Friday, March 27, 2009

A BITTER MARCH DELIGHT


my buddy josh marion brought me some treasures back from his recent trip to san diego. one was a bomber of this here stone bitter chocolate oatmeal stout (9.2% abv). ummm, this beer is amazing. over the top but still manageable, like grandma listening to lamb of god unplugged. somethings need to be simmered down just a bit; however, stone does not simmer anything down: they simply make a few things more manageable for the frailty of human experience. i swear to buddha, if these boys made a mexican lager, the thing would flamenco dance around your chair and burn your bottom lip with its charry hot footwork. i'm just saying.

also, i like the bottle

here's the review josh and i posted on ratebeer.com. we'll just leave it at this. please know that words were hard to find. for three reasons: the beer is too good, the night is too late, the alcohol is too high. adios, amigo. 

this beer is stupid good. there’s no way around it. blacker than life before Jesus, with a cleveland browns ballcap to boot for a head. this thing smells like whoa. then it tastes like whoa. and then, when you go in again, more whoa. huge chocolate aroma and flavors. very dark, nearly burnt chocolate. my first impression was charred liquid fudge, but in a good way. the alcohol burn hit the back of the throat fairly hard in the first few sips, mellowed in the middle, then rears its hothead in any serious pause. yes, the alcohol bites here. but that’s okay. coffee and bleeding heart juice round out the edges making this as much of an afternoon treat as a midnight sleeping pill. i like it. my buddy here, in the flannel shirt, he likes it. we agree that, at times, the flavor is almost overpowering. while punching where it should punch and smoothing where it should smooth, sometimes it throws in a kick and belts me just below the tongue-belt. whoa. and wow. i said to my buddy josh here, just now and meaning it, "this is one of the more intense drinking experiences i’ve had." and it was. and it is. for about two more sips.

3 comments:

  1. this was such a masochistic post.

    ---pleasure in being abused or dominated or being subjected to pain or humiliation especially by a love object.
    Lord knows i love me some Merriam-Webster.

    you were having an S and M experience with a beverage and you were the slaves, willing and thoughtful slaves. It also sounded like some sort of domestic abuse thing, where you are experiencing something that has good around the edges but in reality is like being in war and you are beat up good but sure as hell ain't gonna walk away...because you like it too much.

    great stuff all around.

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  2. Did the Stone make you want to dip Wendy's fries in it?

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  3. it made me want to dip my whole person in it, ala jim koch style.

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