When Music Meets Craft Beer

Mikerphone’s ‘Smells Like Bean Spirit’ Barrel-Aged Stout meets the soundtrack of my youth.

When I was younger, I loved Nirvana, but I’m sure the same can be said for virtually anyone who spent some formative years in the 90s.  Lyrically, I didn’t have the best grasp of what was going on in Kurt Cobain’s mind. Musically, though, it was so intensely different from the steady diet of Paul Simon, Eurythmics and the Bangles that my dad fed us, so it was easy to hold onto it and make it our own.  Nirvana played such an integral role in shaping my musical tastes and yet I haven’t purposefully listened to them in more than a decade. After this picture was taken, these singles were sold on eBay; a prized possession as a teenager, a dust collecting relic as an adult.

I am firmly in the Breakfast Stout camp.  My morning meal usually skews savory so having a sweeter counterpoint completes the meal.  Mikerphone’s ‘Smells Like Bean Spirit,’ brewed with Vermont Maple Syrup and coffee Tugboat Coffee hits those sweet notes.  A huge hit of maple sugar coats the palate with the first. Milk chocolate, caramel and molasses continue the sweet onslaught.  Before all is lost, the Sumatra Mandheling from Tugboat Coffee begins to peek through the maple candy. Rich, roasty, bitter dark roasted coffee and earthy notes temper some of the sweetness, but it ultimately finishes just a touch too sweet for my personal taste.

Fun Fact:  While amber colored maple syrup is topping of choice for pancake and waffle connoisseurs, brewers prefer using much darker syrup for brewing.  The darker syrup, which is typically collected towards the end of syrup season, has a much bolder maple taste that is able to stand up to competing flavors in beer.