Here we go...

So, Andrew Veety has been on my case for some time regarding the slinger being a variation of the garbage plate. Recently we came to an understanding about these dishes.

So, of course I had to try one right?

I was visiting friends and clients up in the Buffalo and Toronto areas, and I decided to go to a hockey game. Due to simple availability, the Rochester Americans won out. My brother in law tells me that I need to get a garbage plate while I’m there….then the slinger garbage plate twitter conversations spring forth anew! In the end…even though I was by myself in a strange city…I ate a garbage plate and saw the Amerks fall to the Toronto Marlies 2-1…

So, my GPS leads me to the place…and honestly it was pretty easy to find…as was the hockey rink…though no one in the place seemed to know where the hockey rink…that was less than a mile away was.

The garbage plate.

I don’t know if I made a mistake or not, but I ordered a cheeseburger plate. I didn’t have anybody with me to give me any information as to what the original is or what I was supposed to have done.

Breakfast potatoes.

Am I alone in thinking that the name garbage plate is umm…kind of gross?

So, as I was told, this really is a forerunner to the slinger. I have decided that it’s the slinger’s crazy, estranged uncle.

This giant hulk of a meal came with TWO burger patties…which is beyond unreasonable covered in some sort of white cheese. I’m not even going to hazard a guess as to what that cheese was.

Instead of hash browns it came with home fries, and I just can’t get behind home fries. I’ve never liked them, but hey to each their own.

Cold macaroni salad and meat sauce...

Next to the home fries was a very generous portion of cold macaroni salad. I found nothing about this part of the dish to be enjoyable. I was expecting mac and cheese…and that I could have really gotten behind.

On top of the burgers there was a wonderful spicy, brown mustard which really gave this dish some great pop! On top of the mustard was a large helping of raw, white onions. Ah, now there’s something I can get behind! The toppins on the garbage plate were just fantastic.

On top of all of it, a meat sauce was poured. If anybody wants to help me out here on that sauce, I’m listening. It looked like the Skyline Chili I used to make chili dogs a couple of weeks back. But it didn’t seem to have much in the way of spices. I really can’t completely understand this meat sauce.

All in all, I have to say I prefer the St. Louis Slinger, but I’m very glad that I tried the garbage plate. Next time I’m up, I’ll get it with hot dogs.

80-84...85 not pictured.

Welcome to another round of India Pale Ales. No matter how many of these we drink, there are always another fifty of these wonderful hoppy ales in the fridge to try. This time we even added a sixth to the proceedings as we had extra time and no one was around to tell us not to!

I really like the line up we had for this round. We have a well thought of craft brewer, Goose Island, a craft brewer that I don’t think gets enough press, Dundee, a highly reputed craft brew that you can’t get in St. Louis, Dogfish Head, a wonderful Scottish Brewer, Belhaven, a new to St. Louis craft brewer, Green Flash, and an English brewer, Greene King.

Goose Island IPA (5.9% ABV)

Goose Island IPA

Nik: This beer has a very strong cascade hop aroma. (I love that one because it’s the only one I can list by name.) It’s head is small, but very long lasting. It has a very opaque and cloudy color that is very amber. It has a good woody and bitter taste. It is very good and quite frothy all the way down.

Bob: Re-visit of the first IPA I ever tasted, at one of the Chicago airports during the early 1990s. Had a flight of Goose Island brews and decided I liked this one best. It poured to a cloudy pale gold, with an wonderful hop aroma and a small but lasting head. Very pleasant bitterness at both first and after taste. Overall, a most excellent beer that continues to be for me one of the finest IPAs I’ve tasted.

Dundee IPA (6.3% ABV)

Dundee IPA

Nik: I really have come to like Dundee beers, but I can’t think of ever hearing anybody say anything about them on Twitter. Am I alone? This IPA is foamy with great lacing and a great, golden, copper color. It has great clarity, but a weak hop aroma. The hop taste is a bit weak, but it’s been nicely bittered. This beer is good, but not great. Not as good as some of their other offerings.

Bob: Poured to a light amber color, very clear, with an excellent small-bubbled head and good lacing on the glass. A distinctly different, more vegetative and milder hop aroma as compared to the Goose Island IPA. Not unpleasant, just different, probably owing to selection of hop varieties. Nice bittering and a good aftertaste. Not necessarily the best IPA out there, but nothing I would turn down either.

Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA (5.0% ABV)

Dogfish Head 60 Min IPA

Nik: This ale has a very big foamy head. This one was a bit darker with a golden bronze color with crystal clarity. There’s a very strong roasted aroma to this beer and a strong roasted flavor to match. This is the most unique IPA I have ever had.

Bob: Generally unavailable in the St. Louis area, this is a renowned East Coast beer I’ve been wanting to try, and one I urged my companion to bring back from a road trip. It was a clear medium yellow in the glass, with a fine small-bubbled head that laced the glass nicely. When compared with the first two we tasted, it was obvious from the aroma that yet another hop variety or varieties was present here, as the mild and pleasant aroma was very different. The best way I can describe the taste is to say that it stays high in my mouth, nose and head rather than settling in the lower edges of my tongue. Some burnt notes in both the aroma and taste, and the bittering is milder than many other IPAs. This beer was interesting, but ultimately not as satisfying as I had hoped and something of a disappointment. Perhaps it is better on tap at the brewpub.

