Guinness Black Lager

I decided to follow up the Left Hand Milk Stout with the Guinness Black Lager.  This lager is good, but after drinking the Milk Stout it is hard to really give a good accurate description of the taste.  I will tell you this, I'm now drinking my second beer on an empty stomach and am feeling it.  The creative curve has dwindled, I'm tired and ready for bed.  Must try this one again when not drinking a milk stout prior.

OK, I'm not quite ready to shut down.  I like this beer because it's dark like a stout, but light tasting like a lager - aren't I creative and descriptive??  I think someone at Guinness said, "people like Black and Tans (half Guinness, half lager), let's just put it together in a bottle for them".  I wonder if 'Black and Tan' was already a trademarked name - but, if the shoe fits...

A new day, a new Left Hand Milk Stout

I was really torn with what to open this evening.  Had it not been Tuesday, I would have opened up one of my Belgian bombers in the refrigerator.  But, after having just played golf, and not eaten, I opted for the Left Hand Milk Stout - Nitro.  Notice the picture, I feel stouts need to be drank from a glass, call me old-fashioned:

My first thought after the initial drink?  My God that is good.  I am a fan of Guinness, but find Guinness to be a tad bitter, this milk stout is in no way bitter.  Which leads me to start thinking, what in the hell is a milk stout?
And off I go to do the research - side note, don't you love it when you go to a brewery's website and they have you put in your age, to make sure you are 21?  What, are they going to match this date with my license?

I just saw the 'show us your pour' contest, where apparently you are to post your pour via you tube on the Left Hand Brewery website for a chance to win tickets to the Great American Beer Festival.  I wonder if that picture above gets a consolation prize..

http://www.lefthandbrewing.com/beers/milk-stout-nitro

Wow.  Their pictures look way better than mine...

According to Left Hand, the style is 'sweet stout', the color is...black, the body is full...it's drinkable, and there are no pairings for the Milk Stout listed, at this time.  I should let them know how this stout is going to taste with my teriyaki chicken, as soon as I pull it off the grill.  Oh look!  You can cook with it -

Chocolate Milk Stout Cake
Milk Stout Barbecue Sauce on Beef Short Ribs
Milk Stout Cupcakes
I'd rather drink it, as is.

The only thing I can find, explaining what a Milk Stout is, is this "Milk sugar in your stout is like cream in your coffee", thus I assume that means it is mellowing out the bitter stout taste.  Well done, Left Hand, well done.

This nitro beer is the first bottled nitro beer - so it seems as if my pour was way off, I did tilt the glass, instead of literally opening the bottle and dumping the contents into the glass, which releases all the nitro goodness.  I guess I better buy more.
http://blogs.westword.com/cafesociety/2011/09/milk_stout_nitro_left_hand_bre.php

2008 Colosi Sicilia Rosso

You know, originally I thought I was just going to post about beer, but why would I limit myself?  I love to drink, I love to cook, and I love to drink while I cook.  Which brings me to today's post, the couple glasses of this 2009 Sicilia Rosso I just had while cooking and eating Puttanesca.

Look at it shimmer..  The last time I drank a definite Sicilian wine was in Italy, that I remember.  My friend, Raffaele, bought a bottle for us to drank, knowing I am half-Sicilian (he is 100% Neopolitan) and I will never forget how proud he was of this bottle he got for us, and then immediately after taking his first sip he was appalled at how awful it tasted.  According to 'Raffa' the bottle had not been stored properly, as this must have been the reason for it's awfulness.  Currently, I feel I should know if a wine has turned or not, but at that time I was really curious if I had ever drank a bad wine and didn't know any better, or is turning down wine a culture sign I had yet to learn?  Funny, on my next visit to Italy, Raffa and I were out to dinner and he turned down another bottle of wine...what is with that..

But on to more important aspects - which is the wine I just drank.  It was really good, it went well with my pasta puttanesca.  The puttanesca I made was the 'quick' version, but was tasty nonetheless.  I think I am pleasantly surprised as to how good and well-chosen this wine was, my wine-picking is all luck.  I wish I did not have to work in the morning, because I'm tempted to drink the entire bottle.

Blueberry Oatmeal Stout

I just got back from the liquor store.  I arrived home with quite a selection and will meticulously go through every beer, savoring each drop and maybe I'll be sober enough to let you know how they taste.  First stop, Buffalo Bill's Blueberry Oatmeal Stout.

I must say, I always get pulled in with the 'make your own 6-pack' offerings.  I scan the single beer selections and think to myself, oh yeah, this is where it's at.  Yet, the moment I grab the empty 6-pack cardboard holder and start selecting, I get kind of picky and as I get to the last two or three selections, I start grabbing random beers that I may have not picked initially.  This is how I arrived at the Blueberry Oatmeal Stout.

From the initial taste, I think I expected more than I got.  But, it's blueberry, it's an oatmeal stout, really what WAS I expecting?  Magic in a brown bottle?  Veruca Salt as a big blueberry, in psychdelic form?  The taste is pretty smooth, has a unique blueberry aftertaste and overall not bad, now that I've had a few sips.  I couldn't see myself drinking much more than one glass.  I am trying to think where this beer would work in my life.  An after dinner drink?  Doubtful.  An apres-ski beer?  Maybe, but I usually want more than one drink and once I drink this beer I don't think I'll want a second - besides the blueberry aftertaste, it is a heavy stout and I'll be full.  Ahhh...here is the part where the alcohol kicks in.  Let me now babble incessantly.

Usually interesting names and labels catch my eye, I'm a marketing person's dream.  But I do get curious and must do my research on this Buffalo Bill's Brewery, who are they?  Where are they?  Why are they named Buffalo Bill's Brewery?  Established in 1983, Buffalo Bill's Brewery website is under construction, but you can find them on Facebook.  Oh look, they make Alimony Ale, Orange Blossom something, Strawberry Blonde Ale, Pumpkin Ale, Imperial Pumpkin Ale (the king of the pumpkins?) and Blueberry Oatmeal Stout, my, aren't they busy.  https://www.facebook.com/BuffaloBillsBrewery

I'm curious about the naming of their brewery.  Why did a brewery, in Hayward, California, decide on Buffalo Bill's?  Coincidentally, I just visited Buffalo Bill's grave this past weekend; he is buried at the top of Lookout Mountain, in Golden, Colorado (per the plaque on his grave this was at his request, take that, Wyoming).  So Buffalo Bill's brewery is a restaurant, they serve lunch AND dinner and they brew fruity brews.  I am still looking for the reason why they named their brewery Buffalo Bill's.

OK, I have found more solid information on my quest as to what is this brewery:
Apparently Buffalo Bill's started as a brewpub in 1983, one of the nation's oldest brewpubs according to someone, and this still doesn't explain the name.  Did Buffalo Bill visit?  Is somebody named Bill and got the nickname when they ate alot of hot wings?  Oh look, other people (in Cody, Wyoming, tfounded by Buffalo Bill) are trying to make a 'Buffalo Bill Cody BEER': http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904787404576529111552968274.html

How confusing.  In any case, I would probably drink this beer again if someone bought it for me.  If you explained to me the reasoning behind naming this brewery, I would drink two beers.