Stout - Commercial Examples

[Phoney]

Now that summers over im planning on putting on a couple of stouts to warm me up through the winter.... So before I get serous in selecting the right recipes, id first like to gain a better understanding of the different styles of stouts to help me decide which I like best.. Currently about the only stouts ive tried are; Coopers Best Extra Stout, Sheaf, Southwark old stout, Youngs Double Choc and of course Guiness. So, what would be the finest commercial examples of the following styles;

Dry Irish Stout (OK, this one is probably Guiness)
Sweet Stout
Oatmeal Stout (Redoak produce a very nice one of these, any others?)
Milk Stout
Chocolate Stout (Is there one better than Youngs?)
Coffee Stout
Imperial Stout
Baltic Porter

Obviously I am after examples that are available in Australia, at Dan Murphy's etc.... ie: not solely at some pub in uptown Dublin at a certain time of the year when Paddy McDougall is working behind the bar.

Cheers :beer:

 

[Snow]

For an imperial stout, I would recommend Sinha, though it may not be as imperial as some would like. For Dry Irish, I actually prefer Murphys.

Cheers - Snow

 

[brettprevans]

well stout and porters are differant styles, and coffe/choc stout arent styles of stouts but moving on...

check out s.13 of bjcp. that covers all your stouts and has commercial examples

edit: some of the commercial examples would be hard to get a hold of but others not so hard.
edit2: beat u to it Dave

 

[Maple]

So, what would be the finest commercial examples of the following styles;

Obviously I am after examples that are available in Australia, at Dan Murphy's etc.... ie: not solely at some pub in uptown Dublin at a certain time of the year when Paddy McDougall is working behind the bar.

Have a look at the BJCP style guidelines, each style will have a listing of the commercial examples of the style. While not all (in fact - most) are not readily available in Aus, find a good bottle shop like purvis* or such, and you will find a few of these.

Category 12 Porters, 13 for stout

*no affiliation, just happy chappy customer.

 

[Phoney]

Yeah, ive been looking through the BJCP styles, but since ive never heard of any of the examples I wasnt sure if they're available here.... Anyway, ive downloaded the iPhone app and will try again at the bottle shop with this in hand.

a good bottle shop like purvis*
*no affiliation, just happy chappy customer.

This is 1000km from me

Can anyone recommend a good bottle shop in inner Sydney? So far ive found Dan Murphy's & Camperdown Cellers to have the largest range of imported beer.

 

[Bribie G]

For a good headbanger FES I reckon you can't go past either Coopers or Sheaf Stout. Might pop round to BWS and get one now, although Sadly the Sheaf is only available in NSW AFAIK.

Edit: Well, one quick trip later and I'm into a six pack of Cascade Stout - very smooooth as the label promises, and a nice floral tickle of hop that reminds me of their Pale Ale with the green label.

 

[hazard]

For an imperial stout, I would recommend Sinha, though it may not be as imperial as some would like. For Dry Irish, I actually prefer Murphys.

Cheers - Snow

I was in my local Dan's last week, and they had a stack of Sinha stubbies in the "Discontinued" barrel - a shame, it was very good beer at a reasonable price. When in Ireland 20 years ago i thought I was in heaven - 3 stouts on tap in every pub! What a change from melbourne, this was in the day when the only choice you had was a pot (of Carlton) or a glass (of carlton). I always preferred Murphys on tap, but since you can only get Guinness in tap in Aust, then this what i drink. I hate Guiness in those tricky widget cans though, and have never even tried the Murphys, though i think Dan has got it.

For Oatmeal Stout, you gotta have Samuel Smith's. This is without doubt my favourite beer I've bought locally. About $8 for 550ml, and well worth it.

 

[Dazza_devil]

For a good headbanger FES I reckon you can't go past either Coopers or Sheaf Stout. Might pop round to BWS and get one now, although Sadly the Sheaf is only available in NSW AFAIK.

Edit: Well, one quick trip later and I'm into a six pack of Cascade Stout - very smooooth as the label promises, and a nice floral tickle of hop that reminds me of their Pale Ale with the green label.