Belhaven Twisted Thistle IPA (5.3% ABV)

Belhaven Twisted Thistle

Nik: This beer has the Belhaven nose, which I just love so very much. Their Scottish Ale is all about balance and I had some high hopes for this one. As with their flagship ale, this one is very frothy and has a very similar bronze color. This beer is hoppier than their normal beer, and it’s very malty of course, but it’s more moppy than hoppy. I was hoping for a stronger hop taste. It’s just too close to their Scottish Ale for me.

Bob: Another brew for which I had high expectations, based on other excellent offerings I’ve had from Belhaven–Scottish Ale and Wee Heavy. This attempt at an IPA was light amber and slightly cloudy in the glass, pouring to a full head that did not last very long. Exhibited the “dirty socks” aroma that seems to be typical of all Belhaven brews and probably a reflection of their hop choice. The taste was very malty for an IPA, but much bitterer than their Scottish Ales. Overall it seemed to be an experiment gone somewhat awry. Neither fish nor fowl, it didn’t score highly as either an IPA or a Scottish brew.

Green Flash Hop Head Red (7.0% ABV)

Hop Head Red

Nik: As the name implies, this beer is quite red indeed and it has a foamy head and a great aroma. After we poured this bomber and I tasted it…I have to say that I was underwhelmed. I was sure I tasted it wrong. So, on the second taste, it was just plain bad. The bitterness was wrong. That’s the only way I can describe this and on the third taste, I dumped it out.

Bob: Was also looking forward to this because of previous experience with this California brewer’s other products. Had a wonderfully piney aroma upon opening the 22 oz. bomber bottle, and poured with a nice tan tiny-bubbled head and a dark amber color. Unfortunately that was the best of ith experience, as the taste and aftertaste were nasty, with strong accents of cardboard. Generally very unpleasant, and neither of us could get through our tasting glassfuls. (Follow up: not believing it could really be this bad, I insisted on capping the bottle and saving it for another day. After two days more in the fridge I tried it again and found it very drinkable, though still strongly bitter. Not my favorite IPA, but not the total disaster we experienced on first opening the bottle.)
Greene King Export IPA (5.0% ABV)

Export IPA

Nik: This IPA has a great bronze color with a thin, tight bubbled head. It has a weak, English ale aroma. (Shocker I know.) What really surprised me was that it has no hop flavor to it, but it’s very malty. I loved this beer as an English Ale, but I can’t love it as an English IPA, because it’s seriously lacking in the hops.

Bob: This British attempt at an IPA seems to be redundantly named. Perhaps a hundred years ago India was simply considered a part of the Empire, but it is not today? The beer poured a medium amber color, with a decent but mild aroma and a good head. Very pleasant balanced aroma of both malt and hops was mirrored in the taste and aftertaste. This is a nice offering, easy to drink, and I wouldn’t turn it down if someone offered to buy a round at the pub. It isn’t, however, what I think of as an IPA, because it just isn’t hoppy enough, at least compared to American IPAs. I’ve heard that the British Isles no longer make anything like what they shipped to India long ago (before the days of refrigeration.) Judging from the two examples we tasted here I have to feel that Americans have now taken the IPA lead permanently.

The Flight.

Welcome to the first edition of Small Batch Flights!

Just as with the next one, I am talking about a brew pub that’s not anywhere near St. Louis. My first edition of “Small Batch Flights” comes from Ellicotville, NY nearly 900 miles east of home.

While on my recent trip to Buffalo, NY to visit my buddy, he took me way out to the little ski village of Ellicotville because he said this brewpub was just great. He had a growler of their stout in the fridge, and we did drink that all up, and I have to say that it was quite good.

So, I was a bit excited to check out the place after we arrived. Aside from my beers, I had a very nice fried fish sandwich…the same thing I had when I was up in Burlington, ON for a call…I really like fish.

Black Hops

Black Hops 6.0% ABV:

This beer has a very dark brown color that definitely lives up to its name. There’s also a nice hop aromoa to this beer. It has a nice bitter taste with a very good bitter aftertaste.

I can’t name a single thing about this beer that I didn’t like.

Hopicity

Hopicity 7.0% ABV

This India Pale Ale  has the more usual golden copper coloring. It has surprisingly no aroma to speak of, but it does a floral and and hoppy flavor.

Like its name implies, this is a very bitter beer, but it goes down kind of rough. It’s not smooth at all.

Rye Pale Ale

Rye Pale Ale 6% ABV

This beer has a small rye aroma, not much in the way of the nose. Its pale bronze color seemed very inviting.

It has a strange flavor of a hoppy taste and a rye aftertaste.

Definitely worth giving a try.

Chocolate Cherry Bomb

Chocolate Cherry Bomb 8.2% ABV

Even though I’m a fan of O’Fallon’s Chocolate Cherry Ale, I was not excited to try this one out. I just have lost my taste for this type of beer. It had a very dark brown color and a very good woody aroma.

