February is a month of many celebrations. Black History Month, to start. Of course there’s Valentine’s Day. Maybe even Presidents Day, if you’re nasty. But here in Minnesota those celebrations are accompanied by a feeling deep in your soul—one that can only be awoken by sub-zero temperatures—that maybe Mother Nature doesn’t want us to live here after all. That perhaps we’re committing an unwritten sin against nature by leveraging technology to spite her efforts to kill us, and in so doing, contributing to the warming of the planet itself. Heck, we even seem to take some sort of perverse thrill in doing it.
My hope is that a growing number of Minnesotans are coming to understand February in different terms: as Stout Month. Last year I educated the heathen masses about the history of Stout Month, and I firmly believe that my attempts to spread the good word pleased the stout gods—because we have been rewarded with an abundance of great stouts this year. So, please join me in communion, and pray that we will continue to be so blessed.
Venn Brewing Co.: Choconut
Pastry Stout / 6.5% ABV / ?? IBU
South Minneapolis’s Venn Brewing knows what you need right now. You need chocolate. You need peanut butter. You need: Choconut. Choconut is not a new stout (it was first available back in 2022), nor is it a particularly new concept. Chocolate and peanut butter in a stout?! Since when?!? However, it is a very delicious stout. If you’re wanting a little treat, or if you dream of dipping your toes into the darkest depths of the barley pool, there are few better ways to do it. Choconut’s head disappears immediately, and leaves a strong aroma of chocolate and peanut butter. Its flavor is sweet with a mild chocolate and light bitter roast. The peanut flavor is relatively subdued, and comes across more on the aroma side of things. But trust me, you won’t be left wanting.
Fulton Brewing: Spread the Warmth
Chocolate Cherry Stout / 6% ABV / 30 IBU
Cherry stouts hold a very special place in my heart. They’re the linchpin of my soul, the thing that ultimately got me into brewing my own beer. One minor problem: Ain’t nobody making cherry stouts these days. Nobody except Fulton Brewing. When I saw this at the liquor store, a somewhat too lusty “fuck yes” sprang unbidden from my mouth, and the south Minneapolis dad grabbing Lonely Blonde off the shelf next to me looked at me like I was some sort of deplorable hussy. God forbid a woman have desires.
Spread the Warmth is a good example of a cherry stout. It pours dark brown with red tones, and the head dissipates fairly quickly. The aroma is relatively delicate—light roast, with a hint of fruit—and the flavor is much the same with a mellow tart cherry matching a similarly mellow chocolate and roast. It’s medium bodied, and very drinkable. I especially appreciate that the North Loop brewery avoided using the over-the-top cherry “flavorings” that used to pop up in one-off cherry stouts. Using real cherries/cherry juice makes for a much more subtle and enjoyable experience.
Klockow Brewing Co.: Downwind
Smoked Chocolate Stout / 7.1% ABV / ?? IBU
Klockow—out of Grand Rapids—is a treasure, and along with Portage over in Walker, serves as a strong reminder that northern Minnesota is home to some amazing breweries. Their smoked chocolate stout, Downwind, has a nice woody smoke aroma. It’s slightly sweet, with a good roast to complement the smoke, and full-bodied. The smoke and roast mellows out the more you drink, leading to more of the chocolate notes becoming apparent—I always like it when a beer rewards your efforts.
Klockow’s Untappd entry for Downwind says that it’s named for “Uncle Kevin.” I am not sure how “Uncle Kevin” feels about this, and what this implies about his diet, but it can’t be good. Kevin, if you’re reading this, I hope you’re alright. Maybe lay off the smoked sausages for a while, though, OK? If it’s still coming out smokey, maybe see a doctor. I’m pretty sure that’s not supposed to happen.
Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative: That Salty Quaker
“Salted Caramel Stout” / 6.6% ABV / 29 IBU
That Salty Quaker, from Northeast's Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative, is ostensibly an oatmeal stout... with lactose and salt added. Oatmeal stouts are my second-favorite type of stout, so I was looking forward to trying an interesting variation on that theme. I can’t say that I’d ever even had a salted stout, let alone a “salted caramel” stout. I don’t think I knew what to expect. I’m not entirely sure I know now. But I’m sure I like it. The creaminess from the oats and roast from the malt in That Salty Quaker combine with the added lactose and salt to mostly hit the “salted caramel stout” note—in a very unique way. Even now, it’s hard to put into words other than “good.”
If the enigma of the style doesn’t call to you, perhaps the fact that Broken Clock’s packaging managed to blend both the Morton Salt and Quaker Oats logos into one will make you reconsider. I love a good visual gag, and whoever came up with this was a genius.
Elm Creek Brewing: Seeing Through Walls
Coffee Stout / 5.5% ABV / NA IBU
Coffee stout, as a style, is generally defined as a stout with coffee added in an attempt to impart more coffee flavors than otherwise possible in a stout. But what if—and bear with me here—you went further? What happens when you throw so much coffee into a stout that the calculus changes and you’re no longer left with a coffee stout, but rather, a stout coffee? Champlin’s Elm Creek Brewing has an answer: Seeing Through Walls.
This beer has just about the strongest coffee flavor of any “coffee stout” I’ve ever had. In fact, drinking it is like drinking a slightly less bitter and mildly fuller-bodied black coffee. Heat it up and put it in a mug, and this baby is basically your morning coffee. Pour it over ice, and you’ve got yourself a cold brew that will turn your world upside down.
