Beer for Breakfast? Never been a fan, myself. I like my beer best in the evenings,when I’m ready to relax and enjoy. Never been a morning drinker, though. Beer for Breakfast? Now that’s another matter entirely, though I prefer that in the evening, too. I’m talking about Beer for Breakfast Stout, of course, the latest crazy concoction from Milton, Delaware’s Dogfish Head brewery.

They call it Beer for Breakfast Stout because it’s chock full of breakfast-themed ingredients, which we’ll get to shortly. I call this a “crazy concoction” because one of those ingredients is…scrapple? Over the years, I’ve enjoyed beers made with many unusual ingredients, including, ummm, bulls’ testicles (Wynkoop Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout). Never, though, would I have thought of a beer made with scrapple.

If you don’t know, scrapple is a Mid-Atlantic delicacy made from corn meal and pigs hearts, snouts, livers and other leftovers from processing the animals into your more familiar ham, bacon and pork chops. Although I was born and raised in New England, my father was from Philadelphia, and so a plate of crispy fried scrapple with eggs was an occasional breakfast for us.

But scrapple in beer? The thought intrigued, and so I couldn’t pass on it. From the website:

A stout tricked out with all sorts of breakfast ingredients including Guatemalan Antigua cold press coffee, Maple syrup harvested from Western Massachusetts and for the quintessential Delaware breakfast touch - Rapa Scrapple and their secret blend of spices. 

2-row Applewood smoked barley, Kiln Coffee malt, Flaked oats, Roasted barley, Caramel malt along with additions of Molasses, Milk Sugars (lactose), Brown Sugar, Roasted Chicory lay the foundation for this malty, breakfast-themed concoction. Enjoy huge notes of coffee in the nose and savory layers in the flavor. 

Dogfish Head Beer for Breakfast Stout has an alcohol content of 7.4% by volume with 30 IBUs. I paid $9.49 for a six-pack at Target which is a very good price indeed.

Dogfish Head Beer for Breakfast Stout pours to a jet-black color with a thick creamy tan head and a huge coffee grind nose. Taking a sip, the beer is big and thick and viscous, sliding over the tongue slick and full in body. I like that! It’s huge with coffee, roasty coffee grind notes and some bittersweet chocolate. I get a light hint of the maple syrup, though and-more distressingly-no scrapple. I do get a bit of scrapple spice, though, (sage and thyme to my taste), and they come out more fully in the roasty finish as the beer warms.

I love the full roasty body here and the massive coffee presence. A little more of the maple syrup might be nice, and perhaps a little more of the spices, but they do come and all in all this is a wonderful beer indeed. I wasn’t sure how they could pull off the scrapple in the taste and aroma, but with the spices they managed to do it, albeit delicately. Bravo! Maybe I will have Beer for Breakfast after all……

Update 5/31/2020: Lucky me! Clearing out my stash in the COVID-19 pandemic (I'm stuck at home so no Taco Mac), I found a few bottles of Beer for Breakfast Stout. As far as I know, Dogfish Head doesn't make this anymore, but I wish they did. With about 3 1/2 years of age, it's drinking wonderfully, with lots of coffee and roast and a hint of the maple syrup. The scrapple spices have faded a little, but all in all this is one delcious beer I'm glad I can revisit.

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