The problem was the taste though. It’s chocolate and cherry flavorings were too overpowering for me. This was the worst of my flight and gave the rest to my companion to finish off.

St. Jacob's

St. Jacob’s Oak Aged Stout 9% ABV

This beer is very dark and it has a very malty nose. I talked to the bartender and he told me that they were also brewing a bourbon barrel aged version of this beer. Sadly, it wasn’t ready yet.

This beer has a very good stout flavor. Another great beer from EBC.

Catt County Cuvee

Catt County Cuvee 8.5% ABV

This is another heavy beer. They had two flight options, light or heavy, I chose heavy.

This beer has a very clear copper color with great clarity and no aroma to speak of.

The taste has hints of fruit…perhaps pineapple? I wonder if myrcene hops were used.

The Range

On a Friday evening that saw the Four Hands Brewery opening up for their soft opening, we ended up at Bailey’s Range. When we arrived at the Four Hands, we were informed that they had been out of Four Hands beer for over an hour. Well, we were disappointed but then we decided to hit up the Range.

Bob had told me that at the new Bailey’s restaurant was serving a slinger burger, and well I just had to try it. That was also kind of nice since we struck out on new local beer, I was happy to go to  the Range because it has 29 taps of local beers and I’ve not tried the vast majority of those beers.

Even though the wife and I got lost around downtown and couldn’t quite find the place….we arrived before the large dinner rush got crazy and we had a nice table on the top floor of the establishment and we had a nice view of the downstairs.

We perused the menu, as I thought the slinger was a breakfast only item, and as I said I don’t know what I’m getting, Bob said matter of factly, you’re getting the slinger! Well ok, that was easy wasn’t it? Now we came to the hard part…choosing a beer!

For all the of the great new microbreweries, I’ve had about nothing. So, it took me a little bit to find the right beer to enjoy with my slinger burger. In the end, I chose a Six Row Douple IPA, as I just love those, and I certainly was not disappointed with that choice.

Well, this is a slinger post, not a beer post…back on track!

The Slinger.

First of all, let me apologize for the quality of the photos…I didn’t have my proper camera with me and our cell phones couldn’t get any good pics in the place.

As you can see, it’s a slinger burger and I ate it as such. Instead of hash browns, it had fries along with the normal toppins of a burger…let’s go from the bottom up!

Hash browns: Well, since these were fries, it’s hard to give a proper score here, but the fries were just fine, but not as crispy as I’d have liked. Perhaps the chili got to them?

Meat Patty: As this was a Bailey’s place, the burger patty was just phenomenal. I had no complaints with this burger at all.

Slinger and beer.

Chili: Here was my biggest problem with their offering. The chili seemed pretty bland to me. I’d have liked some chili with more pop than this. So many places use lackluster chili, and that puts a big crimp on their slinger.

Eggs: As you can plainly see, this slinger came with a fried egg on top, and anyone who’s read this blog before today knows that I’m no fan of fried eggs on my slingers. The “egg gravy” did get all over everything, including my hands.

Toppins: Now, here it gets a little big fun! Aside from the onions, I also had lettuce, tomatoes, and a pickle! I didn’t eat the lettuce or the tomatoes, but I did use the onions, too few, and loved the pickle. This should be a standing side to slingers. A pickle. I do also have to mention, no cheese! A nice and thick slice of cheddar cheese would have done wonders. I was also given my choice of sauces, and I chose their chipotle ketchup…and I have to honestly say that I didn’t taste anything remotely like chipotle in that sauce.

Sum Up: As far as slinger burgers go, and this is number three, this one is the best because the burger patty was the best, but I’d prefer an over easy egg, for ease and cleanliness of eating, instead of the sunny side up and just a better chili.

However, one can’t deny the awesomeness that is the Bailey’s restaurants.

This time we ended up at Biggies just kind of by happenstance. Like most instances in this column, my wife, my daughter, and myself were out running errands at we all got hungry. So, as we were driving down Chippewa St., I said I was hungry and that we should go to Biggies. I think I have been to this establishment about five or six times…most times with my mother and father in law. In fact, she called while we were waiting for our food and was a bit disappointed that we were eating there without her!

I get a real kick out of this place. They have a lot of interesting pictures on the wall, and it isn’t just the normal Applebees style swag.  Behind our table there were several pictures of the Miami Strikers of the OLD North American Soccer League…the same league that saw the St. Louis Stars play…I began looking for some Stars pix or something, but didn’t find any….but I’m going to go ahead and guess that no one is reading this to hear about now defunct soccer leagues….

So let’s look at that steak sandwich…

As per my usual, I ordered it medium rare with hot and steak sauce.

Steak sandwich at Biggies.

This is nice cut of steak  here. I love the grill marks, even if they’re not criss crossed. Beyond my usual medium rare, I also ordered the garlic toast bun. What doesn’t appear to be seen is the cheese underneath the steak itself. When my sandwich arrived, I just assumed they didn’t give me any!

Toppins.

I cannot fault Biggies for the amount of toppings they gave me! Lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and a pickle. I decided to skip out on the tomatoes. I really only like those on burgers.

I used all of the onions and some of the lettuce, and of course I ate that pickle at the end of the meal.

