It's February. It's meant to be cold and dark, with some snow, or sleet, or fog to make it drearier. Sure Valentine's Day is tomorrow, but I've always taken that to be a bright point in an otherwise dreadful month.


And, yeah. We've experienced cold, dark, foggy, snowy, and sleety days here in the last week. We've also hit unseasonably warm weather (60°) and cloudless, sunny days. In fact, today was one such of those cloudless, sunny days. But, I think I have a cure. I think I've found just the beer to knock this month back into its place: North Pier's Old Shuck. So, join me as I pull the curtains closed and put on some creepy music. Hopefully, all this is befitting this porter.

How's your January been? Cold? Yeah, ours too. We're just now starting to emerge from that polar vortex that's wrapped New England and the Midwest up tight the last few days.


All that cold's been making me sleepy. I get home from work, pull on my sweatpants, light a fire, and veg out while trying to stave off bedtime until a reasonable hour. Tonight, I'm thinking a little kick might help. That kick is coming in the form of Wiedemann's Wake Me Up (which, by the way, may make for an exceptional breakfast beer, if you're into that sort of thing. This is, and has been, a judgement-free zone--unless you happen to be a beer).

This is a beer I'm happy to get to tonight. See, this is a stout that struck me as nothing less than a winter's night stout. Just yesterday, it was in the mid-fifties--far from what I'd consider "winter." Luckily, I still live in Ohio, so now, little more than twenty-four hours later, it's in the low- to mid-twenties. Snow's coming down outside and we have a fire in our buck stove. It's definitely a winter's night.


The beer I was saving? That'd be Clown Shoes' Snow on the Maple Tree, an imperial stout. Snow, maple, imperial stout--seems like this brew was tailor-made for me. On paper, at least. How will it hold up in practice?

Good morning! And, I do mean that as good morning. It's currently ten o'clock as I sit here typing this. Me? Don't sweat a thing--I've been up and at it for hours. I went for a run (I am so damn out of shape). I took a shower. I'm getting ready to take a quick break from this post to drive Michelle to the post office and eat breakfast. Then, I'll be back at it with today's beer.


And, what is today's beer, you may ask? A barleywine. A breakfast barleywine. Crazy, right? I found a can (multiple cans, actually) at my local bottleshop priced at $4 a pop. I couldn't say no. So, without further ado (for you, not for me--I've a bit to do before this next bit), let's find out all about CAMERON'S Brewing's Early Bird Breakfast Barley Wine.