+1 on the Cascade Stout, very underated I reckon.
And there are two different ones, Export Stout and the one from the craft range, both are very good. I'm not sure If you get both on the north island, there is a difference in the cost but very little in the taste. Not even sure if they are both still available here now.

Off Topic , BribieG if you get a chance try their Wheat Beer, Cascade Blonde.

 

[MarkBastard]

I really like Coopers Extra Stout and Guinness Extra Stout, even if the Guinness is BUL.

And of course Youngs is great.

 

[JonnyAnchovy]

Had a rogues Shakespeare stout last night - it was good, but nothing amazing. I'm looking forward to a black winter - and to the next brewshare at the taphouse, which will be all stouts and porters.


By way of a thread hijack; I just kegged a big chocolate stout last night - silky smooth thanks to lots of oats (malted, roasted and rolled), and uber chocolaty thanks to around 12-13% roast barley and black malt.

Crap I love winter!

 

[Bribie G]

I really like Coopers Extra Stout and Guinness Extra Stout, even if the Guinness is BUL.

And of course Youngs is great.

The Guinness Extra Stout is not strictly BUL in the same sense as Stella or Heineken or Becks, because there is no real equivalent UK version of our six percent FES version. Guinness licenses its name to various parts of the world where different regional versions are made, for example Nigeria, Carribean, and here in Aus. The Poms don't get our six percent version poor buggers. So our Guinness Extra Stout is actually a unique Australian product. I'm sure that if more people realised this, there would be more of an appreciation of this quite nice beer and maybe greater sales. Even here on the forum there is often confusion over the difference between Guinness and Guinness.

• On tap at the pub (4.3% CUB)
• In cans with widgets (4.3% Ireland)
• In bottles with the Extra Stout label (6% CUB)

 

[brettprevans]

Bribs is right. when was the last time you had a guinness can and bottles Extra in a close period. i find the cans watery and without that big punch the our aussie extra guinness gives. mind you, you can smash back tap/can guinness.

 

[Maple]

edit2: beat u to it Dave

bugger, fat fingers strike again...

I believe Purvis have an online catalogue, but no idea on shipping cost etc. very good folks in there (shameless plug, but they are good)

 

[brettprevans]

bugger, fat fingers strike again...

I believe Purvis have an online catalogue, but no idea on shipping cost etc. very good folks in there (shameless plug, but they are good)

they do indeed ship and its not too bad cost wide. esp if you buy 12 or more bottles (from memory).

 

[jbowers]

Slowbeer also ship across the country - and they have better prices. Samuel Smiths - all their stouts are excellent. Sinha is really quite good as well. Any imperial stout being sold at slowbeer is really good. From my experience, if a brewery bothers to make an imperial stout, they make it damn good.

 

[Dazza_devil]

The Guiness Anniversary Stout is brewed in Ireland and available here, at least it was. Not a bad drop but a completely different recipe.
The Guiness Foreign Extra Stout is the one I would like to try. Apparently it's a blend made up from unfermented but hopped Irish wort and wort from the import destination so varies from location to location.

 

[Josh]

This is 1000km from me

Can anyone recommend a good bottle shop in inner Sydney? So far ive found Dan Murphy's & Camperdown Cellers to have the largest range of imported beer.

Try The Local Taphouse for Hargeaves Hill Stout. I think it'd be in the Extra Stout style. I really liked it when I had a couple of large glasses there a month or two back. Big rich malt body, chocolatey and roasty.

 

[Fourstar]

For a true tropical foreign stout i'd go fro ABC stout, i had it in singapore and it really fits the style well (if you can get it here).

Awesome.

 

[bradsbrew]

For a true tropical foreign stout i'd go fro ABC stout, i had it in singapore and it really fits the style well (if you can get it here).

Awesome.

View attachment 36277

Well it's good to know I am not the only person who pours a beer in the crapper. :lol:

 

[bum]

He may be the only one who keeps coasters in there though.