With the exception of one, all of the beers making this week's list reflect the turn in the weather and daylight, taking us down the path of darkness. The majority were dragged up from various cellars and enjoyed at fall's celebration of darkness that was filled with beer lovers.
Book ending our rundown are the non-Halloween beers and we'll start off with the lone light beer, Bend Peach Offering, before descending into darkness. The 100lbs of Oregon peaches made themselves known in both the great peach aroma and flavor with the whole chamomile flowers contributing soft fruit flavors and delicate floral notes and Lactobacillus providing that lovely, bright tartness that we so enjoy. A mere 4.5% its light and refreshing qualities would make it a great start to any holiday gathering.
And now for the adult goodies shared at that Halloween party...
Surly Darkness 2014 - The only recent year vintage that we don't have in our beer cellar, we counted ourselves lucky to have been around when a bottle of this delicious chocolate-licorice goodness was cracked open. The other vintages we've had lately also seem to be doing well, making it tempting to break into all of them however they also show that they are holding up well as they age. Oh, the conundrum.
Block 15 2011 Imagine Barrel Aged (bourbon) - The only Imagine we've tried, save for the delicious Cherry Imagine two years ago, the 15% barrel-aged Belgian imperial stout started with a fruity-molasses aroma. The flavor feels perfect for the holiday season, a beer we can imagine sipping as we relax in the warmth and comfort of friends and family.
Kane Sunday Brunch - A beer we first became acquainted with last year at GABF, it was a treat to enjoy it again. The imperial milk porter with coffee, cinnamon and maple syrup drank like Mexican hot chocolate without being overly sweet. The only two times we've had beer from this New Jersey brewery we hope to find ourselves in the company of others in the future that have obtained some of their Belgian-influenced ales.
The Commons Brotherly Love - The party's host shared this beer that felt particularly special in light of their impending closure. The craftsmanship of this 10% barrel-aged Belgian dark strong ale matured with tart cherries and roasted cocoa nibs was both clear and bittersweet. While we savored it, just as we will savor the remaining days of The Commons, we also jealously wanted to steal away to down the whole bottle.
Finishing off the list with the other non-Halloween-enjoyed beer is Cascade Tidal Bore. Ordered a bit by accident due to a too quick perusal of the menu upon arriving tardy to a gathering, this was a very happy accident. The imperial stout started off with an amazing aroma and drank incredibly smooth for 10+%, yet there was enough booze presence to remind us to slow down, savor and share.
As we enter the often hectic holiday season we are going to try to slow down and savor many things, perhaps with a glass of something delicious in our hands, and hope you'll be able to do the same.
Some beer mail arrived this week from folks at Guinness, who sort of own this month if a survey of tap handles is any indication. But what arrived was not the stout many will be drinking next week, instead two versions of porter. Of all the beer styles available this is one I'm particularly tough and possibly not the best judge on as I have a hard time with the versions that simply come across as watered down stouts. It's also not a style I drink as much anymore although in my early days of becoming a craft beer drinker stouts and porters were my go-to styles.
With all of those caveats, it's probably best to refer to the information from the company about each. According to Guinness these beers are part of The Brewers Project that brews on a test brewery at St. James's Gate and are based on recipes from their brewers' notes from the late 18th and early 19th century. Dublin Porter is an English Brown Porter, weighing in at a mere 3.8% ABV and described as being "brewed with rich Irish barley malts and Goldings hops to deliver sweet, rich maltiness and light, earthy hop character." The West Indies Porter comes in at a more standard 6% ABV and "is a full-bodied, richly flavored beer with notes of toffee, chocolate, and caramel."
Both beers are available nationally but not at your local bottle shop. If you'd like to try them you'll have to hit up Costco, Sam's Club, Total Wine or BJ's. None of those are regular stops for me so I appreciated the opportunity to try these beers out. And if you'd like to see what I thought, check out my favorite external memory device, Untappd, for my thoughts on both the West Indies and Dublin porters.
Cheers to the weekend and whatever delicious beer is in your glass!
We rang in the New Year quietly, as is our usual fashion, never having been into dressing up and whooping it up with the amateur hour crowd. Heck we didn't even see the clock roll over to 12:01 am. Instead my first waking hours of the New Year were refreshed ones, followed by a day of watching bowl games, enjoying beer and hanging out at our usual.
One of the highlights of the game viewing/potluck at The BeerMongers was my third beer of 2015 - Drake's Brewing Black Robusto Porter. It wasn't a new-to-me beer, having first tried it a couple weeks earlier, but it was one of the best porters I've had. Pulling up my previous Untappd check in I had commented, "Oh yeah, almost cold coffee/hot choc."
I was as pleased with it the second time around and possibly more so in that I had it in my glass when the pecan pie got cut into. Pecan pie is my favorite pie by far yet being held in such high regard I didn't give much thought to how it would taste with this porter until I slowed the shoveling of forkfuls to sip my beer. Wow. Really wow.
So if you're a pecan pie fan like me I highly encourage you to have a bottle of this on hand the next time you're enjoying it. And if you decide I'm wrong, holler and I'll be over to finish both your beer and pie off.
When a recent box of beer mail arrived on my doorstep containing Portland Brewing BlackWatch Cream Porter I enjoyed one bottle as soon as I could get it chilled. Porters are a style I tend to pass over in favor of stouts, which are typically more robust and more to my liking; BlackWatch however has the perfect amount of body and roast to make it a solid choice for a chilly night.
A few days later I decided it was time to restock the freezer with some cookies or brownies, for those times when my sweet tooth screams too loud to be ignored. In the process of figuring out which to make I realized there was still more porter in my fridge and I set out to find a brownie recipe that would utilize it. As it turned out all I could find were ones that called for a stout so I moved on to some tried and true brownie recipes. The closest one called for Bailey's Irish Cream but I was game. Turns out, with that substitution and a couple of others, I made a pretty tasty pan of brownies that went exceptionally well with BlackWatch.
So next time you have a hankering for brownies, I'd encourage you to give this (super easy) recipe a try. The hardest part will be waiting long enough for them to cool, or perhaps not eating the entire pan as you alternate bites of the moist, chocolately goodness with sips of the slightly dry BlackWatch.
BlackWatch Brownies
(adapted from a Cooking Light recipe)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
4 Tbsp butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup Portland Brewing BlackWatch Cream Porter
1 tsp vanilla extract
Cooking spray
Coarse salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Stir to combine.
Place chocolate chips and butter in a sauce pan. Heat over low, stirring occasionally, until melted and combined. Stir in sugar and remove from heat. Add egg, porter and vanilla. Whisk to combine. Fold in the flour mixture, stirring until just moist.
Spread batter into a 9-inch square or 11 x 7-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out almost clean. Sprinkle with coarse salt and cool completely on a wire rack.
