I'm making the second post of 2023's Maple Month a fun one. I try to nab an extra bottle/can of the beers I discuss in November whenever I'm able, in the hope that I'm able to revisit them some Maple Month down the road. I have a small shelf in my beer cabinet dedicated to this.

Do you remember two years back when I did up Goose Island's maple-forward Bourbon County Brand Stout? I loved it, giving it my highest recommendation. Since I'm keeping things compressed this month, I figured I could break into my second (of two!) bottles of the beer today. Let's see if BCBS Special #4 is just as good at three years old as it was at one.

We've come now, to the ending of the current blog season. This is the final beer of 2021's Maple Month. I purchased this bottle on November 27th, 2020. I've had it in my cellar for nearly a year.

This beer, this Maple Month's swansong, is, of course Goose Island's Bourbon County Brand #4 Special Stout (I'll refer to it as #4 from here on out). I picked this up nearly a year ago knowing that I'd crack into it for this evening's post. Let's see if cellaring it for a year's paid off.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Normally, I don't do up St. Paddy's too much--just add a few drops of green food coloring to a lager or two (what can I say? I'm an OU grad). This evening, though, I have something a little special.

See, I happened to run into a sixer of Warped Wing's St. Patrick's Day stout at a local bottleshop a week or so ago. It's a variant of the brewery's 10 TON Oatmeal Stout (which I briefly mentioned in this post but have never done a full writeup on). I had some of the original 10 TON within the last month and figured now would be an incredibly opportune time to crack into some 10 TON Irish Cream Stout on the blog; not only have I refreshed myself on the base beer it's, y'know, seasonally appropriate.

Peanut butter is one of my favorite flavors. I'm not just talking about on a sandwich with jelly, no, I'm talking in ice cream, in milkshakes, enveloped in a chocolate cup, in smoothies with bananas, on toast with honey, on celery with raisins, and everything in-between. Have you paired a Reese's with a pumpkin ale? Try it this fall--it's luxurious.

Yet, if you searched for "peanut butter" here on the blog, you'd probably never realize this about me. I've written about one peanut butter beer on here and rated it more highly then than I would now. That's because peanut butter beers haven't really ever clicked for me. Like, once in a while I get a pint of some peanut butter stout at a taproom that's amazing, sure, but that's an rare occurrence. Most of the time it seems this adjunct is either under-utilized or used in a way that shows the brewer doesn't quite know how to add it into their beer.

This weekend will (very hopefully) show how that can be done. I was able to nab two peanut butter-infused stouts from New Holland. If any brewery can show how to best use this adjunct, it's these guys. Today, I'm drinking and writing about the first one: Peanut Butter Poet. I'll dive into the second tomorrow. At the end of this short series, we'll see (again, very hopefully) just how well peanut butter can work in a beer.

You might remember a little over a month ago when I broke into my first Black Is Beautiful (Streetside's variant of the world-wide collaborative stout effort, conceptualized by San Antonio, TX's Weathered Souls Brewing Company). The whole point of the effort is for breweries to commit to equality, make the beer (while possibly putting their own twist on the recipe), and give the proceeds from it to local organizations that support police brutality reform, legal defense funds for those who have been wronged by the police, and entities that support inclusion and equality. Information on the effort can be found on the official Black is Beautiful website.

I wasn't sure how many takes on Black is Beautiful I'd get to address here. Truth be told, I was excited to find the first from Streetside. I'm happy to break into my second today, Rhinegeist's variant, which is a 10% ABV Imperial Oatmeal Stout. Let's get to it.

So, winter's here now. I mean, I know that yes, technically, it's still fall for over another month. I would totally do battle with that technicality as my blade. That technicality is the hill upon which I would die. I love fall and every other season can rot.

But, it's some 33° now. This morning, on my way to work, it was 21°. It took over ten minutes and a combination of scrapping and defrosting to clear my car's windshield enough for me to safely drive. Yeah. Unfortunately winter's hitting early and swiftly here.

Sorry the background's so washed out. That random hand's Michelle holding Charlotte.

But, hey, it ain't all so bad. I mean, after all, I still have a few maple beers to get through, right? Which is why, in order to fend off the chill of the dark night without my home, I'm nestling down with Grand Armory's Barrel Aged Sap On Tap.

It's Friday! And that's great because I have today off and have spent most of it watching the second season of Master of None, which is great (please note that this post isn't sponsored by that show) (please also note, Aziz, that future posts could definitely be sponsored that show). I've been tempted to crack into this post a few times today but I really thought it'd be best to wait until evening.