Stout

[NTRabbit]

Does anyone know a liquor store in Adelaide, or an online store with reasonable prices, that has a good selection of Stouts?

It's my brothers 21st birthday in 2 weeks and since he has become a big guinness drinker over the last year I thought I'd expand his horizons a little. Unfortunately Dan Murphy had a pretty sad selection - I grabbed Coopers BES, Cascade, Southwark, Grand Ridge Hatlifter, Guinness Extra, Sinha (8% from Sri Lanka), and though its not a stout Monteiths Hearty Black. Apart from regular guinness, that was it. No Beamish, no Dragon, no Mountain Goat Surefoot, no Castlemaine Carbine, no Sierra Nevada, not even the Coopers Special Old. Plus, if the website is anything to go by, Vintage Cellars range is even smaller, and the International Beer Shops available range is depressingly small, and for the most part quite costly.

Any help would be appreciated.

[SpillsMostOfIt]

This might be a stupid response. You've been warned.

Grain and Grape offer a humongous range of beers for research purposes, but they don't do it via mail-order. Is there a worthwhile brew shop in your part of the world that would do the same?

As I write this, I am thinking that stout is probably most popular with home brewers and Irishmen, so it might become a tricky exercise...

[Peter Bradshaw]

NTRabbit,

Have you tried these people.

http://www.beerstore.com.au/product.asp

I have no experience of dealing with them, but it is an interesting list.

Cheers, Pete

[astrogeek]

Just buy a slab of Coopers BES, it is by far one of the best stouts I have ever tasted and Dan Murphys usually has it. One stout you haven't got on your list that is usually easy to get is Abbotsford Invalid Stout. It's not the best, and not the worst, but it is a stout. One more that you must try, but it is hard to find, is Okocim Porter. It is a porter rather than a stout but it is very thick and heavy with a beautiful smoky taste. It's a must try for anyone who loves a good dark beer.

[velophile]

I'd say you have some good examples there.

My top Stouts would be these;

Cascade
Coopers BE
Mountain Goat Surefoot
Abbotsford Invalid Stout

I wasn't that impressed with the Grand Ridge Hatlifter & haven't yet found Castlemaine Carbine or Southwark.

My mini-mash + Coopers kit stout stood up well against the Cascade in a recent taste test. The Cascade was smoother & remains a favourate.

[NTRabbit]

No, there is no brewstore here that actually sells beer (excepting Grumpy's, but they only sell their own on tap)

I've never heard of Abbotsford Invalid Stout, and it wasn't in Dan Murphy's. I could have just gotten him a slab of Coopers BES to go with the slab of Guinness he got a month ago, but I wanted to get a whole bunch of different ones so he could possibly find another he liked.

Southwark beers are comparatively easy to find here in SA, being brewed here at West End, and the Southwark Old Stout is one of the few good beers to come from the Thebarton plant.

I'm going to visit my nearest Vintage Cellars in person on the weekend just to check, before trying any webstores, but between the International Beer Shop and The Beer Store it looks like I have enough of a fallback position.

[NTRabbit]

Vintage Cellars only had Guinness, Coopers BES and Southwark.

Crocc referencing the IBS and beerstore lists, beerstore only has one stout that IBS doesn't, Redoak Belgian Chocolate. Unfortuntely most of the Stouts beerstore sells are only available in slabs or 12x longnecks, and not in single bottles, including the Abbotsford. Disappointing, because they're $1 cheaper per bottle than IBS and much cheaper on postage for obvious reasons.