Great Beers on College Hill

This past Tuesday was an intense day of studying for me. I spent 8 hours studying for my advertising class and decided I earned the right to go out and blow off a little steam. Usually I don't enjoy going out the bars on College Hill in Cedar Falls because of the college masses. Sitting in a cramped little bar surrounded by loud drunk college kids is not my idea of a fun night. But being a Tuesday evening all the college kids were absent from the bars allowing me to actually enjoy my beer and conversation with a friend.

Woodchuck Chocolate Raspberry 

My friend and I met up first up at The Other Place on the hill. When devoid of drunk rude college kids The Other Place is a rather pleasant place. They have good food and a cozy semi-rustic look with wooden booths. I only ordered one drink here and decided to try something new. The O.P. had just received a new case Woodchuck Chocolate Raspberry which I settled on as my drink of choice. 

The Chocolate Raspberry was a great choice. It had a full apple flavor to start with and ended with a sweet dark raspberry note. I have to note the chocolate flavor was lacking. In fact I don't think I could distinguish any chocolate flavor at all. Though despite the disappointing lack of chocolate, the sweet apple and dark raspberry flavor made a wicked combination for a delicious treat.

John, the manager of The O.P., talked to me about this new cider they just got and mentioned they were selling like hotcakes, so if this is a drink you'd like to try hurry into The O.P. while supplies last. I would rate this hard cider much higher than Woodchuck's pumpkin cider. (Honestly that pumpkin cider was a disgrace and never should have been made. Or Woodchuck brewers should have tried their own cider before bottling and selling it.) But the Chocolate Raspberry I give a solid 3.2 rating, which would have been higher if the chocolate flavor was more prevalent (or present to begin with.)  

Deschutes' Chasin' Freshies 

After The O.P. we walked down the hill to the Social House. I've only been into the Social House once before for a couple minutes. It's a classy little place. If the prices weren't so high and college kids didn't flood the place every weekend, I would find this bar to be right up my alley as far as style and theme goes. The second beer of my night was Deschutes' Chasin Freshies. I believe the Chasin Freshies was a saison and one of the most wonderful beers I've had the pleasure of consuming. Sitting pretty at 7.4% ABV this particular saison is packed with intense citrus flavors that smack you upside the head. I cannot stress how good this beer was. It starts with sweet citrus aroma then a tiny bit of hops for a mild hoppy pine flavor and a flood of fantastic pineapple flavor. Totally giving this beer a strong 4.6 rating. Go out to the Social House on College Hill and try this one for yourself and I'm sure you will agree to it's quality. 

6 Stouts That Won't Break the Bank

HyVee Wine and Spirits has a generally good collection of beers to choose from. I went through their beer cooler and created my own six-pack combination for $10. I chose six stouts from six different brewing companies and compared them all. Some were excellent, others merely decent. But for just $10 I thought they were all worth it. I drank all six stouts over the course of about a week. I was hoping to do this all in one weekend, but my work and school work had other plans for me.

The six stouts I chose were

1. The 8 Ball Stout: Lost Coast Brewery
2. Sierra Nevada Stout: Sierra Nevada
3. Uncommon Stout: Bent River Brewing
4. Kalamazoo Stout: Bells Brewery 
5. Dreamer Oatmeal Stout: Breckenridge Brewery
6. Moo Joo: Brau Brothers Brewery 

The 8 Ball Stout
The 8 Ball stout poured a deep brown in color and sat in the glass nearly black, similar to most stouts. A small head covered the top but dissipated in a moment of ten seconds. The aroma was thick with a robust chocolate note. On the front of the palate the flavor was light and marginally sweet and ended with a full chocolate flavor on the back of the palate leaving a mild roasted bitterness after flavor. The consistency was rather thin. This stout was good, but definitely not the best of the six.
ABV 5.8%
Rating 3.0





Sierra Nevada Stout
Rich nut brown in color, this stout poured also with a thin head. The head parted across the class as if Moses himself had parted it with his staff. The flavor moved moved across the palate smooth at first but became sharp, earthy, and bitter at the back of the palate. The aroma had a roasted earthy sent but not chocolaty. The Sierra Nevada was my least favorite stout and had a thin consistency to it.
ABV 5.8%
Rating 2.8




Uncommon Stout
This stout reminded me of a stout dwarves would raise their glasses to. The Uncommon Stout is an oatmeal stout and had an aroma of roasted coffee. The head poured a little larger than the last two stouts and lasted longer, about twenty seconds. Sitting serenely in the tulip glass, it reminded me of a cup of dark Colombian roast coffee. The consistency was smooth and creamy with notes of roasted oats and coffee and left a definitive coffee flavor on the back of the palate. With every sip an rich roasted earthy and coffee aroma wafted up to the nose. A great stout that I would enjoy buying again.
ABV 6.5
Rating 3.4




Kalamazoo Stout
The Kalamazoo poured a dark chestnut brown and looked like black glass reflecting back at you. It poured with small head that disappeared as quickly as it formed. It had a complex aroma full of roasted oats and dark chocolate notes. Thinner in consistency than the Uncommon Stout, but creamier and fuller than the first two. Sharp dark flavors rolled over the tongue with earthy notes on the back of the palate and a slight licorice note than transcended above the other flavors for a full bodied complex taste. Very enjoyable with lots happening in the mix of flavors.
ABV 6.0%
Rating 3.3




Dreamer Oatmeal Stout
This particular stout poured with almost no head at all and sat in the glass with a blackness as dark as a black bear's fur. The aroma was dark and earthy yet subtle compared to the others. My favorite of the six I tried, the Dreamer Oatmeal Stout was creamy and smooth in flavor and light on the palate with no bitter after flavor. Easy to drink and pleasing ion the tongue this was a stout I could easily have more than one.
ABV 4.9%
Rating 3.5





Moo Joo

Moo Joo is an oatmeal milk stout that poured without a head. When undisturbed in the glass Moo Joo had an appearance of polished obsidian. It had a smooth full bodied flavor with a silken consistency. Complicated notes of sweet, chocolate, and roasted coffee with a mild bitter bite. This stout will raise spirits and seems like a good beer to drink while contemplating deeply. Drinking Moo Joo makes me think of a black bearded huntsman easing himself into his handcrafted wooden chair in front of a roaring fire in a log cabin enjoying this stout.
ABV 5.8%
Rating 3.4

My three favorites were the Dreamer Oatmeal Stout, Moo Joo and Uncommon Stout. I noticed my favorites all had a creamy smooth finish which I find to be a trait necessary in a good stout. I also scaled the ratings a little because I know there are more fantastic stouts out there and I didn't want to discredit them by inflating the ratings of these 6, but for their cost these were quite enjoyable.  If you get the chance, go out and try these stouts and share what you think in the comments below.