"stout" news and stories

• If you want to do a pig roast right, you want to go old school.
• Artisanal farmers might be feeling kind of popular with chefs these days.
• Have you been to the post-Marcus Samuelsson Aquavit yet?
• Chianti, I don't even know who you are anymore.
• Stout is the newest power ingredient to activate.

Lately, nature has made no sense. Back in March, East Coast temperatures crested 70 degrees. But now it's late May, and instead of bright sun a bone-chilling rain has sunk the mercury to 50 degrees. That's just cold enough to crack a stout. Lucky duck that I am, I have a darn good Iri in the fridge.

Is it Guinness? Though I do sip the occasional creamy Guinness, my tastes run to the rich, roasty bitter end of the Irish stout spectrum. For that, I turn my taste buds to Dublin, Ireland's Porterhouse Brewing Co., the country's largest independent beer maker. Friends Liam La Hart and Oliver Hughes founded Porterhouse in 1989 with a simple mission: "They wanted to brew extraordinary beers with complex flavors," says Matthias Neidhart, of B. United International, Porterhouse's American importer.

To that end, the Porterhouse crew crafted a smooth, slightly briny oyster stout; a generously hopped Irish red ale; and the Wrasslers XXXX. It's a circa-1900s stout re-created from a bygone Irish brewery's recipe. Back then, brewers weren't afraid to make their beers flavorful, and Wrasslers follows that tasty template to perfection.

While the urge to guzzle Guinness on St. Patrick's Day may be overpowering, there's no need to follow the herd -- or subject yourself to (gasp!) green beer. These 10 stouts are every bit the flavorful alternative. And yes, if you ask nicely, we'll even draw a shamrock in the beer's foam.

Bell's Kalamazoo Stout:
The marvelous Michigan stout pours coal-black, with an aroma of roasted malt and a licorice-like flavor blended with bittersweet chocolate.

Rogue's Shakespeare Stout:
Inky with a fat brown head, Shakespeare tastes like mocha coffee reimagined as beer.

Sierra Nevada Stout:
This affordable, widely available stout doesn't disappoint, providing a creamy body with roasted bitterness and a little hint of hops.

We love things that snuggle up and pair beautifully. Champagne and caviar. Eggs and bacon. Cheese and, well, everything. But a rich, creamy stout didn't naturally come to mind as a match to delicate briny oysters. Boy, were we mistaken.

"It's a less understood classic combination, and it's really fantastic," says renowned bar manager Jackson Cannon of Eastern Standard in Boston which will be serving the beer. In fact, the two go together so well, Boston-based Harpoon Brewery has teamed-up with local oyster grower, Skip Bennett, and is launching Island Creek Oyster Stout as part of their 100-Barrel Series in early February.

You heard that right -- brewer Katie Tame is slipping 180 oyster bodies into the kettle during the brewing process, which is expected to give the beer an enriched mouth feel, better head retention and a hint of minerality. It's not something Tame invented though. "Around the early 1700s, oysters and stouts were inexpensive and commonly paired together. By the early 20th century, they started putting oysters into the brewing process," she says.

Come January, we could care less about low-alcohol session beers or crisp pilsners. With the eyeball-numbing winds blustering outside, we crave a brawny brew to warm us just like a liquid radiator.

For this, we turn to the geographic heart of American brewing. Since 1991, St. Louis Brewing Company has appeased Midwestern microbrew lovers with its line of Schlafly brews, including a British-style pale ale, a righteously roasty oatmeal stout and bottle-conditioned Belgian brews. But caught in the icy clutches of winter, we only swoon for the Schlafly Reserve Imperial Stout, a concoction fit for icicles season.