Tis the season for Christmas cookies! I love Cookies. I also love beer. And in December I love the two together. This Christmas cookies and stout thing wasn’t my idea, I wish it had been because I think it’s one of the greatest ideas ever. It is actually the idea of one of our best (in my opinion) local bars here in Appleton, Fox River House. They have been hosting a Christmas cookies and stout night for the past four years and it’s a night we look forward to very much. It’s really quite brilliant. Anyone can participate in the cookie eating and stout drinking, and if you’re a superstar you can bake cookies to bring thus entering yourself into the cookie contest with a chance to win a bar tab. The yearly entries are no joke. People take their cookies pretty seriously. The stand out for me this year was the third place winner (he got robbed!) which was a creme brulee cookie. Take 10 seconds to imagine how good that would taste. I bet you gained at least a pound thinking about it. I surely gained a few eating them while drinking stout.
Why is this idea brilliant? Personally I tend to gravitate to a stout beer in the colder months. Call me crazy, but I just don’t want a stout when it’s 90 degrees in the middle of summer. A good stout is wonderful on it’s own, but add some sugary sweet Christmas cookies to offset the heavy and sometimes bitterness and you have a match made in heaven. Here are some recommendations if you’re looking for a stout to enjoy this holiday season….. with or without Christmas cookies!
Founders Breakfast Stout – This is probably hands down my favorite stout. It has everything…. brewed with chocolate, oats and coffee, it’s super smooth and so delicious. It’s 8:45am and -6 degrees outside on a Sunday and I really would consider having one right now…. for breakfast…. don’t judge.
Bells Java Stout – Another stout brewed with coffee, this is an easy drinking, smooth stout. Heavy on the coffee and slightly sweet.
Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Stout – Brewers Reserve Series – If you find this (our Woodman’s currently has it), it’ll be pricey, but worth every penny. Aged in oak bourbon barrels it’s a little boozy. Drink this one slow and enjoy the love that surely has gone into brewing it.
And if beer isn’t your thing, try Luna Cafe’s Stout Blend coffee. Luna is a small batch coffee roaster out of De Pere, Wisconsin and their stout blend is the coffee used to brew Hinterland’s Luna Coffee Stout (yet another coffee stout I love). Luna Cafe coffee is our favorite and the Stout blend is always my first choice. I pretty much have a meltdown when our Woodman’s is out of it. Purchase it directly from Luna to avoid previously mentioned meltdown.
Do you have any favorite stouts, Christmas cookies or other awesome holiday traditions? We would love you to share with us!