So where are you going Friday to celebrate International Stout Day?
A good place to start might be Fate Brewing, where brewer Steve McFate will reintroduce his acclaimed Candy Bar Milk Stout. The specialty ale won a silver medal at last month’s prestigious Great American Beer Festival, and I’ve been waiting ever since for it to be back on tap.
At Arizona Wilderness Brewing, they’ll debut the second batch of their Superstition Coffee Stout, one of the best coffee stouts I’ve ever tasted. It’ll be tapped at 11 a.m. along with an aged keg of Signal Mountain Stout. At 4 p.m., Whiskey Barrel Aged Superstition Coffee Stout on Nitro will be tapped.
Hungry Monk will be pouring Ska Steel Toe Stout, a traditional English cream stout brewed with milk sugar, along with Great Divide Yeti, an imperial stout that has earned a perfect 100 rating on RateBeer.com. (Side note: They’ll also be tapping one of only two kegs of Bell’s Raspberry Wild Ale sent to Arizona.)
At Taste of Tops, Tart of Darkness, a rare sour stout from The Bruery, will be one of five stouts on tap, joined by 2012 Deschutes Abyss, Firestone Walker Parabola, Stone W00tstout, and Epic Big Bad Baptist.
Boulders on Broadway will begin rolling out the first of 10 stouts at 4 p.m., climaxing with 2009 The Czar from Avery at 6:30. Other notable tappings will include Nectar Black Xantus (5), Four Peaks Sirius Black (5:30), and 2011 Port Older Viscosity (6).
Whole Foods Chandler will go all-out with an impressive 21 stouts on tap, including Bell’s Special Double Cream Stout and 2012 Green Flash Double Stout (both 99 on RateBeer.com) and 2012 Dogfish Head Chicory Stout.
Enjoy! And please drink responsibly.
