Beer Review: Young's Double Chocolate Stout

Hi all! Just to prove that I can still do a decent beer review, I was looking in my fridge last night for a review-worthy brew and what did I find? An old favorite: Young's Double Chocolate Stout.



We'll start with Presentation. In this case, I am reviewing a bottle poured into a pint glass. As you can tell from the picture above, it is very dark (effectively black) in appearance. It pours with a solid deep tan head that dissipates fairly quickly.

The smell was chocolate with a distinct coffee/espresso aroma. Some maltiness was also evident.

Taste was very smooth and creamy. Dominant chocolate flavors with a hint of coffee and malt. It had a very smooth finish and the chocolate flavors really came to life as it warmed slightly.

This is one of the most drinkable beers I've found. It is a stout (big time) so it may not be for everyone, but drinkers of Guinness have probably already discovered and fallen in love with this beer.

If you haven't tried it, go out now and buy some!

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That's all for now!

Random Weekend Alcohol Check!

Hello Drink Dummy fans! Time for another installment of the Random Weekend Alcohol Check. What have I been drinking this weekend? Let's find out!

I was out at the bar on Friday night and they had a $2 shot special of Rumple Minze Lime. Now, I'm kind of a sucker for a $2 shot and Rumple Minze isn't the worst shot ever, so we decided to give it a shot (pun intended).



Now, for anyone not in the know, Rumple Minze is a 100 proof Peppermint Schnappes. Now to me, the "Lime" version pretty much tasted like regular Rumple Minze with a twinge of lime flavoring. I happen to like Peppermint so I thought it was tasty. Some of my friends were not singing the same tune. To each his (or her) own, right?

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Pyramid Apricot Ale - Now, I've had this particular beer quite a few times and overall, I'm a fan. My only complaint has always been the uneven settling of the contents in the bottle that can make for some uneven taste from one bottle to another.

Guess what I found this weekend? Pyramid Apricot Ale on TAP! Whaaat?? Yeah, you heard me. And it was REALLY good. Gone was the issue with settling and the draft version had a much cleaner and fresher Apricot flavor to it than the bottled version. Call around, and see if you can find someplace that has it. Here in Denver, the Mellow Mushroom is where I found it.

Now, I will re-iterate, the bottled version is also good, but just not AS good...


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I'm going to share something with everyone here. I am not a fan of mixing alcohol with dairy products, but some friends of mine and I were inspired by a recent viewing of "The Big Lebowski" and we decided to make some White Russians. This classic recipe is good for a drink or two, but I find that I can only take so much of milk-based drinks.



The White Russian (On the rocks)

2 oz. Vodka (make it decent vodka or your whole drink will taste like Skoal)
1 oz. Kahlua (or other coffee liqueur)
3 oz. Milk or Light Cream

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And now for some pics:








Adios my friends!

The Go Plate!

In my ongoing quest to bring you not only the latest and greatest alcoholic beverages, but also the coolest beer/alcohol related stuff, I present you with my latest find: The Go Plate!

I think the pics are pretty self explanitory but if you want to read more or buy some, Click Here

Random Weekend Alcohol Check

What have I been drinking this weekend? I'm glad you asked:

Cruzan Raspberry Rum: Awesome stuff straight out of the bottle!



New Belgium Sunshine Wheat: A great summer wheat beer. Light with a hint of citrus. I could drink this stuff for hours (and I did). Also, to answer you question, yes I did drink cans because we were at the pool for a good part of the day yesterday.



Smirnoff White Grape Vodka: Great flavor but a little much to drink straight. Awesome with Red Bull.

Mojo IPA

Mojo IPA by Boulder Beer Company

Type of beer: IPA (India Pale Ale) "an ale that is light amber to copper in color, medium to medium-high alcohol by volume, with hoppy, bitter and sometimes malty flavor." (from wikipedia)



This is a very decent IPA that is fairly typical of the style. It has a golden amber color to it with a nice head that leaves plenty of lacing on the side of the glass.

The smell is a big hit of hops up front with a lingering citrus undertone.

The taste is very hoppy up front with a slight bite of grapefruit and malt on the finish. Clean citrus notes are ever-present and it finishes smooth with a great bite at the very end. I'm a fan of IPAs for the most part and this did not disappoint in the least. I love hops and this beer provided that in spades.

