In the early, heady days of my craft beer explorations, I thought the concept of a "breakfast" stout was a beer advertising and marketing gimmick meant to conjure images and sensations of rich, hearty, healthfulness. This suspicion was reinforced when I saw the label for Founders Brewery's very fine Breakfast Stout, which featured a Norman Rockwellian baby, bibbed and perched in its high chair, devouring its morning oatmeal. Surely no one, least of all infants, drank this darkest, bitterest, and often most alcoholic of beers before the sun made it over the yardarm!? I was later to learn, upon visiting the Beer Advocate website's famous message board-- and its iconic "What beer are you drinking now" thread in particular-- that the hard-core will indeed drink beer, and stouts in particular, in the am. (No posts appeared to have been made by babies, but then how would we know for sure?)
The habitual drinking of alcohol in the morning marks what would seem to me to be one clear line of division between the worlds whose intersection this blog is meant to explore-- those of serious running and craft beer. Runners may occasionally drink a beer or two following a morning road race-- with the Boilermaker 15k, which ends near Utica NY's famous Matt Brewing Company, and features heavy consumption during its awards ceremony, held within the historic confines of the brewery, being a famous example-- but we almost universally will not drink before our daily training labours are complete. Today's stout beers, and especially the many "breakfast" varieties, are, however, a uniquely adapted mealtime style for runners. And, you guessed it, I am here to explain exactly how and why!
I won't waste any time explaining exactly what a stout is, and how it differs from a "porter" (it doesn't, as regards fundamentals), except to say that it is: a very dark (often impenetrably so), owing to the use of roasted rather than malted grains; lightly hopped; and, bitter/roasy in taste, similar to premium black coffee. Many beer novices will be familiar with this style, thanks to the ubiquity of its most famous exemplar, the macro behemoth Guinness Irish Dry Stout. These elements offer a firm foundation for the addition of numerous, complimentary flavour variations-- variations that frequently succeed in turning this sometimes thin and very bitter style (and many experience their first Guinness as "ashy" tasting) into something much more comfortable, like a hearty breakfast... or, a rich dessert!
Today's top stouts-- and they are often the top beers across style, with no fewer than 18 different offerings in Beer Advocate's top 50 brews-- are about as far from Guinness as Nescafe instant is from a cup of Shenandoah Joe's finest. Using very heavy grain bills, complimentary adjuncts like coffee and dark chocolate, and barrel-aging (typically Bourbon, but also rum), brewers have ramped up the richness (and, in most cases, the ABV) to levels undreamt of by the workaday stout-fancier of 20 years ago. The result has been the advent of the "dessert beer"-- a style that happens to be an ideal replacement for the dessert-proper so often craved by calorie starved runners following their last meal of the day, or while relaxing in the later evening, following a full day or work/study and training. Why ideal? Because, contrary to popular belief, even the richest imperial stout has fewer calories per typical serving (and 5-6 ounces of the best stouts is easily enough) than a sugary dessert , with most of the beer's calories accounted for by the alcohol and carbs, versus the dessert's simple sugars and fat-- meaning you get a little relaxation with your beer calories AND your preserve your precious beer-palate (for use on the many other beer styles I have lovingly discussed in this space!).
If you are Canadian you will, I'm afraid, have a harder time getting your hands on the sub-30/35 level imperial stouts to which I refer. Canada has steadily advanced its IPA ranks over the past few years, but its imperial stout forces have become a distinct reverse salient. In my Canadian travels, I have yet to find dark offerings at all comparable to those available in most US states-- beers like Prairie Artisan Ales' (Tulsa OK) Bomb!, Westbrook Brewing Co.'s (Mount Pleasant SC) Mexican Cake, or even the much more widely available Ten Fidy , out of the Oskar Blues Brewery in Lyons CO. The lone exception to this rule is Dieu De Ciel! of Montreal's sublime Pèchè Mortel (which is annually offered in its other-level Bourbon Barrel iteration). While not as chewably rich as some of the aforementioned American heavies, Pèchè is an elegantly balanced coffee stout with a slightly sharp mouthfeel and subtle sweetness. I have had dozens of them in my life and they never fail to delight. As per the above, they are best enjoyed following an evening meal, after sunset, and in the cooler seasons of the year. And they are enjoyed best of all in the ineffably cool confines of the Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel! itself (special note to those attending this year's Athletics Canada National Track and Field Championships in Laval QC!).
Hopping Along in...Ottawa, Ontario:
Speaking of National Championships, I spent an exciting weekend at our (Canada's) 10k showdown in Ottawa, Ontario-- which, while culturally staid, is lovely for running and, perhaps surprisingly to many, drinking quality beer! Originally set to run the thing myself, I was reduced by an injury concern to covering the gorgeous Rideau Canal-side course at an easy pace, taking in the action along the way. Highlights of the weekend were watching (and later drinking beer with) friend and former athlete Dylan Wykes-- a beer-fancier whose palate I helped out of infancy many years ago-- win the men's championship, and spending time with current athlete (and top Canadian masters runner) Colin Fewer, along with former Queen's athletes Alex Wilkie and Jeff Archer, all beersters of note. Colin, not so coincidentally, is a home brewer with a sterling beer palate, and yet another runner whose beer-love I am proud to have instigated. The beers consumed were: Beyond the Pale (Ottawa)'s flagship IPA Aromatherapy (had young and fresh at BTP itself); a couple of new offerings from Ottawa's very fine young brewery Dominion City (the DIPA No Secrets, black IPA Mèlodie Noire, and go-to single IPA Sunsplit); and, some of Bicycle Brewery's On the Lam IPA. Bicycle is a new (to me) Ottawa brewery suggested by Dylan, a newly located resident familiar with the top brews of his former home, Vancouver BC, soon to be featured in this space! Like the top athletes on the road that weekend, all beers were very low or sub-30/35 performers, with the championship going this time to Dom City's No Secrets, an exquisitely bright, citrusy, and slightly astringent little offering that ranks just below their now discontinued superstar Null and Void.
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