Big Beef Beer Review
By Greg

When I returned from my trip to the great American Southwest, I reviewed our site statistics as part of our ongoing mission to bring our beer gospel to the masses. I discovered that someone had stumbled upon our site searching for "new stout" and "new stout beer" on Lycos. Shortly after that, I checked our Big Beef e-mail. The owner of the odd query was soon revealed.

It seems that Kate (cggulp@....) had heard of a stout beer made with Starbuck's coffee that had a caffeine kick. An odd combination, but it didn't surprise me, as I believed that all stouts kind of taste like coffee -- not the best flavor for beer. I responded that I would consult with the beer god and let her know if it was real, or just a myth.

Since the privilege of this weeks beer review was all mine, I stopped by the local beer temple to select my beer of the week. While there, I asked the beer god about this "new stout." The beer god revealed to me that while residing on the West Coast a couple of years ago, he had sampled such a beer. He then led me to the last two he had in stock. They were chilled, so I gave thanks, conversed briefly, and hurried home to taste these endangered species.

When I cracked open the first bottle, I enjoyed the coffee like aroma. I poured it into my 23oz. beer glass. The head was thick and fomy. It looked like chocolate mousse. I tried to look through the dark stout. It was so dark I could have safely used it to shield my eyes while using an arc-welder or observing a total eclipse of the sun.

I tasted this beer. It was smooth and surprisingly light for a stout. I really enjoyed it a lot. Soon I found myself pouring the second one, and lamenting the fact that a six pack was not available at the local temple. By the time I finished the second one, I was glad I didn't have anywhere to go. Double Black Stout has a 6.9% alcohol content by weight (I don't know why they didn't list it by volume).

I wished I had bought more, I couldn't however. During our brief conversation, the beer god revealed that although brewed by Red Hook, Anheuser-Busch distributed this beer, and he was having supply chain problems. As a result, he was reluctantly dropping the entire Red Hook line.

Hopefully you can find this stout in your area. Am I becoming a stout fan? This is the second stout since Sierra-Nevada Stout that I have give 4 BB & B's.

Ranking:  out of 5 BB&B's.

Price: Paid $0.98 per bottle for two 12oz. bottles

Availability: Widely Available .

URL:  www.redhook.com

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