For hopeless romantics, February means flowers, chocolate and Valentine’s Day. For beer lovers - like myself - it means Stout Month at our friendly neighborhood Vine Street Pub (let’s not forget Southern Sun and Mountain Sun get in on the action too). Stouts are a much better calorie replacement for unsatisfying mystery truffles in my humble opinion.
Every February, the brew masters for the Mountain Sun trio of pubs get to put their creative hats on to create dark and creamy stouts, exclusively. Being a huge fan of dark beers (especially Vine Street’s resident Java Porter, mmm), I always find time to work a special Stout Month visit into my schedule. The special brews are only for a limited time only. When the kegs run dry, that’s it until next year.
Notable creations this year: Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookie Stout, Cherry Chocolate Stout and 48 Smooth Chai Stout. Girl Scout cookies have found their way into ice creams and other desserts, it’s a natural progression that they’d be incorporated into beer as well. While slightly too minty for this gal, it was still delicious. The Cherry Chocolate could have used a pinch more cherry to make it really stand out, but the chocolate after taste was much creamier than expected. By far the fan favorite was the 48 Smooth Chai Stout. It had a Left Hand Milk Stout-like flavor with a Chai tea aftertaste. Simply amazing.
If you missed out on this year’s Stout Month, there’s always next year! Visit http://www.mountainsunpub.com for more information on the events happening at Vine Street, Southern Sun and Mountain Sun.
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