Weather the Winter Storms with a Good Beer

Our construction timeline benefitted greatly from the mild weather that lingered through November and December. As we rang in the New Year, winter weather came roaring in with it. With temperatures in the single digits and the snow piling up, there’s no better time to warm up by the fire with a nice dark beer.

Many beer lovers tend to think of beer as seasonal – light lagers, cream ales, and shandies in the summer; märzens, pumpkin, and harvest ales in the fall, and so on.  While we at SLBC never like to place rules or limitations on the enjoyment of good beer, there is definitely something to be said about imbibing a nice dark porter in the dreary midst of winter.

The Porter style of beer originated in England and is typically brown in color and very lightly hopped to accentuate the malt flavor and aroma. The roasted malts contribute caramel and chocolate notes and give it the brown color, which can range from light to dark depending on the type and quantity used.

Over the past few years as homebrewers, we have honed a porter recipe that represents the style well but also adds our own unique twist. This beer will be a mainstay in our taproom, with some variations on it rotating through the tap list. One such variation came unexpectedly last year as a family friend who serves as foreman for a local fruit farm dropped off a few buckets of cherries and asked us if we can use them to make beer. We had a porter finishing up secondary fermentation at the time and decided to try something new, combining our passion for keeping things local with our love of experimentation. We added some of the cherries along with some cocoa nibs into the fermenter and waited a few months to see what it would become. After what seemed like an eternity, the beer was kegged, carbonated and tapped at our home pub on Christmas day.

Beer has served as a catalyst for bringing people together since the history of civilization. In summertime Sister Lakes, it doesn’t take much to get people together for sun and fun. In the winter, it takes something truly special to get people out of hibernation and back into social gear. When we tapped this chocolate cherry porter, we found just that special thing. So when the weather outside is frightful, get together with friends, family and some porter, light a fire, and drink heartily.