Yesterday I had a Lion Stout while I was over at Ben's killing time before a movie (one that I didn't get to see: yes, Dark Knight tickets are still selling out).

That beer was much too sweet (+dry = cloying) for me, but it was complimentary and it's from Sri Lanka, so it gets a pass even though it's far short of awesome. Hurrah for decent Asian beers!

If you really want to talk disappointment, once I got home I poured myself a Rogue Chocolate Stout. The aftertaste is great and the beer only gets better as it warms up, but there's too much roastiness on the front end, something too too close to coffee for me.

The moral here, I think, is not that these are bad beers (the Chocolate Stout is apparently a Big Deal), but that I need to stick to my seasonal beer snobbery instead of drinking dark stuff in the middle of the summer. I had extremely high hopes for that Chocolate Stout, and it's clear now that it will never meet those hopes, but I can see having a glass of it at some cold winter happy hour, maybe.

Labels: American Stout, Ceylon / Lion Brewery, Chocolate Stout, Export Stout, Lion Stout, Rogue Ales Brewery