December 11th, 2014
31 Beers of December – Day 11: Cambridge Brewing Enjoy My Stout
@cambridgebrewer @Lost_in_Beer
To celebrate the Holiday Season, we have teamed up with beer bloggers and craft beer enthusiasts around the country to host the fourth annual beer bloggers advent calendar. This is the season of sharing and we intend to share our love of beer with you.
During the 31 days of December, we will be sharing our favorite regional/winter seasonals/holiday beers with the help from our fellow beer bloggers. We hope that you tune in every day, to hear our stories and share our holiday cheer.
Cambridge Brewing Enjoy My Stout
Blogger: Josh Dion
Blog Name: Lost in the beer aisle, http://www.lostinthebeeraisle.com/
Twitter/Facebook: @Lost_in_Beer / https://www.facebook.com/LostintheBeerAisle
About Josh: Corporate drone by day. Owner of Lost in the Beer Aisle. Columnist for Yankee Brew News. Contributor for Craft Beer Magazine. Coordinator of beer events. New England sports lover. Serious runner. Admitted over-sharer.
Beer: Enjoy My Stout
Brewery: Cambridge Brewing Company. Cambridge, MA.
Website: http://cambridgebrewingcompany.com/
Twitter: @cambridgebrewer
Beer Details:
-Style: Russian Imperial Stout
-ABV: 10.5%
Commercial Description
THE CROWD GOES WILD! A smooth bass line of roasted notes establishes the deep end beneath arpeggios of complex chocolate malt, while power chords of caramelized grain open up to an extended malty jam. Black barley teases treacle character and wades into a velvety sea of oak-derived vanilla and toasted coconut tones. Sustained improvisation of fruitiness modulates to an intense finale, and encores with a rich, espresso-roasted reprise, a capella.
Why I selected Enjoy My Stout:
On a recent trip to my favorite liquor store, I asked the beer manager what was new and exciting. I’m in the store at least once a week. Making 2-3 times is not out of the ordinary. Thus, when I ask “what’s new?”, I’m rarely surprised or intrigued. On this trip, the answer was “Cambridge Brewing You Enjoy My Stout”. To which I said, “hell yes!”
The beer is one of my favorites this time of year: a bourbon-barrel aged Russian stout. I can’t imagine a better beer to pair with the spat of bitter, cold and wet the New England weather we are dealing with. And at 10.5% ABV, You Enjoy My Stout will go a long way in making me forget about the weather altogether!
It pours with a surprisingly minimal, and frankly disappointing head (or lack thereof). As far as color, beer doesn’t get darker than this; it looks like molasses or melted dark chocolate.
Foamy faults are all forgiven with the first sip. I don’t care what a beer looks like when it tastes this amazeballs. A beer this big and complex would be easy to mess up. A brewer could make it too boozy, or far too sweet and syrupy, or even too bold in terms of the roasted malts.
File this one under “none of the above”. One whiff and you know it’s high-octane, however very little alcohol is noticeable on the palate. It certainly drinks like a dessert beer, but isn’t overpoweringly sugary. Sweet up front, it settles and finishes with subtle roasted light coffee notes.
All that aside, what really makes You Enjoy My Stout a rock star is the epic vanilla flavors, courtesy the barrel aging. Be forewarned: it’s not packing huge oak or bourbon characteristics…these are more subtle. Net-net: there is a lot going on and I love every second of it.
Finally, as a testament to how awesome this bad Larry is, my wife the non-beer-drinker sipped and and emphatically said “it’s good!”
About Lost In The Beer Aisle
A brief history of Lost in the Beer Aisle…
In college I drank Natural Ice (economics). After college I casually tried a lot of domestic beer. In late 2008 I started trying a lot of new beers – craft beers from all over the globe.
As I tried these beers, I would take a picture of the bottle and post it on Facebook to show my friends. Soon I started accompanying the picture with a blurb of text. In the early days the commentary was limited to something attuned to “tastes like beer”.
The single sentence that accompanied the Facebook pictures quickly turned into two sentences and ultimately two paragraphs. My wife Melissa suggested that should start a blog since I was already doing all the legwork.
I thought it was a great idea, but I was a beer newbie…what did I know about beer? I had started reading beer blogs myself and I felt intimidated; the world of beer was full of fancy lingo and beer “cliques” ran the show.
I created Lost in the Beer Aisle in the Spring of 2009 with two goals:
#1. Create a environment where beer lovers of all levels of experience can feel comfortable.
#2. Enjoy good beer and have fun.
LIBA was born, flying the non-beer-douche flag and touting the motto “Never take beer or life too seriously!”
About Cambridge Brewing Company
Founded in 1989, the Cambridge Brewing Company is the oldest brewery-restaurant in the Boston area and one of the nation’s first. As pioneers of new American beer styles, they offer a wide array of hand crafted original beers as well as interpretations of classic world styles and experimental beers. Brewpubs such as The CBC have a unique culinary opportunity to continually pair new and interesting beer styles with innovative menu ideas. CBC’s in-house artisan beers are paired with fresh and local ingredients on the menu, providing choices not found anywhere else in the local dining arena. For more information visit http://cambridgebrewingcompany.com/