Cask 'N' Eggs!



Photo by: MAGirlsPintOut



BREAKFAST BEER


I never knew a moment too early in any day that beer would not be an appropriate beverage. Unless of course that time of day was prior to reporting to your duties of work. This particular day, was one of those days that learning about beer for breakfast was in fact A-OK!

On Saturday, Notch Session and Drink Craft Beer released their collaboration beer, a Coffee Milk Stout. The stout was the 4th release Notch brewer Chris Lohring's cask series. Jeff Wharton and Devon Regan of DrinkCraftBeer.com were clearly excited for this opportunity, and were more so flattered by the attendance.

I completely misjudged the time it would take me to travel to Kenmore Square in Boston. I figured driving from Cape, construction on Sagamore bridge, construction on the T's red-line and a transfer to the green line, would require extensive lead time. I have enjoyed Notch Session extensively since I moved to Massachusetts, and I have also spent time with Jeff and Devon at other brewing sessions, so I was pretty stoked to get there early so as to take home a commemorative 20oz Notch/DCB glass beer mug.

Luckily, Kenmore Square was beautiful, had a Barnes and Noble and a Starbucks, because my early departure landed me in front of The lower Depths, site of the release brunch, at 9:30am. Brunch was scheduled to start at 11:30am. Sitting in the grassy knoll, I began to notice people starting to line up in front of The Lower Depths around 11am.  Slowly I made my way into the crowd of excited, cold and hungry beer drinkers.



Photo by: DrinkCraftBeer.com



As the doors opened at 11:30am, the crowd poured in, and I was fortunate enough to snag a bar stool smack dab in the middle of the bar just feet away from the gorgeous cask handle. Sitting to my left were new found friends Adam Meuse of BrewEngland and wife. Without hesitation staff of the taproom jumped into cranking the cask and filling mug after mug with this sessionable 3.8% ABV British influenced stout.

The beer itself had an incredibly beautiful dark French-roast coffee color with a head that looked like what a glass of chocolate milk might look like if you put it under a steam wand. The settling of the head as it bounced off the bottom of the glass and slowly raised to the top is always fun to watch.



At first sniff, it was obvious that a heaping portion of coffee was used in this brew. Come to learn that approximately 3 pints of this stout was equivalent to that of a cup of coffee. Once I took a sip, I was surprised that the potency of the coffee in the nose, was subdued on the palate and fell into a very harmonious balance with the lactose sugars and breakfast bread like flavors. It also had a extremely light bodied mouth feel that made for easy drinking.



Photo by: BrewEngland

FYI...40 or so people kicked the cask in just under an hour and a half!

After just over 2 pints, I finished my huevos rancheros, said good bye to the Meuses and made sure to thank Chris, Jeff, and Devon not only for the invite, but also for their continued enthusiasm in the craft beer world and more so for their delicious collaboration.