Beer of the Weekend #535: Morning Wood
It has been a good day for Hawkeye fans. The football team beat Nebraska, the men’s basketball team manhandled UTEP, and the women’s basketball team beat Boston College. Needless to say, it is time to celebrate with a couple brews.
The beer of the weekend is Morning Wood, brewed by the Big Wood Brewery of White Bear Lake, Minnesota.
Serving type: 16-ounce can. No freshness date.
Appearance: Poured into a nonic pint glass. The color is non-opaque black; reddish edges appear when holding the glass to a lamp. A finger of cappuccino-tan head settles slowly, leaving lacing along the glass, a ring around the edge, and a spotted skim.
Smell: A delicious and very enticing blend of roasted malt, molasses, chocolate, and licorice. It smells a lot of like a Russian imperial stout at first. The coffee is there, though it is not bold like espresso. The coffee eventually gains prominence, though.
Taste: Ahh, there’s the coffee. It is much more prominent in the flavor than in the aroma. Once again, though, it is not like the espresso intensity one gets with other stouts. I am not a coffee drinker, but I assume the coffee beans used in the beer are mostly lightly roasted beans. Other than the coffee, there are flavors of dark chocolate, a little molasses, black licorice, and hints of dark fruit. The flavor fades as it warms but the light coffee remains, as does the light roasted bitterness in the aftertaste.
Drinkability: Well-made stuff. It is tasty and not overwhelming.
Fun facts about Morning Wood:
-Style: Big Wood calls it “Coffee Stout.”
-Price: $8.99/four-pack at John’s Grocery in Iowa City.
-Serving temperature: A thermometer on the can shows the “BEST SERVED” temperature of 38-45ºF.
-Alcohol content: 5.5 percent ABV.
-IBU: 35.
-Description via the brewery website:
-The mascot for Morning Wood is (surprise, surprise) a rooster.
The Quiet Man’s grade: B-.
The beer of the weekend is Morning Wood, brewed by the Big Wood Brewery of White Bear Lake, Minnesota.
Serving type: 16-ounce can. No freshness date.
Appearance: Poured into a nonic pint glass. The color is non-opaque black; reddish edges appear when holding the glass to a lamp. A finger of cappuccino-tan head settles slowly, leaving lacing along the glass, a ring around the edge, and a spotted skim.
Smell: A delicious and very enticing blend of roasted malt, molasses, chocolate, and licorice. It smells a lot of like a Russian imperial stout at first. The coffee is there, though it is not bold like espresso. The coffee eventually gains prominence, though.
Taste: Ahh, there’s the coffee. It is much more prominent in the flavor than in the aroma. Once again, though, it is not like the espresso intensity one gets with other stouts. I am not a coffee drinker, but I assume the coffee beans used in the beer are mostly lightly roasted beans. Other than the coffee, there are flavors of dark chocolate, a little molasses, black licorice, and hints of dark fruit. The flavor fades as it warms but the light coffee remains, as does the light roasted bitterness in the aftertaste.
Drinkability: Well-made stuff. It is tasty and not overwhelming.
Fun facts about Morning Wood:
-Style: Big Wood calls it “Coffee Stout.”
-Price: $8.99/four-pack at John’s Grocery in Iowa City.
-Serving temperature: A thermometer on the can shows the “BEST SERVED” temperature of 38-45ºF.
-Alcohol content: 5.5 percent ABV.
-IBU: 35.
-Description via the brewery website:
2011 & 2012 ABR Winner for Best Beer! The blast of coffee flavor in this beer will send you right back to this morning when you woke up, stretched, and thought “Hey, this is gonna be a great day!” Morning Wood is brewed with Fuggle and Cascade hops and adds hints of oatmeal and chocolate to make every coffee-lover’s secret beer dreams come true. Morning Wood uses only fresh roasted Dunn Brothers Coffee Beans.
-The mascot for Morning Wood is (surprise, surprise) a rooster.
The Quiet Man’s grade: B-.
