Brewed By: Left Hand Brewing Company
Style: Milk/Sweet Stout
ABV: 6%
IBU: 25
Left Hand brewery opened their doors in 1994 in Colorado and has been going pretty strong ever since. They have 15 awards from the Great American Beer Festival and 8 awards from the World Beer Cup, they clearly know what they are doing!
Originally named Indian Peaks Brewing Company, they changed their name because they found out that another brewery was using that name for a certain style of beer. They got the name Left Hand from an Indian chief that used to be in the area, Chief Niwot. “Niwot” is an Arapahoe word meaning “left hand.”
This milk stout has won several awards both domestically and internationally.
Lets see if I agree.
(on a side note, the brewers website has a different ABV then Beer Advocate. No clue which is correct)
Look – It was a very dark pour, almost black. There was a half finger width of whitish head that didn’t stick around for very long
Smell – It did have a decent aroma of chocolate and coffee. There was also strong mildly roasted malt making an appearance. I also smelled what might be a little caramel.
Taste – It was very disappointing to say the least. With all the awards that its won, I was hoping for something more. There was a cold coffee aftertaste but there was very little flavor otherwise. It had an extremely light body with no hop taste at all. A very watery brew
Conclusion – I was kind of disappointed because before I really drank much beer, I used to love this stout. I guess as my taste has matured, I have learned to differentiate between good beer and not so good beer. It really makes me wonder what you have to do to get an award at a beer festival. Perhaps you just have to show up and you get something? So its similar to the 4th grade track and field competition where everyone gets a ribbon, even if you come in 54th place out of 57 students. I guess I will find that out when I attend my first beer festival!
I give this beer a C-, its aroma being the saving grace.
I do like the Left Hand website and I am looking forward to trying the rest of the lineup. I am always looking for suggestions and comments on the blog or just on the beers themselves, so feel free to be an active part of this blog!
And as always……click follow!
Happy Drinking!
Hey Nathan... don't get too creeped out... I was referred to you by a "Greg" from Kalamazoo who knows Kyle. If we were in person I would show you the secret handshake. Anyhoo... you appear to like good beer. Greg and I drink lots of good beer... and we are looking for trading partners... we have almost unlimited access to Founders, Shorts, Bells, and Darkhorse. If we can ever arrange a trading session... let me know. Email me or look me up on FB or +
ReplyDeleteHey beer man, I would look you up on FB or + but you didn't leave your name! I wouldn't mind looking into trading sessions to see what you guys had that I would want. We get a lot of Founders, Bells, and Darkhorse down here but perhaps not all of it.
ReplyDeleteFeel free to look me up on facebook or send me a personal email at beersandmore@gmail.com