#beerandthoughts

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Tiny cans from my recent beer trade 😍

[pintsnplants]

THE DARK STUFF

I used to think winter sucks. Maybe it’s because I live in New England and have slipped on my ice-covered stairs at least six times in the past six years or maybe it’s because the sun decides to take a vacation and peace out without asking my permission first. In my harsh, realistic opinion, there is just nothing cool about the days between December 26th  (the day after Christmas) and April 5th (the day before my birthday) other than a whole lot of dog pee and dirt clinging to frigid snowbanks and pretending to be relevant.  

That is at least until I started drinking beer... which not only supplemented my seasonal sadness because of the extra booze (I’m just being honest!) but gave me something to seasonally look forward to (besides the only excuse we get out of winter which is overeating pasta without guilt.)

Introducing winter beers, also known as THE DARK STUFF.

Winter beers tend to be heavy, complex and dark – similar to the extended nights of the season. Naturally, many brewers tend to use Christmas flavors and get into the holiday spirit. Popular tastes such as anise, roasted coffee, vanilla, hazelnuts, cinnamon and nutmeg, and/or cherries and chocolate may be cool for the OCCASIONAL sour or saison, I think we can all agree they are simply perfect for thick, black, opaque brews. 

Maybe it’s the seventeen-year-old goth still stored somewhere in my heart from ten years ago, but I also think there’s just something sexy about a dark, cold, mysterious, quiet night with a glass of brew that matches.  

Let’s start with our two boys Porters and Stouts!

Genuinely figuring out the difference between stouts and porters is pretty dizzying in this day and age, but if we fly back a few hundred years we can check out the real story. Porters came first sometime in the early eighteenth century and started as some sort of ~Suicide soda fountain experiment~ where the barman would just mix light, hoppy beers with older aged ales, like a “twopenny” (the strongest beer, costing two pence a quart!). Naturally, the beer people figured out how to pre-mix instead of casually just sloshing around goodies behind the bar and there we go: the PORTER!

Once developed, brewmasters tweaked recipes, adding ingredients, boosting alcohol content, etc. etc. etc. and eventually, a stout was born. That’s right – a stout is just a stronger - or stouter - porter.

These two styles will forever have a lot in common, but should be treated like drawing on liquid eyeliner wings – they are simply INTIMATE COUSINS, not identical twin sisters! Not only that, but they come in wild variations that I’ll go into more viciously in another post sometime: Baltic, Robust, Sweet stouts like Cream and Oyster…. Oh boy.

But you know what I will talk about in this post is the voluptuous part of dark brews, they are typically higher in alcohol content than a whole lot of other styles. I mean, what else goes hand-in-hand with roasty, toasty layers and warms you up like a plump grandma hug? Imperial brews and barrel-aging! 

Among beer people, I think we all have come to an understanding that once we see imperial it’s the code name for extra boozy, also known as not the beer you start the night with…. and most likely not the beer you end the night with. Actually, it’s probably the only beer you’ll have that night. Imperial porters and stouts are fantastic for sipping, slowly warming up the chill in your bones while sending the blood rushing to your cheeks. They have a habit of filling your belly like a good meal. Beers labeled ‘imperial’ typically clock in with an alcohol content of 9% abv or higher.

Another popular technique for winter brews is barrel aging, which involves letting beer age in a used liquor barrel for months at a time. Porters and stouts are popularly aged in bourbon barrels, resulting in a special brew complete with high alcohol content, an ~oaky afterbirth~ from the barrel, and the sweet, rare complexity that comes in a beer with a history.  

Unfortunately not every brewery you come across will have a porter or a stout on hand, a lot of mainstream breweries won’t take the risk and a lot tend to be dreamt up in small, experimental breweries. Nevertheless, as the craft beer scene grows, I feel confident that even the smallest of gas stations somewhere somehow will have more than just a dry Guinness for your long January nights. This truly does scratch the surface of what a “winter beer” is (don’t even get me started when it comes to art/tastes/interests being subjective!!!! ANYTHING is truly a winter beer if you want it to be and believe it!!!!!) but this is my first crack at attempting to dissect what makes me happy to sip and appreciate on a cold, dark night. 

Now that I’ve finished writing about porters and stouts, I’m going to gather some noteworthy brews of Christmas past for my next post! 

