Still waiting for your box of BIG STOUTS (me too) or you haven't tried them yet? Check out: Which BIG STOUTS are you looking forward to the most? For those of you who've already received your boxes and tried them all, let's do a new poll. Which BIG STOUTS did you enjoy the most? Pick your top 3 and discuss! We'll keep the poll open for 60 days.
Paraboloid was my most anticipated, and it didn’t disappoint. Very special beer, from the packaging through the last drop. The perfect closer to the Extreme Beer Box. Close behind was Dark Mode. This was my dark horse… I’ve had it before (fresh) and the year-old C.O.D. didn’t impress me. It seemed a little like filler. But I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. The biggest surprise of the box was Peanut Brother. I didn’t expect one of the peanut beers to be in my top three. This one was excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Honorable mention - FLUX. A little sweet for a RIS, IMHO. And the barrel wasn’t as noticeable as I hoped. But I did enjoy it. Actually, I enjoyed all twelve. But this one a little bit more than the rest of the pack.
Halfway through, I decided to vote to see the results, figuring I could change as I have the remaining beers. I've had two of the beers I was looking forward to in the other poll, and so far one deserved one of my votes (two selected) here. I am anticipating at least two of my remaining beers will vie to push it out, though.
Ten FIDY and Dark Mode were my top two, no question. The third was a hard choice between Paraboloid and Black Daruma. I ended up going with Black Daruma but it was dang close. I think the only one of the box I didn't actually like was Gravastar. Eat the Rich wasn't my favourite but I respected that it was trying to do something that wasn't for me, and I ended up using the rest of the can to make a fantastic batch of curry.
Looks like I am mostly with the majority here. Best flavored big stout: Peanut Brother. This was the favorite for both my husband and I. Best extreme stout: DFH Wake Up World Wide Stout Best Unique Stout: Black Daruma Honorable mention for Best classic BA stout: BA Ten Fidy. I didn't vote for it in my top 3 but it's right up there with them. All great beers and I really appreciate the ones made special for this box.
My 3 favorites were Paraboloid, Peanut Brother and Dark Mode. All were pretty good, although I thought the Gravastar was a step or 2 below the others. But all enjoyable brews, would definitely purchase another Big Stouts box in the future if this was done again!
Dark Mode was maybe the best Milk Stout I've ever had. Peanut Brother was maybe the best Peanut Butter beer I've ever had. Paraboloid was just damned good, but that's to be expected from Firestone Walker.
The Great Notion was a very pleasant surprise. I was afraid the peanut butter side would be the powder type experience. Not the case. Overall, not a bad stout in the box. Looking forward to the next box of goodness.
Firestone Walker took top honors in our book. Revolution's Dark Mode was our #2. All were good, some more than others. Well worth doing and many thanks and kudos to Todd and his crew along with Halftime for taking on a big job and getting it done.
BA Ten-Fidy 4.58 DFH Wakeup WWS 4.35 Paraboloid 4.35 Eat the Rich 4.35 Revolution's Dark Mode 4.13 O'Dells Barreled Treasure 4.12 Japas Darumu 4.04 And the also rans, most of these didnt get finished. Ecliptic Gravastar 3.77 Great Notion Peanut Brother 3.53 Barclay Flux 3.48 Finback Coconut Drip 3.32 Weathered Souls PB Fusion 3.19
