Name

April 1st.  The day people play countless jokes upon one and other.  I had a very nice idea for a joke to play but lack of planning will cause this to be used for a rainy day.  Instead I look at today as opening day for my beloved Phillies.

Roy Halladay takes the mount today at 1:05 pm in Citizen’s Bank Ballpark to take on the Astros as we phight to head back to the World Series.  And I expect nothing less than no hitters from both Halladay and Lee to open the season.  Is that too much to ask for?

But I guess on to the beer right?  So for today’s review here I have Obovoid.  It is an oak aged oatmeal stout according to the makers, Boulder Beer.  I had this one a couple years ago when my taste was not nearly what it is now.  I remember it being quite strong and struggling to get through it.  I doubt that will be the case now but let’s see.

The brew pours a pitch black color into my nonic pint glass.  A light brown or tannish head sites on top and leaves a bit of lacing as it slowly subsides.

The nose is full of oatmeal, mocha and cocoa.  There is slight scent of alcohol in the back but it’s not something that burns the nostrils.

Chocolate and coffee dominate the taste.  I get and ever so slight hoppy taste in the back.  And there is a bit of an oak presence.  It becomes more apparent when it warms up along with the alcohol.  And I must say the body on this is very thin and light.  I expected something heavier and more creamy since it is an oatmeal stout according to them.

Well I can definitely say I didn’t struggle through this bottle at all.  Oh what time can do to one’s taste buds.

While I thought the beer was full of flavor I was very let down by the body of the beer.  Typically the use of oats in a beer is to give it more body and this was super light.  It didn’t make it a bad beer.  It just made it less enjoyable.  I don’t know if this was a below standard batch or what.

If you have had this beer and thought it had a lot of body do let me know.  I will definitely try another bottle.

But until next time, go Phils!

Grade - B-

Name

It’s Super Bowl week and the big game is just around the corner.  My Eagles were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round by the NFC representative for the big game, the Packers.  But as is my typical fashion when the Eagles are out I will root for the other team from my home state.  Those blue collared folks all the way across the state in Pittsburgh.  And to show a little bit of support for the black and gold I have something equally black here.

Voodoo Brewing Company is out of Meadville, PA which is pretty much smack dab in between Pittsburgh and Erie on the western side of the state.  My first experience with them was this past summer in Pennsylvania where I attended a Voodoo Night at the Hulmeville Inn.  The brews were excellent and I even got a chance to speak with head brewer Matt.

Today’s beer is probably their big hitter of their line, Big Black Voodoo Daddy.  It’s a big 12.5% ABV American Imperial Stout that was given to me for my birthday from Ryan of the Funky Buddha.  So let’s see if this beer puts a curse over me.

The brew is jet black when it’s poured into my nonic pint glass.  There is a nice sized light brown head on top of the beer and it leaves some good lacing on the glass.

Tons of stuff going on in the nose.  I get a lactose like smell right off the bat followed by some cocoa and coffee.  There is a hop quality in the nose as well with a slight boozy scent in the back.

There is a lot of roasted tastes in here.  Some bitter coffee and hops come together along with some more hints of cocoa.  As this baby warms up you really get the alcohol in it.

Well this name I think certain fits the brew.  It is definitely big and most certainly black.

I’m going to guess that this bottle was probably from early 2010.  I know they don’t make it year round and they just announced it coming out right around now so that’s my guess on it.  If so there is still quite a hop presence in it for a 1 year old beer.  It threw things off a little bit but wasn’t a put off.  I think this would be an incredible aging beer.

So there you have it Steeler nation.  I have drank a local beer to show my support for your team going into the big game.  I think it would be awesome to see a bunch of Steelers fans drinking this instead of Iron City.

Grade - B+

Name

Wow I haven’t posted anything in 5 days. I’m very sorry about that folks.  I promise this won’t happen for at least another month or two.  We cool?  Nice.

So last night I decided to go home and relax instead of my typical Monday at the Coffee District for Social Beer Night.  I was exhausted and laying on my couch seemed like a good idea.  So I cooked myself up some homemade chicken teriyaki and veggies and plopped down for the evening.

The beer of choice for the night was a beer that I can’t believe it took me this long to have and review.  It is one of the big boys of Bell’s stout line up, Expedition.

Well I can blame the fact that the local distributor for Bell’s down here pretty much didn’t care about them for past year or so and we didn’t get much from them.  Hell if it weren’t for our community down here bitching we wouldn’t have gotten HopSlam last year for the second year in a row.

But someone there must have seen the potential and brought back the entire line of Bell’s beers to us.  Including in those batches was Expedition so I picked up a sixer.  Yup I had so much faith in this that I bought a six pack.

So I poured the brew into my pint glass and it came out a very inky black color.  A brown head sat atop the brew and actually left a really good amount of lacing on the glass.

The nose is packed with mocha scents and a lot of roasted malts.  Hints of chocolate and coffee come out as well.  And you get a little bit of the alcohol in the nose.

The taste is a lot more of the same that was present in the nose (man I hate having to say that) but there is a nice lactose taste there as well.  It also has a very creamy consistency and mouth feel to it.

To all my friends that have raved to me about how great Expedition is I can just simply say, I’m with you.

I know I said a bit back that Southern Tier were the kings of the stout.  Corey from BX Beer Depot threw in Bell’s to that fight and I can now completely understand with Expedition being the Arthur of the Bell’s stouts royal family.  Am I changing my mind?  Not necessarily but those two breweries are close and making awesome dark brews.

Grade - A