I found that the steak was a bit tougher than I like when it comes to eating it as a sandwich, and the bread was quite tough indeed. Aside from those minor quibbles, the only real complaint I had was that I couldn’t taste the cheese.

I love Biggies and I definitely enjoyed this sandwich, just not as much as I did say, Cicero’s. Definitely give Biggies a try…if not for the Steak Sandwich, then for their anything else.

73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, and 79.....

As a family, we went downtown and watched the St. Louis Cardinals victory parade down Market Street. Afterwards we went home and as our wives went shopping, we started drinking.

I’m going to stop saying that we have any kind of set number for how many beers we do in a sitting, because it never seems to stick. I do believe, however, that we have eclipsed the number that any sane person should do in a single sitting, but this is what happens when we are left to our own devices. We thought of the beer in terms of time and not beers.

In this round, we have seven different pale lagers from literally all over the world. We went with some macro lagers, imports, craft, etc. I think we have a very good mix of them. Because we’ve chosen beers from all over the world, we’re just going to call these pale lagers instead of Pale American Lagers, but it’s close enough for government work.

Michelob Original Lager (5% ABV)

The nights belong to Michelob....

Nik: Michelob Lager has a good head with clear bubbles. Like all AB/Inbev products, it has crystal clarity in its golden color. It has a malty aroma with a hoppy taste. It’s pleasantly bitter and it has a very smooth finish. It’s a standard AB Style Lager, but it’s definitely among the best they produce.

Bob: It’s been a while since I drank one of these, and it was much better than I remembered. A dark straw color in the glass, perfectly clear, with just the right amount of carbonation. A very nice white head that lasted well and laced the glass nicely. Hoppy aroma and pleasant bitterness. If this is not the best of the American light lagers it is certainly in the top two or three. Made will all barley (no rice or corn adjuncts) and it shows.

Pabst Blue Ribbon (4.7% ABV)

Hipster Gold, PBR

Nik: PBR, the choice of hipsters and broke college students alike. I had a brief phase a few years ago where I drank this lager fairly regularly, but I could get them for fifty cents each at the bar. PBR pours out a big head with tiny bubbles. There is a nice hop smell in the nose. It’s color is very clear and very pale. This beer’s color is nearly as pale as myself, and that’s saying something. This is one of the blandest beers I’ve ever had. Beyond its bitter finish, there’s just really not much to this lager to even mark it as a beer.

Bob: Now brewed in Illinois, PBR has not held up nearly as well across the decades as Michelob. A pale straw color, it had a good white head that laced the glass very well. Had a different hop aroma than Michelob, but not upleasant. After that it was all downhill. The taste and mouthfeel was watery and very light, as if rice were a major component in the brewing. Not nasty, just not very much taste there at all. Reminded me of a very delicately flavored carbonated water. Perhaps that’s what they are going for–who knows? In this style category I prefer Pellegrino.

Heineken Lager Beer (5% ABV)

Heineken or the go to Import Beer for many Americans.

Nik: Another hipster beer, but of another sort. This one is for refined hipsters, or just me too people. Heineken has a big head full of small bubbles and it is very long lasting. This lager has a nice golden hue without any hints of cloudiness and a strong hop aroma. This beer is very bitter and very enjoyable. This is a great session beer.

Bob:  Medium straw color with extremely good lacing and a very attactive characteristically spicy hop aroma. Outstanding bittering for a pale lager. This continues to be one of my very favorite go-to pale lagers, especially during the summer. Somehow I can always drink just one more squatty green bottle.

Aris by Mythos (4.7% ABV)

Greek Lager, Aris.

Nik: This one is a Greek lager. As you can see, we’re continuing the around the world feel that Heineken started right? Mythos has a big head with small bubbles. It has a good, but not great aroma. It has a cloudy yellow color and a yeast flavor. This beer is very unique and I can’t think of another I’ve had that tastes like this at all. It’s not my favorite, but it is something interesting.

Bob: Picked this up on sale because it is brewed by Mythos brewery in Greece. I’ve had their flagship Mythos Lager several times and always enjoyed it, but this offering is not nearly as good. The best things about it were the aroma, which was a nicely balanced blend of malt, hops and yeast, and the white head that lasted well and laced nicely on the glass. A medium straw color, but with a watery mouthfeel and very sweet taste. Some of the flavor components were strangely offputting, too, and it didn’t leave a pleasant aftertaste. Won’t be buying or drinking this one again.

Moosehead Lager (5% ABV)

Oh, Canada...or Nova Scotia's #1 Export...Moosehead

Nik: Now we head north of the border for a fine Canadian lager from Nova Scotia. It has a very big, long lasting  head of tiny bubbles. This beer has a very skunky aroma to it, but in a way that’s great and very pleasing to me. It’s pale yellow and wonderfully clear. Moosehead has a hoppy and sweet taste, but only mildly hoppy. It’s very smooth and has a nice hop flavor on the finish.

Bob: A skunky hop aroma that I find rather attractive. Medium straw color, with a nice head and lacing. Excellent balance of malt and hops, with good carbonation and a slightly sweet aftertaste. Moosehead is not my ultimate pale lager, but it is very pleasantly drinkable. Certainly the best Canadian lager I’ve tasted (though my range is limited.)

