Dogfish Head Beer for Breakfast Stout
The number of ingredients that went into Dogfish Head’s Beer for Breakfast Stout is more than any actual breakfast that I’ve ever consumed in 40+ years of eating said meal. Guatemalan Antigua coffee, maple syrup, spices and scrapple are tossed into the mix with a diverse malt bill (2-row applewood smoked barley, Kiln coffee malt, flaked oats, roasted barley and caramel malt) along with molasses, milk sugars, brown sugar, and roasted chicory. And that’s just the ingredients listed on the company’s website.
Now, I’m pretty sure I’ve previously enjoyed beers with at least some variation of most of those ingredients with the exception of scrapple. I do enjoy a good scrapple at breakfast with eggs and a hot cup of coffee, but this is the first time I’ve encountered it in a beer. I’ve enjoyed meaty rauchbiers, even a pork barbecue influenced porter, but never scrapple. Beer for Breakfast Stout is certainly a first for me, but the flavors here are not foreign. The roastiness and meatiness of this beer will be familiar to those that have had rauchbiers or other heavily smoked beers.
A soft sweetness and velvety mouthfeel help tame some of that meatiness while spices linger gently. The medium bodied brew has a good heft for the style and perhaps too much alcohol (7.4%) to truly enjoy as a morning treat. This is most certainly not a beer for everybody, but for those of you that like a little porkiness and solid roast in your stouts, then Beer for Breakfast Stout may be the one you need.