For this #beersaturday post I'm going to do something a little different. I recently tried two different but very similar beers, so I thought that I would directly compare them to each other in this review. As a note, I've decided to weight the marketing and color of the beers out of 5, the smell and taste out of 7 and the texture of the beer out of 6 to come up with and overall "satisfaction and drinkability" rating out of 30. I've weighted things differently because some things are more important than others when drinking a beer in my opinion. For instance, taste and smell are very important in a beer, but marketing doesn't really matter too much at all, especially if you buy a beer on tap at the bar. I also wanted the rating to be a round number so texture got knocked down to 6 for that reason.
So anyway lets get to it already. Since I'm comparing two similar beers Im going to call this post the.... (que the loud bellowy voice effect)
Battle of the Beers
That last part was my "echo effect...
Okay so let's get to my comparison review, starting with...(que the effects again)
Winter Beard: Double Chocolate Cranberry Stout
Okay I wont do that again, I promise.
Brewery: Muskoka Brewery
Origin: Bracebridge ON Canada
Style: Brown Ale???
Abv: 8.0%
Marketing: Black can with maroon/magenta highlights. Cartoon man and bubble lettering. Cheery and fun imagery and design, clever name, cheery and festive vibe. I quite like this can. 4/5
Color: The beer poured a dark chestnut brown, almost black but not quite. The head was a tan color and dissipated pretty quickly. 3/5
Nose: Very sweet aroma, almost sugary - like candied fruit. Nothing complex or distinct about it to me and it was missing chocolate and roasted notes that should be prevalent given the name of the beer. 3/7
Taste: Mildly sweet. Not much bitterness. Strangley, I couldn't really taste anything with this beer at all, other than a distinct alcohol taste. I generally find that residual alcohol taste to be unpleasant in a beer. As the beer warmed I noticed a slight cranberry like taste and maybe some very mild candied fruit. I really had to dig to find any flavor in the beer other than alcohol. 2/7
Interestingly, when I gave it to my wife to try without saying what the beer was called she said that she could taste a little chocolate in it. She said it was very light and a little fake tasting though.
Texture: Not overly carbonated with a weightiness on the tongue. Very pleasant mouthfeel. 4/6
Impression: I've seen this beer many times over the years and have never bothered to try it. Now that I have I'd say that it was a mostly disappointing beer all around. With a name like "Double chocolate cranberry" I would expect this beer to have a lot of flavor or at least a little bit of flavor, but it really had none at all other than residual alcohol taste from the high ABV. At a minimum this thing should be packed with chocolate and cocoa flavors, but I didn't get any of that at all. I would not call this a Stout either since it didn't have any of the roasted notes that one would expect when drinking a Stout beer. I'd say that this is a brown Ale so thats what I've labeled it above. This seems like one of those beers that is all about the marketing rather than the beer itself. "Style over substance," as they say. The name is very misleading in my opinion.
Overall rating: 16/30, or a 53.3% satisfaction rating.
On to the next beer!
Imperial Stout
Brewery: Wellington Brewery
Origin: Guelph ON Canada
Style: Imperial Stout
Abv: 8.0%
IBU: 40
SRM: 53
Marketing: Generic beer name. Red coppery colored can. Subtle bronze and silver beer awards shown. Simple mascot brand logo imagery. This beers brand is a Wellington rubber boot which i think is cool. Simple but effective can. I like it. 4/5
Color: Poured jet black with a milk chocolate colored head of loosely packed bubbles. The head lasted a little but eventually dissipated entirely. 4/5
Nose: Roasted notes commonly experienced among stout beers, light smoke, dark fruit aroma, and some grape must coming through in the background. Quite complex and very pleasing overall. 5/7
Taste: I found this to have a very complex flavor. It started out with a very mild sweetness but was mostly quite bitter up front. Dark chocolate flavors came through, dark fruit - prunes and grape must, maybe some molasses, and very subtle licorice in the background. It had a long lasting bitter finish. I didn't notice any residual alcohol taste despite its hefty 8.0% ABV. Overall it tasted very true to the imperial Stout style. 6.5/7
Texture: Light carbonation, pleasant smooth velvety texture, heavy mouthfeel, full bodied. 4.5/6
Impression: This beer comes from a small micro brewery in a city that I used to live in. I've been to the site that it's produced at and taken a tour of the facility. I've played pool and other games in their serving room. I've always liked the brewery and the beers that it produces and this one is no exception. It had a lot of typical flavors commonly found in an Imperial Stouts and is definitely a good representation of the label. It had a high alcohol content but I didn't even notice it in taste, which is a major plus in a beer in my opinion. All around I found this to be a very excellent beer.