Schlafly Summer Lager (4.5% ABV)

Summer Lager is good to drink in October right?

Nik: Sorry, but we didn’t get to this beer in the summer time, so we’re lumping it in with other pale lagers. This beer has a another good, tight head. This is another of the very pale colors in this tasting, but it does have a bit of cloudiness to it. Like most of their offerings the aroma is very weak.  I really can’t quite put my finger on what’s going on in with this beer. It has a bit of a strange mouthfeel and a subtle hop finish. It’s not one of my favorite offerings by Schlafly, and drinking this makes me pine for their “American Lager”  that they released for a short time years ago.

Bob: It is probably heretical to criticize St. Louis’s first real craft brewer, but for my money Schlafly puts too many styles of beer into retail distribution to do all of them very well. They seem to want to be all things to all people, which just isn’t possible. We like many of their offerings, but others, as you can tell from our reviews, just completely miss the mark. This one had a pale straw color and good white head that laced the glass, but a cloudy appearance, an unusual hop odor and a very watery taste reminiscent of PBR–mostly carbonated water. Won’t be drinking this again.

Baltika 5 (5.3% ABV)

Russia...do they know how to beer?

Nik: And the final beer in the set is a Russian pale lager. Russia is definitely not on my mind when I think of fine import beers, but here we are. Another large head, but this one has big bubbles. This beer has a very translucent golden color, definitely living up to it’s reputation as a golden lager. It’s very sweet, and that’s about the extent of the flavor of this beer. It has no bitterness, hop taste, or malted flavors. All in all, there’s not much to like about this one.

Bob: This is Russian brewery Baltika’s golden lager offering. Have had their dark lager before, which was pretty tasty, and was looking forward to this. It was a big disappointment. Medium gold color in the glass, with a head that laced well but didn’t last. Little to no aroma of any kind, and an unpleasant taste, with too much sweetness and a strong phenolic aftertaste. Yuck.

68, 69, 70, 71, and 72.

With the release of Backwoods Bastard, we decided it was good to hit another round of Scotch Ales, one of my favorite styles that we’ve only done once. Once again, we rolled out a bevy of five beers for this tasting. We started outside and ended up inside…because these beers took awhile to go through. It would have been nice to stay out in the backyard for the whole tasting, but time got away from us as we sampled each of these beers.

Bob: As we’ve occasionally stated, our tasting groups comprise brews of similar but not necessarily identical styles. Today we sampled offerings of the Scottish persuasion, in order of increasing alcohol content. Like the stouts of our last session, these ranged over a pretty wide spectrum of tastes.

William Brothers Scottish Heavy Eight Shilling Ale (4.2%)

Eighty Shilling

Nik: This ale had a tight bubbled head and a great caramel aroma. It has a very dark brown color with a nutty flavor. It finishes with a good bitter bite. This is a good beer, but it’s not great. At 4.2% ABV, I could easily drink a few of these in a session.

Bob: From a brewery in Scotland, this is what I imagine a true Scottish Ale to be–mostly malty with just a touch of hops and low alcohol. It poured dark brown/black, with a good tan head that went away quickly. Aroma was mildly nutty. The mouthfeel is thin and watery, but not unpleasantly so. Sweet malt flavor is offset by just the right amount of bittering so that it doesn’t cloy. Exhibits little aftertaste, which is not surprising considering the low hopping. Overall, a very pleasant session brew, and one that would go well with food. Scotch Eggs, anyone?

Odell Brewing Co’s 90 Shilling Ale (5.3% ABV)

90 Shilling

Nik: Bob and I have had a long running argument as to whether or not this beer was a Scottish Ale…well clearly he was right and it is. 90 Shilling has a fast head and very little aroma. It has a hint of malted barley in the nose and poured out a deep copper color. It goes down rougher than most Scottish Ales and has a very long aftertaste.

Bob: Odell’s signature brew, which they tout as their effort to produce a lighter take on Scottish Ales, pours to a light muddy brown color in the glass, with little to no head. Smells like cereal and tastes that way, too, with a nice hop zinginess rather than malt forwardness, and rather high carbonation. A crisp and clear brew that is pleasant enough to drink, but it isn’t very reminiscent of a Scottish Ale.

Belhaven Wee Heavy (6.5% ABV)

Belhaven

Nik: I’ve long been a fan of Belhaven’s beers. This one pours a big head with small bubbles and a great hop aroma. It has a nice malty and bitter flavor in its deep brown color. Even though it has a bit of a higher alcohol level, there is no heat to the taste and it is very smooth going down.

Bob: Another true Scottish brew here, that pours very deep amber in the glass, very clear. A thick tan head that goes away relatively quickly, but laces the sides of the glass nicely. Wonderful aroma of malt and hops, well balanced and welcoming. Great balance in the taste, eoo, with nice notes of not-too-sweet caramel in the aftertaste. Every bit up to the standard of their regular (lighter) Belhaven Scottish Ale, this is very much a go-to beer that rewards the palate in a complex and satisfying manner.

