Let's get it on...

Well I think it finally may have happened. I fell in love. In love with a dark beer, and it's treating me oh so well. I was honestly blindsided by this one. It's beautiful. It's name is Stoudt's Fat Dog Stout, and no I don't want to share.

This imperial oatmeal stout gets better and better with each sip. First one was like "Oh, this ain't that bad." Second was a little further, "ohh, wait a second, I like what you're doing here." Third through fifth sips were more like "Oh. Ok. Is this for real? Is this really happening to me?" And from the sixth sip and on I couldn't not listen to [this], [this], and [this] to accompany what was happening. I think that the best description of this beer is 'sensual.'

The roasted flavors this beer has are very sweet, not burned like other dark beers can have. It has a chocolatey and coffee finish that is somewhat dry and begging you to keep taking another sip. At the same time there is a distinct hops flavor that gets cut down by the sweetness which makes this a very drinkable beer. Picture yourself at the end of a nice dinner out on the town, and you order dessert. Cheesecake, maybe a chocolate cake, or even some ice cream. You can't drink wine with that. Maybe an espresso? No. You want this. Trust me, it will fit absolutely perfectly with a hot & cold combo dessert... like a baked brownie with vanilla ice cream scoops and hot fudge on top. Mmmmmm.... ::wipes drool off face:: Sorry. Got carried away there for a second.

I first heard of Stoudt's from some of the shows and documentaries about the beer industry. They always seemed to be featured. So when I saw this guy on the shelf, not only was I intrigued by the dog on the bottle (note, I love dogs) but I knew that whatever they made was most likely going to be good. If you haven't gathered this by now I really like this beer. After doing a little more research about Stoudt's I came to find that they have a full length novel of a background story. I'll save that recap for another post, but basically you should realize that they lived the American Dream to the fullest. Based in Adamstown, PA [between Harrisburg and Philadelphia] they come from a German heritage, started with a restaurant, endured hardships, dabbled in the world of brewing, and aimed to get that Old World flavor and quality in beers on this side of the pond. From what I can tell these are some hard working people that strive for excellence. Cheers to that.

Stoudt's Brewing
Fat Dog Stout
Imperial Oatmeal Stout
9.0% abv