Storm King Stout by Victory Brewing

A few months ago, we drove to Evansville, IN to go on a beer run for beer we could not get here. One of the beers we brought back was DirtWolf Double IPA by Victory Brewing Company. That was one heck of a beer. I absolutely loved it. Well, when we traveled down to Florida and the Carolinas to see family, we made it into another beer run. One of the stores had DirtWolf, so I picked up some of that. Right next to that beer was Storm King Stout. I looked it up on Rate Beer and it has a 97 by style and 100 overall. So of course, I grabbed two 4-packs of it. Storm King was in my beer advent calendar. Yesterday was the day I was able to try it.

Storm King is an Imperial Stout. It is 9.1% ABV. It pours a deep black with a nice tan head. The aroma is a nice roasted malt but also some hoppy bitterness to it. I took a sip and it was really nice. With that first sip, I got the roasted malts but also that bit of hops.

With other stouts and especially the Christmas Bomb! I reviewed, the more it warms up, the more flavorful it becomes. I let this one set a few minutes and took another sip. The chocolate and coffee notes started to become a bit more up front. I let it set a few more minutes and man, it was coming alive. I waited again and this time all of those complex flavors were wonderful. I figured that if it is coming directly out of the refrigerator, I would want to wait about 20 minutes for it to get to the right temperature. If you want to taste this beer open up, start drinking it immediately after taking it out of the fridge and take sips every few minutes. This is a wonderful stout but it could be characterized as part IPA also.

I really wish that Victory distributed to the St. Louis area. They have some wonderful beers. I still have some more of this great beer if someone would like to have a tasting party. I give this 4.5 hop flowers. It is so good.

Victory Brewing Company

Jai Alai IPA from Cigar City Brewing

Man, it has been too long that I have posted a review. My original intent was to post a review twice a week but it has been almost two weeks since I have posted one. I have had some great (and not so great) beer in that time. This is the time of year for stouts and porters. When it starts to get a bit chilly out and the holidays are near, you pour yourself (or have one poured) a glass of a dark ale. This time though, I am reviewing an IPA from a world-class brewery. Cigar City Brewing Company is located in Tampa, FL. They only distribute to FL, GA, AL, VA, NY and PA. While I was down in Florida, I picked up some of their beer.

Jai Alai is named after a Spanish game that was extremely popular in Florida. It is called the fastest sport in the world. The ball that they use was once clocked at 188 mph. That is crazy. When I lived in Florida, I watched a few games. It was neat to watch but I did not understand it at all. People used to bet on the game a ton. There are still places in Florida where you can watch it and amateurs can play.

The beer Jai Alai is an IPA with 7.5% ABV. It pours an orangish color with a white head. The aroma is absolutely amazing. There are so many tropical and citrus smells. If they made a Jai Alai IPA scented candle, I would actually have candles.

The taste of this is just like the smell, tropical and citrusy. There is some malty taste to give it some balance. As you continue to drink it, you get some of that IPA bitterness. It is not too much, just enough to let you know that you are drinking a hoppy beer. The finish is slight bitterness but dry. If you didn't know that it was 7.5% ABV, you could sit and drink it all day. I did say YOU could drink it all day if you didn't know the ABV. I DO know the ABV and would still drink it all day.

It is too bad that it is difficult to get Cigar City beers here in St. Louis but fortunately, I have family in Florida and will be asking for care packages. Also, there is a company called Brew Hub that contract brews beer for local craft brewers and out-of-state brewers. They are in talks to have some of their beers brewed at a Chesterfield, MO location that should open in 2016.

This is an amazing beer and I give it 4.5 hop flowers.

Cigar City Brewing

Christmas Bomb! from Prairie Artisan Ales

Prairie Artisan Ales, out of Krebs, Oklahoma, has an Imperial Stout called Bomb! or Prairie Bomb!. This is a very good stout. There is also Pirate Bomb!. The Prairie Bomb! is an Imperial Stout with coffee, cacao nibs, vanilla beans and ancho chili peppers. This beer is down right delicious. The Pirate Bomb! is the Prairie Bomb! aged in rum barrels (get it, rum barrels...pirate?). When these beers are released, there is usually a mad dash to your local craft beer store to get them. They are very tasty. I have both of these variants. Well, for the Christmas season, they release Christmas Bomb!. With this beer, Prairie adds Christmas spices like nutmeg and cinnamon. It is 11.5% ABV.

I was able to pick up some bottles of this stout from The Wine and Cheese Place. When it was released, we were still on vacation down south, so I placed an order online and picked up my bottles when we got back into town. I recently made my own Beer Advent Calendar and added this beer to it. Unfortunately, I have not tasted it and I will not be picking it of my Beer Advent Calendar box for over two weeks. So, I decided to grab another bottle and try it out. Boy, am I glad I did.

This beer pours a deep black with a small tan head. It was clear a little bit around the edges. The aroma was heavy coffee, some of the spices and malt. I could have just smelled it for a while but then that might have been weird. That first taste is really nice. It was chocolaty, malty and hints of those spices.

I pulled out my phone and brought up the Untapped app to rate it. I rated it a 4.0. I took another sip and got a few different tastes. This time, I tasted the coffee and more spice. I set the glass down for a minute or two. I picked it up and swirled the glass a little bit. I then got just a hint of licorice. I can not stand that anise flavor from black licorice but there was just a hint of that in the aroma. I did not taste it though. Wifey said it best when she said that when it warms up, it opens up like a flower. I have to totally agree with her on that. The more it sat and warmed up a degree or two, the more complex flavors came out. As it got a bit warmer, you get some of the alcohol heat. When you drink this, you really need to take a little while to finish it so you can taste the different complex flavors as they develop with the change in the temperature.

This is such an amazing beer. I cannot wait for the day that I can pull this out of my Beer Advent Calendar. I give this one 4.5 hop flowers!

 The Wine and Cheese Place
Prairie Artisan Ales

Here is my Beer Advent Calendar