My favorite Dark Side brew

[Chipper Dave]

I've been tracking some of my favorite dark brews and I thought I'd share two of them. The first is a brew from the Breckenridge Brewery in Colorado called Breckenridge Vanilla Porter. This rich porter has some nice vanilla overtones.

Another favorite dark brew comes from the Boston Beer Company and is their Samuel Adams Holiday Porter. it came in their seasonal Winter Classics 12-pack.

Both of these beers are sure to warm you up. What are some of your favorites?

[Scott]

I have Tried 112 different stouts and 64 different porters and out of these, my top Dark Beers are Three Floyds Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout, Founders Breakfast Stout, Oaken Barrel Jave Stout, Ridgeway Santa's Butt Winter Porter and Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter.

[Rev. Bobby Beerman]

I'm in the process of expanding my dark side. Right now in my fridge I'm cutting through:

Barley Island's Black Magic Java Stout
O'hara's Irish Stout
Lion Stout
St Peter's Cream Stout
St Peter's Old-style Porter
Hoppin' Frog Bodacious Black & Tan
Bear Republic Big Bear Black Stout
Goose Island's Bourbon County Brand Stout
and, one of my favorites, Young's Luxury Double Chocolate Stout

I’ve tried the blending of Rouge’s Hazelnut Brown Ale and Chocolate Stout (“candybar” beer). Has a complex flavor. I like the power of Lion and the flavor of O'hara's. St. Peter's Cream Stout is smooth.

[Scott]

I have never had the blending of Rouge's Hazelnut and Chocolate Stout. I love Black and Tans, I like the thought of chocolate and hazelnut blended together. Thanks for the idea I will be trying one of this weekend.

[Chipper Dave]

About a month ago we talked about whether we enjoy drinking dark beers during the warm weather months. Well let me tell you, it was in the upper 70's yesterday and I dropped in at New Belgium Brewery's tap room and tried one of their Lips of Faith beers. This month it's Jessica's Ale. It's a real dark porter that has ginger and cinnamon spice added to it. I didn't know how good it would taste on a hot day, but they chilled it down cold and it tasted wonderful. I might just open up some of my darker brews again. (I still have an Old Rasputin and a Stone Imperial Stout sitting around).

[Colby]

Have any of you tried Boulevards Dry Stout...pretty good...crisp and smooth.
I really like the Vanilla Porter from Breckenridge as well. They have added a second brewery in Denver right by Coors Field.

Eli the Mad Beer Man said:

Breck's Vanilla Porter rocks. Not a real big fan of "holiday" beers. Something in the spices they all seem to have.

Some of my fave dark (side) beers: Tommyknocker Cocoa Porter, Widmer Snowplow, Guinness, Young's Double Chocolate Stout, Bristol Winter Warlock, Yellowstone Valley Back Widow Stout, Lefthand Milk Stout...

I'm at work (thus, I'm not able to look inside my beer fridge), so there's several more. Ya know, these are just "some" of my faves! ;)

[Virgil G]

At first I wasn't a fan of the Boulevard Dry Stout; then it wound up being at my local hooters and was the darkest thing they had, so I was drinking that, then it grew on me... then they stopped carrying it. So I switched to their pale, and I've become quite a fan of that.

Looking back at my notes, it seems I didn't like ANY boulevard beers, but now, i've changed my mind and they are ok-to-good.


Colby said:

Have any of you tried Boulevards Dry Stout...pretty good...crisp and smooth.
I really like the Vanilla Porter from Breckenridge as well. They have added a second brewery in Denver right by Coors Field.

[Scott]

The Boulevard Dry Stout was ok. I liked Boulevard's Bully Porter much better, I though it had more flavor too it then the Dry Stout did. Another one of Boulevard's dark beers that I thought was really good was their Bob's 47 Munich-Style Lager. This beer was a dark brown with alot of aroma's for the nose to smell.

[KegGremlin]

Here's a Black Beer list:

Dogfish Head World Wide Stout
Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti
Rouge Imperial Stout
Rouge Mocha Porter
Stone Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout
Stone Imperial Russian Stout
Stone Smoked Porter
Alaskan Smoked Porter
Bar Harbor Cadillac Mountain Stout
Sam Adams Chocolate Bock
Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence Stout
Whitstable Oyster Stout from the brewery formerly known as Swale

[Kimberly]

I completely agree with you guys about Breckenridge Vanilla Porter. We ALWAYS have some in the fridge. I now bartend part time. I took a 6 pack to the pub before work one day so that the owner could try it. (I'm always bitching about the lack of dark beers) He liked it so much that he's going to put it on tap :)

[Freya the Wanderer]

I just plain love Stouts and Porters! My faves include Young's Double Chocolate, Rogue Shakespeare Stout, Mikkeller Black Hole, and Terrapin Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout. On beer rating sites I tend to rate dark beers higher than others - I like a beer that pours as black as Darth Vader's cape!