Flippy Stout: Bolivia's El Inca Dark Beer

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Bolivia's El Inca Dark Beer

Name: El Inca

Served at: Restaurant in downtown La Paz

Brewer: Cerveceria Boliviana Nacional

Type: (Style / mode of delivery) Schwarzbier

ABV: 3%

Label (5): 3

Look-Cs (color, clarity, carbonation, cap, and constancy) (20): 9

Snout (15): 9

Texture (20): 10

Flavor (30): 8

X-Factor (10): 8

Total: 47

If this beer were a protest, it would have gone awry

**************************

Nastay.

The shifty eyed reaction of the waiter when I ordered it should have been more heartily noted. Overly sweet aroma to match a syrupy sweet taste. No complexity. Not worth drinking, or reviewing extensively.

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The Rating System

The rating system is on a 100 point scale. You will notice that many of the beers I rate fall in the 60-70 point spectrum of the scale. It would be a mistake to compare these scores to "grades" in school-- I certainly would not give Guinness a D+.

I love drinking stout, and I designed my rating system so that in any one beer, if there was a particularly salient, brilliant feature (like the texture of the Sam Smith's Oatmeal Stout) it would be highlighted through the scoring system.

Please do not mistake the lower scores for pretension, or a dislike for any specific beer-- all beers rated were tasted at least 3 times, and always solely for pleasure.

The System:

Background information

Name: This should be fairly obvious

Type: The category this beer falls into, such as Imperial Stout, Coffee Stout, Milk Stout, Espresso Stout, Irish Stout, Oatmeal Stout, Porter (!), etc.

Delivery: Can, draft, or bottle. May include information on the bar or location where the stout was imbibed.

ABV: Alcohol by volume. Most American beers are in the 4%-6% range. Stouts (especially Imperial Stouts) tend to run a bit higher.

Rated categories

Label (5 points): How awesome is the label?

Look-Cs: Color, Clarity, Carbonation, and Cap Constancy (20 points): The appearance of the beer is rated. How does the head look? How long does it last? What is the color of the beer? Does the carbonation hold up throughout drinking the beer?

Snout (15 points): You've got the "nose" on wine, I do the "snout" on the stout.

Texture (20 points): Some people call this "mouthfeel." For this category, I am trying to focus more directly on texture, finish, and how the beer holds up over time.

Flavor (30 points): Closely intertwined with texture, but I will try to focus on any specific flavors (especially rare flavors, like carob or hot peppers, present in a beer)

X-Factor (10 points): Do you believe in love at first taste?

If this stout were a __________, it would be a _________.

For those tired with foodie-speak, I will try to lay it right out there. Your own fill-in-the-blank is always encouraged in the comments.