Ok, you're not going to find Sheaf on the Beer Advocate Top 100. But if you're scraping the ashtray and just got to have a dark and nasty stout, this is your cheap corner fix. Aboriginal dark and mischievous like the outback horizon, Sheaf has a sharp, burnt taste with just a little chocolate sweetness to cut the bite. It is light on the mouth for a stout - the 5.8% ABV doesn't have the luxurious texture that some of its imperial cousins feature - but the positive there is that it is eminently drinkable in larger quantities and its cheap pricing (I really dig the twist-off caps!) make buying an armful a distinct option. You can only imagine that if the alcohol level were any higher, there would be heaps of 'blokes' beating the cr*p out of each other up and down the land of Oz.
What Sheaf really says though is rock-climbing. Drinking Sheaf just goes well after a day of jangled nerves and quivering forearms. And as a matter of fact, Sheaf is somewhat iconic in the climbing world due to an infamous photo of John "The Vermin"Sherman taking a big slug from a bomber of Sheaf while climbing high off the ground ropeless in flip-flops.
Some genius in a sh*t-hole convenience store in the Mojave Desert knew about the picture, and he started selling Sheaf to dirtbag Joshua Tree climbers and I ended up with an exuberant and devoted taste for dark and nasty beers. Sheaf Stout - along with Guinness and Henry Weinhardts Blue - were my introduction to stouts back in the '80s.
And now Sheaf Stout has miraculously reappeared here on shelves at sketchy liquor stores around the Bay Area. Ideal pairings include those sick little Vietnamese donuts or a Snickers bar, after an afternoon bouldering session at Indian Rock of course to offset caloric intake.These are wonderful times indeed for beer lovers!
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