Epic Brewing - 825 State Stout Release #23

Epic always makes a good beer. The 825 Stout is no exception. My only complaint: the 825 Stout strikes me more as a black Porter and the Galloway Porter strikes me more as a brown Stout.

What is the difference between a Stout and a Porter? Not a whole lot really. Primarily it's marketing and shades of color and shades of roastiness.

If you blind taste test beers marketed as porters vs. those marketed as stouts, you'll be hard pressed to find a clear commercial distinction between the two.

My personal bias comes down to the level of roastiness. If more chocolate-coffee flavors come through -> porter. If more coffee-espresso flavors come through -> stout.

The 825 Stout always hits me as a chocolate-coffee beer. The Galloway Porter hits me as a coffee-espresso beer.

Thanksgiving Turkey Fry Homebrew Brining Wort

Crushed Grains for Wort and Grain Bag

It will have been two years this Christmas since I received my turkey fryer.  The ostensible reason for asking for it as a gift was to make the move to all-grain brewing and to move my homebrewing out of the kitchen and into the garage.

It was just before Thanksgiving last year, when my wife and I were planning to host both our families at our house for the first time, that I realized I could use my turkey fryer to actually fry a turkey.  We ended up frying three turkeys last year:  thanksgiving, christmas, and another one for fun sometime in March.

Outer Darkness from Squatters

The Utah craft beer I chose to enjoy on this trip to Smith and Morehouse is Outer Darkness from Squatters.

The beer pours with a thick, brown head. At least it looks that way in a Red Solo Cup.

Outer Darkness is a Russian Imperial Stout that runs at 10.5%. Creamy, chocolatey, and hoppy (65 IBUs).  I was not able to hazard a guess on the hops.  Too many flavors in this beer for me to try to pin it down.

By the way, this is the first Russian Imperial Stout that I've ever had.

It's a little bitey at the end of the taste.  I'm attributing this to the licorice added at the end of the boil and the oak conditioning.  The biting flavor disappears as the beer warms.  I may have chilled it too cold before opening.

When I opened it, I didn't realize that this was an oaked beer.  If I had, I would have cracked it open with dinner instead of drinking it as a late night campfire dessert.  I find that oaked beers are beers that are best enjoyed with food.

Consensus from the group around the fire is that it would pair well with hot wings or other similarly spiced and fried food.  I think the pork chops we had for dinner would also have been an excellent option.