Saturday Breakfast Beer – Rogue Ales Chocolate Stout

When the Replacements wrote “Beer for Breakfast,” I don’t think they had craft beer in mind. Judge for yourself:

All I wanna do is drink beer for breakfast
All I wanna eat is them BBQ chips
All I want is someone just to try to protect us
You can try but you’d never wanna try to defend us

But, the song does bring up a good point. What’s your motivation to have beer for breakfast? Last night a group of people gathered at a local St. Patrick’s Day party, (a few days late) discussed beer for breakfast. The majority of people had consume beer for breakfast, but it was mostly a common thread of after-party necessity, early morning fishing/camping/hunting trips or the ubiquitous Montana red beer.

No wonder there is such a stigma about having beer before noon. These experiences will definitely make you think twice before popping the top on a cheap canned beer with your Wheaties.

When I talk about breakfast beer, I mean the thick, over-indulgent and decadent craft beers the world has to offer today. And by breakfast, I mean the I’m-going-to-sleep-late-and-make-chocolate-chip-pancakes-today kind of breakfast, not necessarily your oatmeal and coffee and run-out-the-door kind of breakfast.

Which brings me to today’s Saturday Breakfast Beer, Rogue Ale’s Chocolate Stout.

This rich, cocoa-tasting stout exudes breakfast in its silk, coffee-like blackness, cream-colored head and biscuity maltiness overlaid with dark notes of chocolate and burnt cream. Which makes it a perfect partner for chocolate chip pancakes, crepes drizzled with melted dark chocolate and even saltier fair like bacon and eggs with a chocolate scone.

The cascade hops give this beer a slight bitterness that blends perfectly with the darkest of chocolates that you dare to put in your morning foods.

Having come of age in Oregon, this was likely one of the first breakfast beers that I tried during an outing to our favorite towns along that rocky, surf-pounded coastline. And it’s been one of my favorites to return to over the years. I try to keep a couple bottles around for the impromptu chocolate pancake breakfast or the evening chocolate tastings that inevitably occur when I get a sweet tooth for that most decadent of foods.

Prost,

GG

Rogue Ales Chocolate Stout