Orkney Brewing Skull Splitter (8.5% ABV)

Skullsplitter

Nik: Skullsplitter has a big, foamy head of small bubbles and a very nice bronze color. I was taken aback by its fruity aroma. I just wasn’t expecting that. It tastes just like it smells, very fruity. I generally do not like beers that have that sort of a taste to them. Beyond that it had a very hot taste to it and a very gross bitterness that I couldn’t get into. I know this is a highly thought of beer, but I just didn’t get it.

Bob: This well regarded Scotch Ale from the mother country is very much a departure from the lighter Scottish Ales just tasted, even though many tasters categorize it as a Wee Heavy. Pours a muddy dark brown color, with a tan head that laces well but doesn’t stay thick very long. The aroma is extremely fruity, with a strong smell of figs. The taste was pretty sour, which was not at all what we were expecting. Didn’t like it much and poured most of my glass down the sink. Still have three more bottles, though, and we will give this another chance when we have a barley wine tasting session, as some folks have classified it that way.

Founders Backwoods Bastard (10.5% ABV)

Backwoods Bastard

Nik: I heard about this one Twitter, and did some looking into it and figured we had to get a four pack. What I didn’t know is that it was aged in bourbon barrels. I was very excited to give this on a try. It has almost no head, like the Goose Island Bourbon Stout we had last time. It is very dark, almost black. It has a strong bourbon and malty aroma. The nose seemed to be stronger in the bottle than in the glass though. It has a very nutty flavor and a very strong bourbon taste, which I love. It has an amazing hop finish. The beer is very strong, sip this one, but it’s not hot at all.

Bob: My tasting companion and fellow beer geek was adamant that we obtain a four-pack of this brew, which Founders produces only one month a year, so it was off to one of our favorite outlets the day before our session to pick up some that he had reserved. This is yet another high ABV offering aged in bourbon barrels, a process of which craft brewers are growing increasingly fond. A deep ruby brown translucent color in the glass, it produces very little head or lacing. The aroma is almost entirely of bourbon. There was a little more carbonation than I would like in this type of brew, and the strong bourbon flavor tends to overpower the Scotch Ale maltiness. Based on our previous tastings, I feel stouts, with their stronger backbone of roastiness, stand up much better to the heaviness of bourbon. I didn’t dislike this offering, but its overall impression was more of a whiskey, with little beer flavor coming through. Definitely a potion for sipping, though.

63, 64, 65, 66, and 67.

We decided that for lager posts, we’ll do five beers and for heavier beers, we’ll do four, but there is far too much beer to plow through right now and we didn’t really have anywhere to go…so we got out five very different stouts and headed upstairs to enjoy them.

Bob: While official beer tasting judges may categorize these stouts into several categories, we chose (due to budget, time and other constraints) to sample all beers labeled stouts together, regardless of alcohol content (imperial, etc.) or composition (oatmeal, bourbon aging, etc.). That certainly makes for a more diverse gouping, but it’s only one reason we found a remarkable range of flavors and effects, with brews differing wildly, in this tasting session. Most differences were due to the brewer’s choices of ingredients and brewing methods. Following our usual method, we sampled these stouts in order of ABV, from lowest to highest.

Murphy’s Stout (4.3% ABV)

Pub Can

Nik: This beer was Spinal Tap black. How could it be any more black? It had a nice, foamy, and creamy head with a wonderful malty aroma. It has a good bitter flavor, but a it’s a bit thin. The Pub Cans had a certain quality to them that’s a bit of a watery taste in the back of the flavor. It has a good bitter finish and the head stays all the way down your glass.

Bob: Poured to a dark brown, opaque color (as do most stouts!), with a creamy tan head that laced nicely on the glass. Welcoming aroma of malt and caramel. The mouthfeel was a little watery and light, not unusual for this low an ABV, but with very tasty burnt grain and bitter hop notes that lasted well into the aftertaste. Altogether a nicely quaffable brew. I could drink several of these in a session without much problem.

Schalfly Oatmeal Stout (5.7% ABV)

Local Entry

Nik: The Oatmeal Stout has a small head full of big bubbles that doesn’t stay around for very long. Again, this beer has the very typical Budweiser aroma. It’s not black like the Murphy’s, but dark brown. This beer has a strong malty flavor and backbone with a strong hop finish. It’s not a traditional stout by any means, but definitely one worth enjoying over and over.

Bob: Like most of the Schlafly offerings we have sampled, and there have been quite a few, this has a big-bubbled head that dissipates quickly. Head retention doesn’t seem to be something Schlafly cares much about. Was a very dark brown color, but not completely opaque. It had a lot more carbonation than the Murphy’s (which came in a draft can), which killed the creaminess I was looking for. Aroma was noticeably hoppy, with very little malt. The taste was hoppy and crisp, with only a very mild “darkness.” This was also a very drinkable beer–it just didn’t remind me much of a stout, and especially of an oatmeal stout, which usually has some silkiness.

North Coast Old No 38 Stout (5.6% ABV)

#38

Nik: This beer oddly had a hint of oatmeal in the aroma. It had a short, tight bubbled head and it was Darth Vader Black. It had an excellent crispness to the beer that gave it a great bite. The flavor had strong hints of roasting to it. Another great beer by North Coast.

