Today has definitely seen a turn in the weather and winter seems to have officially landed in Ireland. We can’t complain though, we’ve had another really good, long summer, two years in a row, I could get used to that. Doubt I’ll ever get used to cold, wet, windy winters though.
I really think that winter is the best time of year to enjoy certain beers, especially Stouts, which benefit from being drank at “cellar” temperatures, rather than ice-cold straight from the fridge. A lot of people think when we say cellar temperature we mean warm or room temperature, but cellar temperature is not warm, it’s just not freezing cold. A good temperature for most stouts would be in the 8-12 degrees Celsius range. This is warm enough for the aromas to really open up and allow you to taste the beer better, but not so warm that it “feels” warm as you drink it.
This this little lecture in mind, I’ll move on to my fist beer of the night, Anchor Porter. “But wait, you said we’d be doing stouts!” I hear you say. And to that I say this, the only difference between a stout and a porter, in modern brewing anyway, is the name. If you want to wade through the gigabytes of debate about this matter online then feel free to google “the difference between stout and porter”, but I’m nailing my colours to the mast here and saying, for all intents and purposes, stout, porter, same thing.
Anchor Brewing are based in San Francisco, California and have been producing their famous “Anchor Steam Beer” since 1896. So while they might not be old timers compared to some European breweries, they’ve been around for a while and aren’t wet behind the ears.
Anchor have been producing their porter since 1974 and it is generally regarded as one of the first great American micro brewed beers. Still loved as much today as it was 40 years ago, Anchor Porter is a seminal American craft beer and it’s no wonder so many people still rate it as one of the best Porters around.
Anchor Porter is 5.8% abv and pours pitch black with a big, fluffy beige head that sticks around as you drink. The smell is massively malty, almost like walking into a bakery followed by notes of chocolate, coffee and oats. The taste is much the same. Caramel and chocolate malt is followed by a bitter mocha and oats, there’s a bit of herbaceous hope taste near the back and the end is roasty and dry. This beer has a lovely coating medium-heavy body and a surprisingly prickly carbonation. Super moreish, always satisfying and always, always, always worth revisiting. One of my absolute favourite beers. Available fairly widely in good offies and bars. Drink store have an offer online of €10 for 4 bottles, which is crazy value. Get some!
The second beer tonight is Founders Breakfast Stout, a “Double chocolate coffee oatmeal stout by the lovely people from Grand Rapids, Michigan who I mentioned in my earlier post. It’s a winter seasonal brew (only available from October to December), and much coveted by beer geeks around the world as it can be hard to get outside of the U.S.
Founders Breakfast Stout an 8.3% Imperial Stout, so it’s definitely a sipper! It pours as black as black can be with a thick tan head. The smell is full on dark roasted coffee, bitter dark chocolate and molasses sweetness. The taste delivers on the promise of the nose. The first thing that hits you roasted bitter coffee followed by a surprisingly sweet chocolate, oats add to the sweetness and then a little citrus hop bite. Finish is long, roasty, coffee bitterness. This really is breakfast in a glass. The body is heavy, chewy and coating. The oats adding to the fullness. Carbonation is just enough to make everything sing.
An absolute beauty of a beer and perfect for sipping in front of the fire at home or sitting at the bar chatting to friend on a cold Irish winter night. Those boys in Michigan really can do no wrong. Founders Breakfast Stout is available in most good offies and pretty much every craft beer bar worth their salt. Luckily for ourselves in Ireland the wonderful people at Grand Cru Beers have a great relationship with the brewery and as a result Ireland gets more than it’s fair share of Founder’s seasonal specials, so no excuses now, get out there and try it.
The Crafty Hoor 