Welcome to our first contribution to The Session, a monthly event in which beer and brewing bloggers get together to all write about a chosen topic on the same day! This is Session #17, for which Pfiff! writer Rob DeNunzio has chosen the topic, “Going Against the Grain Bill: Drinking Anti-Seasonally.”

Stouts — how I love them. Now people who keep their beer consumption to what is in season would typically thumb their noses up at my summer-stout-sipping ways, and really, that’s fine. I completely understand that certain beers are best consumed in their season, but I also feel that there are certain stouts that you can drink comfortably when the days are longer and the weather muggier.

The first stout I have to mention is Steph and Tim’s Foreign Extra Stout, quiet possibly the stout that brought me to love these roasty, dark beers. The stout is malty, roasty, and chocolatey, but not heavy, as many stouts are. Instead, this brew is intended to be enjoyed in tropical climates.

Steph and Tim’s Foreign Extra Stout, paired with Steph’s Banana Monkey Ice Cream Cake. Photo credit, Stephanie Weber

With an ABV of 7.2%, it has a bit of a kick, but it is intensely smooth and refreshing. Definitely a beer that I always look for when I’m digging around in Steph and Tim’s kegerator!

Another stout I would like to mention is Young’s Double Chocolate Stout, which I had the pleasure of having on draft in mid-June when I was in NYC for business. After a full day of being on my feet, and the majority of the Northeast enduring a heat wave, you would have thought I would have selected a refreshing Hefeweizen right? Nope.

I had decided to go to a pub by the name of Stout NYC. You can bet your best growler I wasn’t going to order a Hoegaarden! Sure, my friend did, and he enjoyed it, but he’s not a Stout Girl, now is he?

Needless to say, the beer was perfect: roasty, chocolatey and refreshing.

So, drinking out of season: I say it can be done, but you must remember that often the availability of some brews will be less because of the season. If this is a worry, buy during the season, and then cellar the leftovers so you can crack one when it fancies you!

My year-rounder is barleywine. These sweet, high-octane monstrosities have no place being consumed during the summer, as evidenced by the fact that I feel like crap after having one mid-afternoon in July. But I drink ‘em anyway — They just taste so good. If you can disclipline yourself to save them for dessert, after the house has cooled off, they make a great compliment for cookies and orange sherbet.

I also quite enjoy quadrupels during the warmer months, which probably isn’t that off-kilter. They’re actually supposed to be in season when spring is breaking. I usually see them coming out in April and May, but I feel like they’re more of an October/November beer, so I consider it out-of-season to drink them in the summer.

Man, it’s making me sweat just thinking about having one.

Craft Beer, Pairings, The Session 1 Comment »