A Costly Mistake Can be a Great Opportunity

Thursday night I was reading the BeerAdvocate forums, in the Great Lakes Sub-Forum, this post caught my eye:

Evan87 | Wisconsin | BA: Feb 10, 2008

Take Advantage of our Mistake – Canadian Breakfast Stout on Tap

So I have been cellaring a sixtel of Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout for a little over a year. I wanted to see what this great beer tasted like with 4 or 5 years on it. Yesterday, I was given the bad news that one of my bartenders accidently tapped this barrel. Not sure how it exactly happened, but I am now at the acceptance stage of the grieving process.

So, if you are anywhere in the Chicago to Milwaukee area we will have CBS tapped at Captain Mike’s Beer and Burger Bar in Kenosha, WI this weekend. It is supposed to be a hot and sunny weekend so come on down to the lakefront and enjoy this great beer.

Cheers.

Well, that was all the motivation I needed.  So after work, on my route back to Wisconsin, I had a stop to make.  I got to

Captain Mike’s around 4:15.  There were already at least 7 people at the bar drinking a very dark beer out of an over-sized wine glass, I knew that was the beer already.  Before the bartender could start telling me about a special beer I cut her off and said I was here for the CBS.  CBS is Founder’s Canadian Breakfast Stout, a maple barrel aged

version of their Breakfast Stout.  The CBS is an Imperial Stout with 9.4% ABV, the alcohol does a great job of staying in the background though.  The picture shows the black of night color of the beer and the khaki colored head.  The head laced nicely as I made my way through the beer.  Now, I am not a coffee drinker, I can probably count on one hand how many cups of coffee I have had in my life.  So when I try beers that feature coffee flavors, I always wonder if I’m going to like them.  So far I have actually liked the way brewers use the coffee flavors to make good stouts.  This one is no exception, the base beer is a good coffee stout, but then they barrel age it in maple syrup barrels.  The rich

sweetness of the maple syrup is highly evident and even in the aftertaste.  You can also pick up a good amount of chocolate flavors and other tints roasted malts maybe.  As the beer warmed, it changed for the good, at first sip it was what I would equate to an iced mocha coffee drink, then with warming it morphed to an even sweeter mocha coffee where the chocolate came further to the front (obviously the comparisons are based on what I think those coffee

drinks taste like, since I’ve never had them). This is an A+ variation of an already really good stout.  I enjoyed it so much, I had two. 10/10, try it if you find it!

Founder's Canadian Breakfast Stout

While sampling my CBS and chatting with a couple other guys who came in for the sampling as well, we were greeted by a gentleman, Kevin, thanking us for coming, recommending the burgers, and after talking for a few minutes, he mentioned that he was waiting for someone to show up so they could enjoy some Russian River Pliny The Elder together.  I mentioned my hope that I would be able to find some of that brew myself.  He ended up sending me a sample of it later, it was quite tasty.  To do a full review on it would be a shame, I really need more than the 5oz.  Don’t get me wrong, that was an awesome thing he did, to send a fellow beer fan a sample out of his personal beer selection and I am very grateful.  Thanks, Kevin.

To finish off the visit, I ordered Southern Tier 2XIPA, based on Drew’s review over at 365 Days… 365 Beers, of it being similar to Pliny The Elder and for saying it has the hops I enjoy.  The name 2XIPA refers to it being a double IPA, which when tasting, the amped up hops are evident.  The tulip glass it was served in really helped to focus the floral aroma, it was really sweet tasting.  The actual taste wasn’t as intense though.  I didn’t have enough Pliny The Elder to do a good comparison, but the similarities are there.  I’d for sure have this again, 9/10.

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