My search: a dark malty slightly sweet rather than intense & bitter

Well, if you find Guinness "intensely bitter" then you probably don't like Irish Dry Stouts, so no use even bothering with Murphy's or Beamish. UNLESS, you're drinking Guinness Extra Stout rather than the Draught Guinness (in bottles and cans with a "widget"). Most people here are just going to shake their head if you find the Draught Guinness "intense" or "bitter". There are several different styles of stouts: Imperial Stout Sweet Stout Irish Dry Stout

Seems like your best bet is a sweet stout- unfortunately, in the US they're rare. The classic is the UK's Mackeson's but that only available in the US as a contract brew out of Cincinati. Most US takes on the style tend to be higher in alcohol and priced similar to the Chocolate stouts you find too expensive.

If you just want to look like you're drinking something dark, find a UK Mild. Again, expensive and the versions we get from the UK (Gales and Sarah Hughes) are on the high alcohol end of the style.

I guess Dos Equis is my favorite,

Your favorite what? It's not a stout and is on the light side of "dark beers" in general.

I've heard of Chocolate Stouts ???

Named after the use "Chocolate Malt" in the brew (sometimes), a malt that's been roasted to the color of chocolate. Others (Youngs, some US micros) do use actual chocolate to the brew. They tend to the malty side (rather than bitter) but, again, you might find them equally "intense".

Too expensive? C'mon, all the money you guys put out for authentic costuming and gasoline, you can't buy a 4 pack of Young's? Surely, it won't go to waste if you don't like it, there must be some Rebels on the other side of the line that'd trade you a six of Coors Light for it...

Dude, you don't like dark beers if Dos Equis is better than the porters you've tried. If you just want to LOOK like you're drinking stout then add some food coloring or switch to Coca-Cola...

This wise ass remark of mine got me thinking about home brewing in the early 70's (pre-legally), when their was one book in the US available on the subject (usually referred to by the author, Beadle, IIFC) but a handful of British imported paperback manuals, which contained all sorts of strange additions (which, since many in the US were trying for "real beer without chemicals and preservatives", seems backwards to us)- salts, sugars, acids (many of which were supposedly available at my local "chemist"*). The one additive I thought of after I wrote the above was "Gravy Browning" to darken stouts .

• So, once I was going to brew a sweet stout which called for lactose. I went down to my local drug store, looked around on various shelves and finally just asked a clerk. She asked the druggist, who came out, suspicious, asking me all sorts of questions, etc. (Now, remember, brewing was technically still illegal in the US.) Couldn't understand HIS interest in me until he let on that lactose was used by drug dealers to cut drugs...ok....

Guinness is an acquired taste to a lot of American tastebuds Carl especially if you are drinking Extra Stout. The draught cans and bottles are a lot milder but can still take some getting used to. You might try Murphy's and Beamish if you haven't already but they are dry Irish Stouts as mentioned. You might try Sam Adams' Cream Stout. I haven't had it since the early 90s but as I recall it was sweeter than I normally like and the hops were a dead put off. Still you might like it and it is more affordably priced.

If you are determined to drink stout than my suggestion would be to make a half and half using Guinness and a dry hard cider like Woodchuck's Dark and Dry. Otherwise enjoy your Dos Equis and complain about the sutler watering down his beer.

Walt

Please turn off the HTML formatting. It doesn't belong on Usenet.

Help out, yes. E-mail, no. Post on Usenet, get answer on Usenet. It is the Tao of Usenet.

In typical WebTV-user fashion, you give no indication of where you are, or what's available in your area, so I'll just assume you can get anything you want. If you can get your hands on some Deschutes Black Butter Porter, do so. If you can sample some Koestritzer Schwarzbier from Germany, do so. And what is this "too expensive to take a chance on" thing? Unless you live somewhere like Pennsylvania, where you have to buy cases of any beer you want to try (with certain exceptions), you shouldn't have a problem finding a single can or bottle of the stuff. I'd guess you'd have no problem with the canned Young's Chocolate Stout; it's mild, a bit sweet, and the chocolate flavor isn't overwhelming. Whether it is appropriate for an "Irish Brigade reenactor" to fake it with a British beer is a matter for you and your conscience.

You might want to try Old Australian Stout, Sheaf Stout, or Dragon Stout. They're not Irish really, but maybe more up your alley. And if you're serious about the sweet part, definitely try Dragon.

Didn't we go through this exact same question with you a couple months ago? (Googling....) Why, yes, we did. You may want to go back and take a look at the thread again to refresh your memory:

If I remember right, you found Dos Equis through those recommendations. You might want to go back and try out a few of the others. And you may want to skip the stouts altogether. There's a lot more to dark beer than stouts, and if you find Guinness too bitter (I'm guessing it's actually too roasty, as it's a common reaction to perceive that as bitterness), I'm guessing other stouts won't go over well. But rich, malty beers like bocks and dunkels could very well do the trick.

-Steve

True, that. A *real* "Irish Brigade reenactor" would brew his own using historical recipes.

A *REAL* "Irish Brigade reenactor" would drink ether.

I live in Pennsylvania can buy beer in much smaller quantities all the time. Just last night I was able to buy a great quantity of the stuff one pint at a time. :-)

Jon