Yeti Imperial Stout

I ran across the Yeti Imperial Stout an hour or so after I had read about it on the Great Divide Brewing Co. website. A little bit of beer serendipity in action. I feel that I must always kneel to the beer gods and do as they wish so Yeti came home with me to the Bull E. Vard mansion. I wrote more on my liquor store trip on our MySpace blog here. I got home and looked up the beer again to see if they had any suggestions on the type of glass or what type of food should go with it. There was no glassware suggestion but there was food suggested for it. Most of the items included bleu cheese. I was pretty full from the Lenexa Chili Challenge where I filled my belly with various chilis, salsas and even a Kool-Aid pickle (which is NOT the same thing as a flesh torpedo), so I didn't want anything heavy to go with my beer. My plan was to make a snack, pour my beer and watch the Indians - Red Sox game. So looking at the ingredients on hand in the Bull E. Vard kitchens I came up with homemade potato chips with crumbled Gorgonzola and fresh chives from the herb garden. I fried up the potatoes, gave them a good salt and peppering, placed them in an ovenproof bowl and layered in some crumbled gorgonzola. I put the mixture in the oven just enough to melt the cheese a little, sprinkled on some chopped chives and mixed it all together making a nice little snack.

I found my Boulevard Stout pint glass and opened my Yeti (no homo). The pour was beautiful, a perfect dark brown color with a chocolate colored head about a finger wide. I knew I was going to enjoy this beer, the smell was a sweet chocolate coffee affair like a cafe mocha. The Indians game was already out of hand, luckily "Road House" was on Spike so I could get my daily dose of roundhouse kicks in. My Gorgotatoes (I must be credited when you make this) were pretty fabulous, the potato chips held on to most of their crunch with the melty cheese and the chives added a nice fresh flavor to the concoction. The Yeti was real heavy in the mouth with a wonderful chocolate fruity flavor. It started bitter then turned sweet, kind of like eating a dark chocolate bar. I can't say enough about how good this beer is. It has a really complex taste and does pair very well with bleu cheese.

I went back for the rest of the bottle just as my favorite Road House line came up, "I used to f*** guys like you in prison". The Sports Guy wrote about this line one time saying something like what is the appropriate comeback to that. I've always wondered that too, maybe combine some Fight Club and say "I used to f*** guys like you in 5th grade", it's the best I can come up with. Anyway, the second pour didn't work out as well as the head got real aggressive and overflowed the glass. I wiped up the glass and the mess on the counter and came back for the conclusion of the cinematic epic. My glass was all sticky from the remnants of the head (this is the dirtiest beer review of all time), but I was still able to enjoy the Yeti in my mouth.

I was really pleased with the food pairing, it really complemented the beer. I am going to have to pick up the Oak Aged Yeti next time I want to drop 8 bones on a pint and a half. But, the 5 bones on the Imperial Stout worked out well so I'm sure oak aged will be worth it too.