Final Answer: This stuff is great and I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes IPAs. The casual light beer drinker would not be able to handle the hops and people who don't care for beer with over-the-top flavors would also be advised to stay away.

Billy's Chilies Beer Review

Billy's Chilies Beer by Twisted Pine Brewing Co, Colorado.



Ok, so this beer intrigued me when I saw it at Total beverage the other night as I was building my own six-pack (neatest idea ever). The label says it is made with jalapeño, anaheim, fresno, errano, and habanero peppers. How neat is that, right? So I grabbed one and decided that last night was the night to pop it open and give it a go.

First thing you notice is the smell. I am a huge chili fan so the smell was great to me. It smells like a jar of fresh chili salsa. Basically it smells like when you open a can of diced green chilies or jalapeños. So far so good.

The taste wasn't quite as good. It basically was like taking a coors light and draining jalapeno and habanero juice into it. It had a nice chili burn in the back of your throat which was a real plus for me, but the flavor was just not that great. I guess I was expecting something a little more full bodied than I got and was pretty disappointed. It's not that it was terrible, it just wasn't great. I would probably not buy anymore in the future.

Final Answer: I would recommend you try it if you are a fan of chilies. It is a neat novelty beer, but not one I would buy on a regular basis as it is a bit awkward tasting.

Xingu Beer Review and a Beer Commitment

So I spent the weekend in Orlando Florida (aka, the surface of the sun)and happened to eat dinner at a fantastic Brazilian Steak House called Texas De Brazil. It was at this wondrous meat-lover's fantasy come true that I got to taste a Brazilian Beer that I had never tried before called Xingu Black Beer. So, I offer up this review for your visual consumption:

Xingu Black Beer:




Type of Beer: (From Wikipedia.org) Schwarzbier, or "black beer," is a German dark lager beer. It has an opaque, black color and a full, chocolatey or coffee flavor. Although they share some similar flavors they are quite a bit milder tasting and less bitter than British Stouts or Porters.

ABV: 4.70%

Brewed By: Cervejaria Sul Brasileira (Brazil)

This beer poured an almost solid black color with a thick, very decent sized head. It had very malty, almost sweet, and mild roasted smells to it. The taste was right along the same path with a creamy, malty, slightly roasted caramel taste with some light coffee undertones to it. It was extremely easy to drink and i enjoyed it alot. The only disappointment was a noticeable lack of hops flavor. I'm definitely more of a hop-head when it comes to beer so this was a bit of a letdown. I wasn't that disappointed though because I did order another one (and another after that). I really can't stress enough what a drinkable beer this is and it really complimented the steak-fest that I was enjoying.

Verdict: Enjoyable, easy drinking exotic beer with just enough maltyness to make up for it's lack of hops. I will definitely be buying again and I recommend that you do too.

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My commitment: I think it would be a cool idea to try to commit to doing 5 beer reviews per week for a month. That's 20 beers that I've never laid taste buds on that I will be trying and posting about over the next month. I'll still do plenty of my traditional non-beer review posting on shots, bars, humor, etc so don't stop reading if you're not a "beer person" because there will still be plenty for you!

Thanks for stopping by and I'll be back soon.

Potato Goodness!

So, I haven't been writing in a while and I thought I would hop on in and post about something that I think the world should know about. For anyone who hasn't had the pleasure, I have one word for you... Potato Vodka (ok, maybe 2 words, but they go together so nicely).

I had the sincere joy of partaking in the awesomeness that is potato vodka recently and I will probably never drink any other vodka as long as I live. Now before any smart guys go shooting me an e-mail about how vodka is supposed to be from potatoes anyway, I have some news for you. Almost all vodka on the market these days is made from grain, not potatoes, so there...

You ever notice how vodka and rubbing alcohol taste so much alike? Not so with potato vodka my friends. Potato vodka is about as smooth an alcohol as I've run across. I cannot say enough great things about this stuff. And it mixes so much better with anything (red bull, sprite, and cranberry juice are my personal faves) than regular vodka that it's almost like drinking a different alcohol. Now I can see some die-hard vodka fans preparing to stoop reading and to to you I say "wait". The overall flavor profile is virtually identical. The real difference is the drinkability (sorry Bud Light, I know I stole that from you). Potato vodka is just so smooth without losing everything you love about vodka taste (minus the ethanol taste).

The brand I had was called Luksusova Potato Vodka and it was very easy on the wallet. Give it a try and tell 'em Baron Bill sent ya!