Dogfish Head Beer For Breakfast Stout

I have never eaten scrapple. Actually I do not believe I have ever seen scrapple. In fact, it took a quick Google image search for me to actually see what it was. Now that I know, I wish I had not seen it. If you are like me and are curious what scrapple is, I can save you the trouble. It is an unappetizing looking meatloaf made of mushy pork. To be more specific, according to Wikipedia, it is made from unused parts of the pig during butchering. So obviously the perfect place for this completely unappetizing looking meatloaf is in a beer, right? Well, Dogfish Head thinks so and it's an ingredient in their latest offering, Beer for Breakfast Stout. Obviously I am a huge fan of being creative with beer but my initial reaction to this particular one is, “Why?” By the time my glass is empty, I hope to see any reason to justify this beer's existence.

Pouring a rich black with a tan head, the aroma of Beer for Breakfast is actually amazing. It is a blast of coffee with a nice smokiness, liquorice and some chocolate. With an aroma like that, I think I'll be able to completely disregard the image of that horrendous looking meatloaf. The taste fortunately is very much like the aroma. It is a blast of coffee & smoke accompanied by dark chocolate, liquorice, pepper and a splash of cream. There is a tiny hint of maple sweetness in the finish along with a lot more smoke. Much like Singlecut's Barrel Aged Heavy Boots of Lead from a couple weeks ago, I wanted more maple in this beer. Still, the coffee & smoke flavor really work for me here. Obviously I do not get any meat from the beer, as clearly this is more of a gimmick than anything else. Perhaps the flavor of the meat added to the smokiness but since I have no further interest to learn any more about scrapple I'll move on.

I think Dogfish Head did a pretty solid job with this beer. It is a bit more complex than their Chicory Stout. Unfortunately, I can't for certain say it is better. It is definitely worth a try if you like coffee & your beer smoky. If you do not prefer the latter, I would just stick with Founders Breakfast Stout. It really is an amazing achievement in beer.

Overall I would rate Beer for Breakfast a 3.25/5. It's a nice coffee forward beer that I fear will only be remembered for the fact that scrapple is an actual ingredient in it.


Rating Scale:
1 - Repugnant and undrinkable
2 - Acceptable but forgettable
3 - Good, worth a purchase
4 - Excellent, a step above the norm
5 - Truly exceptional　

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Thanks for reading. Sláinte!