Sam Adams contest pack - Blackened Hops and Great Lakes Brewing Company - Edmund Fitzgerald porter.

Tried the Great Lakes Brewing Company's 'Edmund Fitzgerald porter' at a friend's house tonight, and I have to say that it was one of the best chocolate stouts I've tried in a while. Except that it was a porter. It had that nice, deep, roasted malt scent to it, with a flavor of dark roasted malt and chocolate. It was somewhat plain, but damn good. I like a good porter, and this is one. I like a good chocolate stout, and except for the stout part, this is one of those too.

The main reason why I chose that one was because, as I mentioned, I was at a friend's house. I knew I'd have to drive home six hours later or so, so I chose the one that had the lowest alcohol content out of the collection he had there. At 5.8% alcohol, it's not particularly strong. But that's good, because it was tasty enough that I would normally want to have a couple of them.

Several hours later as I'm sitting her typing this, I'm at home and have just cracked open the third variety from the Sam Adams contest pack, Blackened Hops by Rodney Kibzey of Illinois. (although the picture of him on the front of the bottle made me wonder when my old roommate changed his name, moved to Illinois and started brewing beer) The scent is about what I expected from the description. Strong, dark beer with a load of hops. There seems to be a bit less of a variety to the hops than most of the 'extra hoppy' type drinks I've had lately.

The first sip is initially bitter, although it goes away quickly. The flavor isn't particularly complex, but it's good. By the third or fourth sip, I wasn't noticing the bitterness at all, except in the hoppy aftertaste.

I don't think this is the best of the three in the pack, but it certainly helps round out the variety well. One crisp, abbey ale with extra hops, one dark ale with extra hops, and one light ale with a hint of honey and lavender to add flavor instead of extra hops. I do almost wonder what's going to happen with micro and homebrew when the hops singularity is reached. Will there be a beer that will drain the rest of the world of hops, and we'll be forced to drink beer made only of grain and malt? Only time will tell.