Beer of the Weekend #283: Redband Stout
BeerAdvocate has seriously sold out. First there were ads at the top of each BA webpage — ads that, curiously, had nothing to do with beer — and now they have the annoying video ads that cover the screen and require one to find the special X hidden away to close it. Fuckers.
The drink for my health tonight is Redband Stout, brewed by the Great River Brewery of Davenport, Iowa.
Way back in April, on a return trip from Chicago, I stopped at the Great River taproom and sampled just about everything they had. (I drank from small sampling glasses, but, admittedly, was still a bit buzzed when I hit the road for the final leg to IC.) Everything was excellent, and I was impressed with everything they had. Standing head and shoulders above the rest, though, were Organic Farmer Brown Ale and Redband Stout. Great River canned and distributed Redband Stout for a little while (as they did their brown ale, I think), and today I grabbed a couple cans from the Bread Garden.
This was the perfect opportunity to use my Guinness imperial pint. Unfortunately, I forgot it at my parents’ place. Booo.
Serving type: Two 16-ounce cans. No freshness date.
Appearance: Poured into a pint glass. The color looks sinister (I have not had a stout in forever): opaque black. Three fingers of very tan — basically brown — head dissipated slowly to leave a half-finger cap, trails of foam along the side, and then, eventually, just a ring of foam around the edge.
Smell: Lots of roasted espresso beans. (Or are they espresso beans because they are roasted? I have no clue.) The roasted coffee aroma dominates, but deep down underneath are hints of chocolate and maybe lactose from the stout the coffee is paired with.
Taste: The mouthfeel is a little thin for my stout preference, but the flavor follows the smell’s jab and delivers a vicious headshot of roasted coffee. Obviously lots of espresso, and the roasted bitterness is definitely coffee-like. As the taste buds adjust, the chocolate from the smell is evident, as well as the lactose. The lactose offers a little balance to smooth the bitterness, but not much.
Drinkability: [Crack. Pour. Inhale.] The best part of waking up is Redband Stout in your cup.
Fun facts about Redband Stout:
-Style: BA classifies it as American Stout, while Great River calls it Coffee Stout.
-Price: $2.79/bottle at the Bread Garden Market on the Ped Mall. Beware if you buy individual cans or bottles at the Bread Garden. When the cashier passed each can over the scanner, the register charged me for a four-pack; the initial price was about $18. Whoa. The cashier said, “Yeah. I don’t think those cans cost that much.” It was a little hassle getting everything straightened out, so just be vigilant at the Bread Garden.
-Serving temperature: BA recommends the usual 45-50ºF, but I suggest letting it warm a touch more.
-Alcohol content: 6 percent ABV.
-Food pairings: BA suggests barbecue, buttery cheeses (Brie, Gouda, Havarti, Swiss), earthy cheeses (Camembert, Fontina), chocolate, beef, shellfish, smoked meat, game meat, and grilled meat.
-Here is some nerdiness from the can:
-Redband Stout is the result of adding espresso beans from Davenport’s Redband Coffee Company to Great River’s Straight Pipe Stout, a high quality milk stout.
-Canning is all the rage in the craft brewing world right now, and I do not understand why. Anyway. Great River should be a little more vigilant regarding their can labeling. As with all four of my Great River Oktoberfest cans, both Redband labels, which look to be shrink-wrapped on the can, are wrinkled and creased. It does not affect the beer, but it does not bode well for the aesthetic experience.
The Quiet Man’s grade: A-.
The drink for my health tonight is Redband Stout, brewed by the Great River Brewery of Davenport, Iowa.
Way back in April, on a return trip from Chicago, I stopped at the Great River taproom and sampled just about everything they had. (I drank from small sampling glasses, but, admittedly, was still a bit buzzed when I hit the road for the final leg to IC.) Everything was excellent, and I was impressed with everything they had. Standing head and shoulders above the rest, though, were Organic Farmer Brown Ale and Redband Stout. Great River canned and distributed Redband Stout for a little while (as they did their brown ale, I think), and today I grabbed a couple cans from the Bread Garden.
This was the perfect opportunity to use my Guinness imperial pint. Unfortunately, I forgot it at my parents’ place. Booo.
Serving type: Two 16-ounce cans. No freshness date.
Appearance: Poured into a pint glass. The color looks sinister (I have not had a stout in forever): opaque black. Three fingers of very tan — basically brown — head dissipated slowly to leave a half-finger cap, trails of foam along the side, and then, eventually, just a ring of foam around the edge.
Smell: Lots of roasted espresso beans. (Or are they espresso beans because they are roasted? I have no clue.) The roasted coffee aroma dominates, but deep down underneath are hints of chocolate and maybe lactose from the stout the coffee is paired with.
Taste: The mouthfeel is a little thin for my stout preference, but the flavor follows the smell’s jab and delivers a vicious headshot of roasted coffee. Obviously lots of espresso, and the roasted bitterness is definitely coffee-like. As the taste buds adjust, the chocolate from the smell is evident, as well as the lactose. The lactose offers a little balance to smooth the bitterness, but not much.
Drinkability: [Crack. Pour. Inhale.] The best part of waking up is Redband Stout in your cup.
Fun facts about Redband Stout:
-Style: BA classifies it as American Stout, while Great River calls it Coffee Stout.
-Price: $2.79/bottle at the Bread Garden Market on the Ped Mall. Beware if you buy individual cans or bottles at the Bread Garden. When the cashier passed each can over the scanner, the register charged me for a four-pack; the initial price was about $18. Whoa. The cashier said, “Yeah. I don’t think those cans cost that much.” It was a little hassle getting everything straightened out, so just be vigilant at the Bread Garden.
-Serving temperature: BA recommends the usual 45-50ºF, but I suggest letting it warm a touch more.
-Alcohol content: 6 percent ABV.
-Food pairings: BA suggests barbecue, buttery cheeses (Brie, Gouda, Havarti, Swiss), earthy cheeses (Camembert, Fontina), chocolate, beef, shellfish, smoked meat, game meat, and grilled meat.
-Here is some nerdiness from the can:
We love our local roaster’s New Orleans Ice Coffee so much we decided to use their beans in our brew. Redband Stout is made with Indonesian and Ethiopian beans using our 18-hour cold brew extraction method, resulting in a satisfying brew with intense coffee aromatics. The marriage of two of our favorite beverages.
-Redband Stout is the result of adding espresso beans from Davenport’s Redband Coffee Company to Great River’s Straight Pipe Stout, a high quality milk stout.
-Canning is all the rage in the craft brewing world right now, and I do not understand why. Anyway. Great River should be a little more vigilant regarding their can labeling. As with all four of my Great River Oktoberfest cans, both Redband labels, which look to be shrink-wrapped on the can, are wrinkled and creased. It does not affect the beer, but it does not bode well for the aesthetic experience.
The Quiet Man’s grade: A-.
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