8 Ball Stout on a Saturday Night

We putting together an auction item for a fundraiser at our kid's school. I had the clever idea that we could create a package of craft brews along with two snifters and tasting notes-- auction it off. Perfect for the parents of preschoolers. The other nice part is that I need to make sure I carefully taste each brew before writing tasting notes...

The first beer that we tasted was a beer from Lost Coast Brewery in Eureka, CA. I am a fan of their Indica Pale Ale but I hadn't tried one of their stouts.
This beer pours black in the glass with a tan frothy head. The nose has lots of chocolate, coffee and roasted malt. It is drinkable, not too heavy, and has a mild alcohol content. This is a nice winter beer. We split this 22oz bomber while making dinner. Pretty good stuff.

In the beginning...

For any beer enthusiast, there is always a beer that first made them appreciate the fact that actual creative thought goes into beer making, and that there is a difference between beers, that there isn't just "light beer" and "dark beer". My first experience with a craft beer was back in 1993, when I met Full Sail Amber at the Green Lantern in Walla Walla, WA. I loved it. I could still tolerate the Bud Light on the weekends, but I really liked Full Sail-- I liked this new thing (to me) called "amber ale".

But I didn't truly appreciate craft beer until I discovered what Cascade hops was-- what it tasted and smelled like. I learned this via the world of American pale ales and American-style India pale ales. That's how Sierra Nevada Pale Ale became one of my favorite beers-- a standby that pretty much always hits the spot.

So this afternoon, as I start this blog, I cracked the cap off a green bottle of Sierra Nevada. This pale pours with a nice head. It is surprisingly colorful-- a nice light amber. If you put your nose close you can't miss the citrus and floral scent of the Cascade finishing hops. Drinking it is a bit too easy I think-- a nice balance of malt and bitter hops. It's maybe a bit much as a session beer, but I think it's a great late afternoon stand-by and goes great with a light meal.

I guess I should start thinking about what's for dinner...