Overall rating: 24/30 or an 80% drinkability rating!
Conclusion
The Wellington Imperial Stout was by far the winner in this battle challenge. It wasn't even a contest really. The only thing going for the Winterbeard is its marketing in my opinion, but it really didn't deliver in taste or aroma for me, which are the most important things in any beer, really. I would only buy one of these beers again and I think you know which. This battle definitely goes to
The Wellington!
Beeebeeee beeeee beeerrreeeuuuue
That's my air horn impression
i love stout nice post
Looking at those 2 new beers from familiar breweries, I would have immediately liked Wellington better too. Cranberries are the devils turds and should be kept away from any beer I am expected to drink!
I do love Muskoka and Wellington as a couple of the beers that rescued me from drinking the standard molson and labbatt beers. They were craft beer before that was even a term and we called them microbrews! !BEER
Haha that's funny. You really don't like cranberries.
I'm not hugely familiar with Muskoka Brewery but I do have another of their beers in the fridge so I'll see how it goes for round two with them. Wellington is a pretty decent Brewery overall.
I had high hopes for the beard!! It looked to be a winner and then meh. I always get pissed off with the ones that have anything fake or artificial flavoured about them. Or if they have no flavour!
Now I will be wandering the house today saying Stout ouut ouut ouut in a ghostly voice :OD
Yeah it's so true. A lot of time the beers with extracts in them are pretty gross.
Nice. I'm glad you got what I was going for. I was afraid that no one was going to get it lol
Great! I like the marketing of the Winter Beardmore, the Wellington stout is just too boring. But after all it is the taste that matters more!
Cheers!
Yeah the Winterbeard did have a fun can. I actually quite liked the Wellington can though as well. It wasn't as "over the top," but still very effective.
What's inside is the most important thing though, like you said, and Winterbeard lost in that regard, hands down.
What an epic battle :)) However, when it comes to canned or bottled beers, their taste also depend on the way they were transported and stored. Sadly, sometimes the way from the brewery to your glass is not as smooth as it should be. That's why I prefer sampling beers at the very source - in the brewery ;)
Yeah that's very true. The brewery itself is always the best place to drink beer. So fresh tasting!
Comparing beer will be hard for a person like me because my love for one particular brand will make my verdict bias. You really did well
Cheers
Yeah that's understandable. I tried to be as objective as possible but I'm sure there were some biases coming through nonetheless. The Wellington was better by far though for me, that much is certain. Even if the point structure was a little off, I still know that I never have to buy the Winterbeard again lol.
I do love a stout but generally stay away from fruit and chocolate ones, I have to say that beer wise, I was so surprised how nice some of the beers are in Canada, it's been 20 years since I was last there, one beer I remember was Rickards Red, there was some others too that sadly I can't remember the name of, but I did rather like.
The beer scene in Canada has changed a lot over the past 20 years or so. There used to only be a few premium domestic beers that were essentially mass produced factory beers. Then there was an explosion of micro breweries that popped up over a short period of time. So now we have a lot of different beers being made in much smaller batches and generally at a much better quality.
I haven't had a Richard's red in quite a while, probably over 10 years now that i think of it, but that used to be my beer of choice for a while.
What a contest!! To be honest all of them seem to be very very tasty!!
Yes, but some beers are even more tasty than others! Haha
Thanks for the support 😁
i love the black beer with chocolate flavor :D
Those are my jam 😋
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But I’m sure that the fact that they are similar does not mean that you won’t prefer one to one right?
Which one do you like most?
If you read the post you will find out 😉
I am so sure that both of them will actually taste so nice
Yeah? How sure are you would you say?