Solo Valentine's Day Post!

As usual, its Valentine's day and I'm drinking beer and watching TV at 10pm.  Happy valentine's day everyone.  I hope you all watched Walking Dead and headed off to bed.  It was a very good episode and I don't know anything that could set the mood better then 100's of zombies getting hacked, slashed, shot, and burned to death.  Going with that theme, I am going to hack, slash, and burn my way through a few new beers for the betterment of my audience's thirst for beer knowledge.  Without further ado, here we go:

Brewer:  Urban Chesnut
Beer Name:  Reverence Series Hardwood Myth
Beer Style:  English Porter
Price:  $8.99 for a 4 pack of 16oz bottles

Nice pic with the fireplace in the background.  Watching Talking Dead.  Carrie Underwood is hot. She is the guest and really hasn't said much and that works for me.  OK.  Onto the beer.

Appearance:  Dark; cloudy.  Can't see a thing through it.  Looks like a porter.

Aroma:  You can smell the malt in this beer.  It smells carmaley and delicious.   The aroma is not overpowering by any means but just tempts you to take a drink.

Mouthfeel:  A little fizzy but not a lot happening here.  Relatively light and watery but not a detriment at all.

Taste:  Delicious.  A surprisingly complex beer.  For a beer with almost no hop taste at all, it is surprisingly bitter.  But a good bitter.  It has a buttery, smooth caramel taste throughout followed by a bitter finish.  Very good beer here.  I am impressed.

Overall rating:  4.0.  For a beer that seems pretty straightforward, it is surprisingly complex as I make my way through the glass.  I am a huge fan of Urban Chesnut when they get a beer right (some they haven't).  They got this one right for sure.  If you are a fan of caramel malt or dark beer in general, you need to try this.  I got this 6 pack at Total Wine on Clarkson.  Swing by and grab a six and give it a shot.

On to the next beer!

Brewer:  Odell Brewing Company
Beer Name: Lugene Choco;ate Milk Stout
Beer Style:  Chocolate Milk Stout
Price:  Can't remember.  Maybe $8.99 for a 4 pack

I had one of these when I got home from my soccer game.  Going to blog #2 of the evening.  The first one was good.  This one is delicious as well.

Appearance:  As the pic shows, it is dark with a beautiful pour.  It is absolutely muddy as a good stout should be.

Aroma:  Not much here; maybe a little chocolate or cocoa.  A slight hint of cinnamon maybe?

Mouthfeel:  Tingly. definitely a lot heavier then the porter.  This is a substantial beer with a lot happening up front.

Taste:  As most of you know by now, I am a fan of the stout; particularly the milk and the chocolate stouts.  This one does not disappoint.  I love the malt and the bitterness of the cocoa.  As a general rule, I love the sweetness found in the stouts and this one suits me perfectly except for one thing.  It has a lot of cinnamon taste and I'm not a huge fan of that.  If they toned down the cinnamon and let the cocoa come through a bit more, this would be a really good beer.  If you like the spice that the cinnamon provides, this beer is perfect.  Its still a good beer; just not perfect in my book.

Overall rating:  I'm going 3.0 with all of the points being deducted for the cinnamon taste.  Not the best chocolate milk stout but still well worth drinking and it may suit others who like the spice more than I do.

That's all for tonight I'm afraid.  Going to watch the rest of Birdman.  I'm going to do a blog this week on last year's Oscar awards as I have now seen 3 1/2 of the 8 nominees.  I need to watch the rest of Birdman and I am taping Boyhood this week.  I have seen Grand Budapest Hotel, American Sniper, and also The Theory of Everything as well.  I still need to see Selma, The Imitation Game, and Whiplash.   I am going to do a post on the first four and then the last four after I see them.

Until next weekend, here's to beer!