Reason I asked is this, have you tried anything from Buffalo Bayou Brewing? If you get a chance, you might want to head down to their brewery on a Saturday morning. They have a gingerbread stout this time of year that is fantastic on tap.

You can also get a bottle of it at Spec's right now. Not as good as on tap, but it's still pretty dang good. I don't care a whole lot for stouts, but that and pumpkinator are two great stouts from Texas.

I just roll with it. I have lived in Western Washington and rural southeast Virginia which both have hard to pronounce names. Washington was Indian origin and Virginia was part Indian and part 17th century Scottish/British.

Nothing from Buffalo Bayou yet. I saw that my local HEB had Smoke on the Bayou and I am a fan of porters in general. I liked Stone's Smoked Porter and I am not a big fan of Stone's output in general.

Smoke on the Bayou was the first Buffalo Bayou beer I had, and I enjoyed it. I believe it's a Wee Heavy alle, though. Their More Cowbell and Meer Koebel are good for Texas IPA's if you like IPA's. And the Saigon Sunset is a highly rated Porter, but I haven't had it. Anyways, I just saw you mention stouts earlier, and your post hinted to me that you were in the Houston area, so I thought I'd tell you about that gingerbread stout in case it was up your alley.

I tend to prefer darker malty beers. I do like Hefes, Kolschs, and blonde ales though. I tend to not like the hoppy bitterness.

Royal Standard was good. I have had it before. It is a nice wee heavy ale with a bit of floral in the back. It is 10% ABV but you won't taste it.

Santo is a dark beer that is easy drinking. Not much taste up front but a slight bitterness. The back has the malty flavor one expects from a darker beer. A dark session beer to go with spicy food.

Karbach Oktoberfest was a disappointment. Just tasted like a regular mass produced lager. It didn't have the maltiness and body you would expect from a German marzen or the sweetness of an Austrian.

Don't forget about Sucaba - incredible beer. And Stickee Monkey. And Helldorado. And Velvet Merkin. And Double DBA.

FW's barrel aged program is amazing. Wish I could get it here.

Velvet Merkin LMAO

What a great ****ing name for a beer.

Finally got to cross Speedway Stout off the list with Alesmith's Chicago distro.

Probably should have saved it for the 5" of snow they're calling for tomorrow though.

What the **** is so special about Sam Adams Utopias that it warrants a $200 a bottle price tag?

A number of FW kegs tapped in Chicago. Got a 6oz pour of XIX Anniversary.

Some Bourbon County kegs being tapped as well in anticipation of black Friday. Had a 6 oz of BC vanilla rye last night.

No Double Jack at either Randall's location last night, but did find it at Lukas, along with a few bottles of BBQ.

If you like Port, it's pretty good... not $200 good, but still. I split the price of a bottle after seeing it in Omaha of all places, and I think we got five 3-4oz pours out of it each. I thought it was clearly better than some of the $30-50/10-20yr Port I've purchased since, granted there's also a lot more to drink.

Not sure I'll even try this year... stores sell the single bottles of the four packs with a limit of one per customer. It was a big deal to me a few years ago, but there's too much good beer these days to drive all around town to pay $20 for a couple of 12oz bottles.

That said, if you have any extras.... :D

They moved to 16.9 oz bottles this year to get more $$$ per oz. I'm not waiting in line for it, not because I'm too cool, but there's some outstanding stouts readily available here. I didn't realize people camp out the night before at the Lincoln Park Binny's. I do have an insider spot near me that apparently gets overlooked that I'll check out on Black Friday, but I'm not making a huge effort. I'll mostly be looking for a Rare which has been aged for 2 years in 35-year-old Heaven Hill whiskey barrels or the Proprietor's.

I can survive off the 3 Floyd's Wig Splitter coffee stouts I've accumulated.