BeerDorks.com: Reviews, Commentary and Opinions on Midwest Craft Beer and Microbreweries

 
March 6, 2012

Beer Diary:

Why Craft Breweries Are the Best

Baby-boy makes a visit to Breckenridge’s Tasting Room.
by Baby-Boy Jackson

Baby-Boy Jackson is just here for the beer.
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Last week, I was in Denver, Colorado, and made a point of visiting the Breckenridge Tasting Room in Denver. Once again I got a preview of a fantastic beer and a lesson on why craft breweries are the best.

First, the beer: the company will soon be distributing its 72 Chocolate Cream Stout in four packs around the country. Now, it is no secret that I love their Vanilla Porter, and the Chocolate Cream Stout is a worthy complement to it. I tried the beer while at the tasting room. It’s not a Hershey Bar dissolved in a pint of Miller Light. It is black, with a rich mouth feel that engages all the taste buds, like dark chocolate. It is not sweet, but somewhat bitter in a pleasant way. The chocolate comes through in the nose of the beer as well. If you are looking for hot chocolate, this is not the beer for you. If you want to know how chocolate and beer should be combined, then this is your beer.

Second, the brewery staff was awesome. I asked whether the chocolate stout would be on tap only, or would it be distributed outside of Colorado. The answer was that it was being put into bottles for shipping. Then, the woman behind the bar said they might have a bottle or two in the back for me to take home. The tasting room has a brewery set up there in addition to the kitchen and bar. She grabbed one of the brewers and they went in the back to look.

In a lot of places, when someone says they will check the back, they stick their head around the corner, look around and if it is obvious, then they bring it out for you, and if it’s not, TS. Not here. Those folks searched for awhile and really tried to find me a bottle. They did bring out one of the prototype bottles, but it was, sadly, empty.

I came away empty handed from a beer point of view, but they gave me a taster glass to take with me as a consolation prize. All the same, once I got home, I went to my local craft beer store and asked them to order it. It is now on their list, and once it is available, I will stock up.

The other thing I got out of this was another reminder of how beer lovers stick together. The brewery tried to find me a bottle, the beer store is ordering the beer and thanked me for letting them know, and the beer, even when we all aren’t drinking together, still brings us together.





Comments
We enjoy reading about all the beers and beer stories this blog reports on. We are in the planning stages for a new brewery in Northeastern USA called Charter Oak Brewing Company LLC and our business plan is to grow to over 25,000BBL within 5 years.
The breweries and stories you report on, allow for much encouragement.

http://charteroakbrewing.com
A True Legend!
posted by Charter Oak Brewery | March 14, 2012, 6:14 PM