Bob: Poured very dark black with a nice tan had. A strong aroma of roasted barley with chocolate overtones. The mouthfeel was a little watery, but the taste continued long after sipping, with an extended finishing tang of chocolate and roastiness that mirrored the initial impressions of the aroma. All in all, a very good offering from the makers of Old Rasputin, one of our favorite stouts. I picked up a six-pack of Old No. 38 at a closeout price, so I’ve got a couple of enjoyable fall evenings to look forward to.

Samuel Smith Imperial Stout (7% ABV)

Poof.

Nik: Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout had a sweet and malty aroma with a giant head that fizzled out pretty quickly for its size. This was another very dark black beer. It was ninja assassin black. If it was hiding in the shadows, you wouldn’t see it coming for you. It had a strong roasted caramel malt taste with a bitter bite and a hoppy finish. Even at this level of alcohol, there was no heat to the flavor. I’ll drink this one as often as I can.

Bob: Extremely dark, opaquely black liquid, with a big tan head on pouring, but dissipating quickly due to large bubbles. The aroma is very roasty, with burnt toffee accents. Tastes absolutely wonderful, with complex caramelly and winey flavors and a very long aftertaste. I’m pretty sure I’ll never see a bargain or closeout price on this one, but if I do I’ll buy a few cases and sock it away in the cellar, since it will only improve even more with age. This is one to die for!

Goose Island Bourbon County Stout 2010 (13% ABV)

Bourbon Stout

Nik: I was given this beer back in the summer and we decided to hold onto it until the fall so we could enjoy it in its proper context, and this is the reason why we did stouts on this run. It had no head…nothing, but as soon as I got near it, I could smell the glorious bourbon. Goose Island’s Bourbon Stout has a malty taste and a strong, strong bourbon finish. It was almost like drinking a bourbon drink instead of a beer. I loved this beer.

Bob: Dark and thick in the glass, with little to no head–due no doubt to the extremely high alcohol content. Nose consists mostly of bourbon, as does the taste, tending to overwhelm the few subtle notes of malted barley. Had a very good mouthfeel. This one is definitely for sipping, so I’m glad we had only a single bottle available. My favorite bourbon-barrel stout is still the Schlafly Reserve, which we sampled before starting our formal review notes. We hope to revisit it in the near future to see if it’s as good as we remember.

59, 60, 61, 62, and a greatest hit.

We were watching the Cardinals in game one of the NLCS and had planned on a beer tasting…once they imploded in the fifth inning, that really seemed like a good idea to begin. After our Pumpkin Ale post from a couple weeks back, we’d decided we need to do another round of Oktoberfest beers, but we ran into a bit of a snag, not enough of of them to do a complete tasting, so we added a greatest hit, and a couple of other beers of somewhat similar styles and we’re calling this one Autumn Beers. So, this tasting contains beers fifty nine through sixty two.

Bob has been going through the warchest of beer down in the basement and has pretty much forbade me from bringing over any new beers for our tastings. and I walked home with a pick a six from downstairs last night too. So, that’s kind of why we stuck with what was available. Not really any room, and Bob had to offload some beer on me. Jealous?

Bob: It’s October, time to dip into those amber lagers known as Marzen or Oktoberfest beers. We have two from Germany and one from St. Louis, MO, plus an amber Vienna lager that is (supposed to be) just a little lighter. Plus a dark lager that should have just a little stronger taste. We did our tasting from light to dark (beer colors–not the time of day!)

Trader Joe’s Vienna Lager (5.7% ABV)

Trader Joe's

Nik: I’ve long been a fan of Trader Joe’s proprietary brands and their very liberal pick six policy. With as much as I’ve enjoyed the others, I’d assumed I enjoy this one as well, and I was right. It’s very frothy with a tight bubbled head and a very nice malty aroma. It’s got a nice clear, amber color and a great smooth taste. It’s very balanced between the hoppy, bitter flavor and the matly overtones. All in all, a very nice beer that tastes like fall to me. Will definitely seek this one out again.

Bob: This had a very nicely balanced aroma of hops and malt. It poured to a deep orange color in the glass, with a great tan head of tiny bubbles that lastered well. The bittering was excellent, with a pleasant, balanced taste and aftertaste of hops and malt. This is a very nice beer that I will definitely buy again the next time I’m at Trader Joe’s.

Schlafly Oktoberfest (5.5% ABV)

Oktoberfest

Nik: It’s really starting to seem like we can’t do a single tasting without our biggest local micro brewery getting their product in here, but hey, I’ve been drinking their beer for years. Their beer has a darker color that’s a bit cloudy with a small head. Like many of their beers there’s very little aroma, so little that it’s not even worth mentioning. It has a hoppy, bitter taste with a malty finish. It has that warm, sweet taste to it. This beer is ok. It’s not great or awful. I won’t seek it out again, but I’d not turn one down.

Bob: Poured dark orange in the glass, with a small head that dissipated quickly. No aroma of any kind. No noticeable malt in the taste, just hoppy bitterness. Overall this beer was just OK, and not something I would go out of my way to find.