[damedarcy]

@beerandthoughts & @rebelsbad thanks for the #meatcakebible thoughts! 💭 #shedrawsdownthemoon #stregapez #siamesetwins #conjoinedtwins #witches #happy #filly #hinderance & #perfidia @damedarcy .com #cartoonist 📚 https://etsy.me/2WZXxsD 📚 https://www.instagram.com/p/B4traU5FWTn/?igshid=1o4tjbqhz1wqj

[beerselfie]

Going out or staying home? #Repost @beerandthoughts ・・・ Enjoying CONDO SUNSET during sunset 😌 solid champagne haze from @bunkerbrewing to match a PERFECT GOLDEN EVENING. Mango, grapefruit, skulls, OH MY! I could end with a romantic quote about light but I’d rather just roll up in this sunspot with my brew like a chunky cat and soak up this silent warmth. Proud member of the #stayathomeclub! Hehe #plansfortheevening #officiallysorted 😌🐱 https://www.instagram.com/p/BxKpsR-gzjM/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=eavdieydn7f

[pintsnplants]

I call this series: tasty beers I’ve consumed in downtown Plymouth so far this week

Vitamin Sea Brewing, East Weymouth, MA Seven Bells and All’s Well, 4.9% abv American Stout with Cacao, Vanilla and Coffee On tap at Speedwell Tavern (and may I add, they easily serve one of the best veggie wraps around - like, they know what they’re doing with their broccoli! That’s rare! Broccoli is tough to nail! Back to the show...), SO glad I got a chance to try this!! This is smooth and rich with ALL of the chocolate and ALL of the coffee. Strong espresso and I definitely did a double take with that percentage, this is SO tasty and surprisingly filling for 5%! 

Two Roads Brewing, Stratford, Conn. Tanker Truck Series: Passion Fruit Gose, 5.2% abv Sour This is a FUNKY tart sour with a sharp fruit presence that is oddly thirst quenching! Sampled in a Down The Road Beer Co. glass upstairs at the BBC while playing Jenga. 

Stellwagen Beer Co., Marshfield, MA Invisible Airwaves, 7% abv New England IPA This beer was so fricken’ good! I’ve had it in a can before, but wow - fresh on tap was a dream come true... and about an hour after I enjoyed this and left and got home tucked into bed, it won first place in the “Hopetition” that evening at New World Tavern! How lucky am I - got to enjoy the #1 beer of the night while avoiding a crowd completely!!!! Congrats to them, they are doing big things. But yeah, this IPA is tropical and soft, romantic and lush. Le sigh.

Harper Lane Brewery, Middleboro, MA Knuckle Buster IPA, 5.1% abv  Session IPA And then lastly getting real close to home and getting real old school! Harper Lane is right down the street and this IPA is unlike many others as of late: a super crushable IPA loaded with layers of pine. Bitter and high quality. So yeah, I’ve been drinking really well for a Wednesday evening... looking forward to what the rest of the week has to offer me! 

[pintsnplants]

SixFoxWhiskey at Brighton Music Hall with a UFO the other night.

SixFox started as my partner’s friend’s band who we saw at neighborhood bars and made me feel more connected to my local community, but also like enhanced the ATMOSPHERE and now they are such a strong aspect of my LIFE, I listen to Six Fox consistently. They’re on my work playlist, my play playlist, my art playlist.

Do yourself a favor and listen to Seven Stops and feel confident. It won’t make you feel any less. Thanks 6FW for giving me heart.

There’s a lovely correlation between music and beer, small, independent organizations of people connected by passion that kick ass exquisitely and locally and with roots and anyway, good stuff is good, consume quality, nothing less!

[pintsnplants]

Welcome to Beer and Thoughts!

Once upon a time, I didn’t like beer. I didn’t understand beer.

Turns out, I just wasn’t drinking the right ones!  

On a Friday in 2016 I had just received my paycheck, walked through the door of Craft Beer Cellar Plymouth and decided to take Tom Haverford and Donna Meagle’s advice seriously. I treated myself to six cans of who knows what. After four years in college of someone thrusting a warm Olde English forty into my hands, my concept of beer was far from positive and I was ready to give it another go. I am so glad I did.

Almost three years later, I not only have a deep appreciation for craft beer, but the small, independently owned breweries making them. I created an Instagram account @BeerandThoughts to start exploring my own venn diagram of the things I consume and the things I produce. I drink beer, I take a picture and I write.

I look forward to sharing on another platform in another format. I look forward to seeing where this passion takes me. I look forward to dissecting craft beer, intersectionality, existence, morality, and more.

I’m going to end this now, but that’s only because I have an appointment with a Mast Landing Tell Tale dry-hopped pale ale sitting in my fridge calling my name.

Cheers!