As we get ready to move into the best time of the year…Stout Season….I thought it was time to take an inventory of what is in the Stout Fridge and what is waiting to get into the Stout Fridge. Taking inventory does a couple things – it is a good reminder of what is lurking in the back of the shelves and it also give you an opportunity to rotate your Stout Stock by moving some bottles/cans to the front of the line. I’ve been guilty of sampling the most recent purchases when I could be enjoying some aged Stouts!
I found a few choice Stouts that I’ve moved to the front of the tasting line….and I’ve also realized that I need to enjoy some of the Stouts that I’ve been saving…Parabola, Abyss, even a Bourbon County Rare! Now that I’ve updated my inventory list of what I have, I can plan my tastings and I can get back into the trading mode….
Have you taken inventory lately?
In other topics…this week was Raleigh Beer Week and aside from specials at all of the Raleigh based Breweries, most of the bottleshops are having specials – many are tappings of rare Stouts that don’t usually make it to Raleigh!! I was fortunate to visit the Busy Bee Cafe in downtown Raleigh and was able to sample some of Terrapin Brewing’s finest – 2013 Wake-n-Bake as well as comparing Single Origin Stouts Sumatra and Guatemala. Love the Wake-n-Bake! There were a lot of enticing stout events this past week, kudos to the organizers and all of the participants of Raleigh Beer Week 2016!
Additionally, I received my monthly Premium Brewpublik delivery recently…..an amazing mix of local, national, and international Stouts!! 
Tasty Stouts from Twin Leaf Brewing in Asheville, NC, Double Negative from Grimm Artisan Ales (NY), 2016 WOOTStout, and a 3-fer of great 
Stouts from DeMolen Brouwerij in the Netherlands. The neat part of the DeMolen Stouts are that they are all dated from 2014…some great aging! I already have enjoyed Cease and Desist this past week and really like everything I’ve had from DeMolen! I also was pleasantly surprised at the MDXXI Mexican Chocolate Stout from Twin Leaf, a brewery out of Asheville, NC. Very tasty and something I will seek out again! Many thanks to my friends at Brewpublik – you too can get incredible beer of your choice delivered to your doorstep. Give them a shout and let them know the Stoutwhisperer sent you!!
Stoutwhisperer 