Spaten Oktoberfestbier Ur-Märzen (5.9% ABV)

Spaten

Nik: I was totally unfamiliar with this one, but once the cap was off the bottle the hop aroma just came flowing out. In the glass it came with a very big and tight bubbled head. It’s clear bronze color was very inviting and the taste was just as good as the presentation. It was very smooth, malty, and a touch of hop bitterness. It was just exactly what I was hoping to find during this tasting. This is the best beer of the day and will have it as many times as I can.

Bob: This German brew had a great appearance and aroma. It poured very clear, with an OK head and a light bronzish color. Good hop aroma, reminiscent of fresh Heineken (similar hop variety?), with a wonderful balance of malt and hops on the tongue. Nice body and mouthfeel, too. Overall this was one of the finest beers I have tasted, and I immediately went to the store to get more, since it is only available seasonally. A must try!

Paulaner Oktoberfest-Märzen (6.0% ABV)

Greatest Hit

Nik: This beer is our greatest hit. This one is the perfect beginning of marzen beers. It has a great aroma, color, head. It’s sweet smelling and tasting. The warm taste is very, very pleasing. It’s just the perfect autumn beer. It tastes like Halloween.

Bob: Another German favorite, but totally than the Spaten, which drank like a fine pilsner or Vienna. By contrast, the Paulaner has a much darker personality, with different hops and a heavier taste. It felt much more like the fall season, and is what I imagine most marzen beers from Munich to have originally been like. The head was small and didn’t last long, while the beer was orangish brown and cloudy. Taste is malty and a little sweet, with fine bitterness that is mostly noticeable in the aftertaste, which also included notes of burnt toffee. We have reviewed this beer before, but still had a few bottles left so included it for completeness because we liked it so much the first time. Our samples were bottled in 2007 (!) but are holding up very well indeed!

Köstritzer Schwarzbier (4.8% ABV)

Schwarzbier

Nik: I’d been told about Scwarzbiers a couple of months back and this is my first one..ever. Since we only had two Oktoberfests, we added semi similar beers to the tasting. This beer has a small, tight bubbled head. An opaque, black color and a very nice malty aroma and flavor. It tasted somewhat smokey as well. I’ll definitely drink this one a second time.

Bob: Another German offering that I just couldn’t pass up at the store, this one is a black lager that pours very dark in the glass, with a nice tan head composed of tiny bubbles. Not overly carbonated, which I approve of. Had a decent aroma that was mostly malty. The taster was good, but a little watery. Would make a good session beer. Roasted/burnt notes, not unpleasant, came through in the aftertaste.

Welcome back.

A friend of mine from out of town, Kalamzoo, MI to be exact, wanted to try her first slinger. She’d seen me eat a couple and she was finally ready to throw down.

Well, I had to think where could I take her that I knew would have a good slinger? Well, my first thought was to hit up The Buttery Restaurant..because it was good and I’ve just been wanting to get back there for quite awhile. Well, it turned out they were closed, so we ended up on the other side of Tower Grove Park to go to the Courtesy Diner Kingshighway, and it got me thinking about the time I did a quick update on the Chris’s Pancake House slinger…and how it had gotten pretty awful since I’d last had one.

I figured, I needed to snap a picture and check the quality of the Kingshighway location. For the most part, the Hampton location is my recreational slinger of choice, but that may be due in large part to the issues I had in my first trip. I have been back a couple times and didn’t have anything like that surface again.

In the morning light...

Taking a look at this slinger again…it was pure slinger gold at 7am that day. We were sober and not hungover…and this may have been the earliest I’ve ever eaten a slinger.

Just like before, I took my slinger scrambled, with cheese, onions, and jalapeno peppers. It’s not as good as Big Ed’s Chili Mac, but this very well may be the second best slinger currently available in St. Louis, and their best asset is that they are open 24 hours a day.

Here’s what Kat, had to say…

As a native Michigander, I’d never heard of a slinger. I didn’t even get introduced to the idea of it until two years ago. I was weirded out by all those things piled together on one plate. It just didn’t seem like it could work.

I was proven wrong during a weekend visit to STL in late-August. Courtesy Diner was the culprit. And I’m not just talking, “oh it was ok.” No. This thing was AWESOME. I’ve lived in cities such as Detroit, Philly, and Chicago–I’m obviously familiar with “good food.”

And this was good. Even the presentation on the plate was pleasant.

I had my very first slinger with hash browns, scrambled eggs, sausage, chili, cheese, jalapeños, and light on the onions. Everything was layered nicely to preserve texture and color. The crunch of the hash browns, peppers and onions merged nicely with the softness of the chili, egg, and cheese. The sausage was slightly spicy, and the chili was good enough to be a meal in itself. The sweetness of the onion made for a nice contrast.

I was happy that it wasn’t overly greasy, which was something I’d been wary of. The jalapeños gave it a nice kick to finish it off on top. And since I love spicy foods, a dash or two of hot sauce was just what was needed to complete the dish.

My only regret is that I didn’t have enough room for another one!

So, in conclusion, The Courtesy Diner still continues to churn out great slingers, and that’s a large part of why I chose to take two sets of slinger newbies from out of town to the Courtesy on Kingshighway and why I chose to be on television at the Courtesy Diner on Hampton.