoppy taste with a rich, malty finish. I love it for summer because it packs a lot of flavor while still remaining a fairly light-bodied beer. Not too heavy, and great for warm weather. It's available though September, so grab a six-pack for your next cook-out.

What We're Drinking

In celebration of Dogfish Head's impending television infamy, we picked up some of their Midas Touch. They have made their mark by brewing a variety of very unique, no-holes-barred beers, and this is no exception. It is brewed from an ancient Turkish recipe that was reconstructed from ingredients found in 2700 year old drinking vessels that were found in what is believed to be the tomb of King Midas.

It is brewed with barley, honey and white muscat grapes - each of these ingredients makes a very distinct contribution. This beer has a very wine-like quality, with the grapes being very present on the nose (very Chardonnay-like). The barley comes into play in the initial taste, (reminding you that you are, in fact, drinking beer), offsetting some of the sweetness provided by the grapes. The honey helps it to finish off with a very rich, warm quality.

Midas Touch is light and sweet enough to be appealing to someone new to beer, or to someone who doesn't enjoy darker, heavier beers, but still offers enough complexity to be appealing to a seasoned beer-drinker. If you haven't sampled it yet, it's definitely worth checking out. For most people, it's probably not for everyday drinking, but absolutely offers an interesting, worthy option when you want to shake things up a bit.

What We're Drinking

On Sunday, we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous Seattle summer and take a drive out to the Snoqualmie Brewery and Taproom. It's a great, laid-back place for lunch. Their menu consists of a variety of fresh, tasty sandwiches, as well as some pizzas, and of course, the beer, which is clearly the star of the show. On this lovely afternoon, we sampled two beers from their list:

Black Frog Oatmeal Stout - This is a robust stout. It has a hint of bitterness that is offset by the rich, slightly coffee-y taste that comes from the chocolate malt that they add during brewing. The rolled oats help to smooth out the acidity, making for a rich, rather mellow finish.

The Steamtrain Porter sported a lot of similar characteristics to the Stout (chocolate and coffee flavors from the malts), but with a very different outcome. The Porter didn't finish quite as smooth, and definitely packed a bit more of a punch with its rich bite.

Both are definitely recommended, if you're a dark beer-lover. If you are looking for a pleasant way to spend a lazy Sunday, take a drive out to their Taproom. If you're too busy, fear not - their beers are available at local retailers, so pick up a bottle.