The “national food day” gimmick is out of control. These days, there’s everything from National Peach Melba Day to National Tortellini Day. There’s even a Turkey Neck Soup Day. The esoteric, frivolous ones are annoying. However, national food holidays that give people excuses to drink their favorite foods are still welcome and endearing. We cared really hard for National Banana Bread Day Feb. 23 — and still no one brought us any Wells Banana Bread Beer. We celebrated National Drink Your Own Bitter Tears Day instead. Today is unofficially/officially National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, and we’re here to provide assistance so that we may all enjoy this pseudo holiday as our ancestors intended — by drinking it in the form of craft beer. Today’s beer sample flight pays tribute this classic cookie. Enjoy Craft Beer Crosscut 5.15.217: A Flight of Chocolate Chip Cookie.
Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout
5% ABV, 28 IBU
OK, it’s chocolate chip cookie time. Samuel Smith’s has always brewed the old-fashioned way and the British operation still pulls water from its original well dug in 1758. Its Organic Chocolate Stout pours dark brown with a thin, khaki head. Light oatmeal and bready aromas lift to the nose, reminiscent of rising dough. On the tongue, this brew’s complex and, with its oatmeal character, has a decidedly cookie quality to it: It’s silky-smooth across the tongue, but also deep and grainy in the flavor. It’s velvety and delicious, with creamy chocolate milk, chocolate syrup and cocoa powder dancing on the tongue. The brew sinks into the mouth and finishes sweet and full.
Young’s Double Chocolate Stout
5.2% ABV
Young’s Double Chocolate Stout’s thick, creamy head sticks to the glass, emitting cocoa powder and semi-sweet chocolate. A hint of hoppiness in the air reminds that it is very much a beer. Pale ale and crystal malt, chocolate malt, special blend of sugars, Fuggle and Goldings hops, real dark chocolate and chocolate essence are all utilized in creating this unique beer. Creamy chocolaty sweetness coats the tongue like liquid silk. The malty, chocolaty smoothness dives into roasted malt bitterness that tingles through the aftertaste: The chocolate’s truly the chip off the old stout.
Ecliptic Capella Porter
5.2% ABV, 39 IBU
As one of the founding brewers at Deschutes Brewery, Ecliptic Brewing Co. head brewer John Harris designed Black Butte Porter, which remains one of the best-selling porters in the country and is a model for the style. Capella is based on an entirely different recipe, Harris says, but was designed with a similar “creatively traditional” approach. Minor tweaks (Munich malt for a boost in toasty, biscuity character; de-husked chocolate malt for reduced astringency and a softer roasted profile) give personality to a beer whose cocoa and burnt sugar flavors, bone-dry finish, and lingering notes of burnt toast remind us of a chocolate chip cookie.
Boulder Beer Shake Chocolate Porter
5.9% ABV, 39 IBU
Boulder Beer Company’s Shake Chocolate Porter (Boulder, Colorado) tastes like a chocolate shake with its rich chocolate aroma and velvety mouthfeel. This beer, which took home a gold medal in the Chocolate Beer category from the 2014 World Beer Cup, is brewed with five different grains, including chocolate wheat, and has added cacao nibs. It’s chocolaty, but the swallow’s still crisp and clean; milky chocolate notes connect with traditional porter roast and ride a cola-like mouthfeel all the way down.
Puyallup River Mud Mountain Milk Stout
7% ABV
Puyallup River Mud Mountain Milk Stout grabbed a silver medal at the 2015 Washington Beers Awards. It grabbed a bronze at the 2016 Washington Beer Awards. It grabs every drinker when they taste its smooth as chocolate silk self. Fresh vanilla beans, cocoa nibs, oats, and six different specialty malts make this milk stout one of the easiest drinking dark beers on the planet.
