Colorado BA Stouts (2021)

A friend recently gifted me a mixed-6er of Avery stuff that he built himself, and it had a couple cans of Night Warden in it. I am sure I had one around the campfire in Moab a week or so ago during my birthday trip, and while I recall it being good I don't recall much else because campfire and Moab and birthday. I'll try the other one soon and report back.

 

2021 Liquid Brain is now available. Both in bottles and on tap. They actually have a few BA big beers on at the moment, but I think people seem to only care about the stuff they can hustle midwestern goons with.

 

If it's not available in a technicolor 16 oz can, is it even worth trying?

 

Technicolor 16oz can that doesn't clearly list the name of the brewery or the beer. Just weird watercolor trees and a health warning.

 

ORB. Got it.

 

Circling back to this... it’s okay. Actually, it’s nice. It’s fine. I wasn’t blown away. Which, when I generally have a BA stout (imperial or otherwise) I have an expectation of being blown away by complexity, flavor depth, mouth feel, whatever. This (to me) tasted rather like a well-built stout with some hints of whiskey at the end. It’s not bad by any stretch... and maybe this is all to be expected from a higher production BA stout? It felt approachable, and mass produced.

 

I wasn't a fan of Night Warden. The base beer had no body to it and the whiskey character comes across as really strong (and rough) because there's nothing to temper it. I hoped it would be bold, like Ten Fidy or even their old Czar, but it isn't. It isn't even Dragon's Milk, which uses multi-use barrels and comes across as pretty smooth as a result. Avery's in that same position that New Belgium and Great Divide are in. They're all chasing one another and putting out beers that just simply aren't as good as what smaller places are doing. They aren't really much (if any) cheaper, either.

 

I picked up a tall boy of Uplsope's cinnamon/vanilla BA stout a few weeks ago. I was going to open it last week, then I saw it was 16% abv, lol. I've got to make plans to drink something like that. And I wish it was a 12 oz can.

 

My GF and I drank this a few weeks ago and it's insanely good (as I have come to expect from the Lee Hill series). It's a perfect share size for 2 people IMO and we enjoyed it over the course of a solid hour.

 

Cool. Mind if I drink it with your girlfriend?

 

Looooooool I realize that aspect of my comment wasn't exactly helpful, but the key takeaway is that the beer was fantastic; solo that shit, get drunk, profit.

 

Technically porters, not stouts, but this year's lineup of Cerebral Work From Anywhere + variants (Working Vacation and Personal Day) are all very tasty.

 

Just had Four Sticks from Coda Brewing last night... and I found it to be quite delicious. Russian Imperial Stout aged in bourbon barrels from Golden Moon distillery, so they're keeping it local. I know I've crowed about Coda before, and I still assert they're on par with Cannonball. This beer supports that assertion. Aromatic, great mouthfeel, nice hits of dark fruit and dark chocolate, hint of the barrel in there, and IMHO quite balanced. On the sweeter side, but no adjuncts just straight beer and barrel aging so far as I know... and I asked.

I assume that most of you likely have a more refined palette than me, I'm like a labrador for beer in that I just like most of it. As such I'm really curious how Coda would stack up for the BA crowd, so if any of y'all wanna come out for a pint or taster or two, I'd be happy to meet ya. I can pedal there in about 10 minutes from my house.

 

I finally cracked it open. Other than a disappointing lack of head, it is damn good.