By Greg B.  Well, I thought the massive snowfall of 2003 was about all I was going to see of snow here in Baltimore.  Then, the large snowstorm on December 18th was impressive, but I thought that was a fluke, never to happen again this year.  Turns out, I was very wrong!  As a New Yorker, seeing many inches of  simultaneous snowfall reminds me of  winters back home, and watching Baltimore residents struggle through and deal with this snowfall is equally impressive.  There’s a good side to this, the normally assumed ‘mean’ streets of Baltimore (even here on the west side… I live basically where The Wire was filmed) are filled with good natured people, helping one another out, mostly through shoveling and pushing of cars, but still, it’s endearing.  But what beers would I recommend to help one get through this second snowfall?  Well, assuming you’re close enough to a liquor store to buy alcohol, this post will be useful.  Otherwise, I’m simply going to just go through a list of beers that you should stock up on and have on hand, for future paralyzing snowstorms!

First of all, I’d like to mention that beer might be one of the perfect emergency food sources.  For hundreds of years, Monks used this as their food when fasting from actual ‘food’ intake, and in general, many peasants and people received a lot of their daily caloric intake via beer, which is essentially a liquid form of bread.  A secondary benefit, is that beer also is a source of water, so if your pipes freeze solid, or the water goes out, you at least know you have some supplies of potable liquid around to help you survive. Plus, beer has a relatively long shelf life.  The mixture of alcohol and hops are there to preserve the beer and keep any disease causing bacteria at bay (not to mention to give you a good, tasty beverage!).  And so, this is my little pitch for everyone to stock up on an ample emergency supply of beer.  It just might be the most perfect emergency food out there (except for tactical bacon).

Emergencies aside however, what would I recommend, and what am I going to enjoy tonight?  Well as far as recommendations go, you’ll want something that is both warming and hearty.  A beer that commands a presence, takes time to enjoy and will help you settle down for a long winter’s nap (you’ll need the rest for tomorrow’s shoveling detail!).  So, what should you drink?

Clipper City’s Peg Leg Stout – While their barley wine (Below Decks) is almost an equal favorite, I personally love the rich, dark flavors of the Peg Leg.  This is a beer to be served a little bit chilled, but not too cold as you’ll want to enjoy the flavors and aromas it has.  Dark chocolate and espresso, what a great combo for a cold winter’s evening!  And if you have a dessert, this will go a long way towards making that dessert/beer pairing a fantastic way to end your evening.

St. Bernardus Abt 12… and maybe also the Prior 8 – These are hearty beers.  The Abt 12 is one heck of a beer, complex aromas of malt, toffee, alcohol and yeast with Belgian spice make this certainly a sipping beer (not to mention the 10.5%abv!) and one that will warm you up!  But if you have access to the Abt 12, you probably also have access to their Prior 8, a deliciously caramel/chocolaty beer that is a big lower in the abv department, but definitely a season favorite.

DuClaw’s Colossus – While I have yet to try this beer (I know, I’m recommending a beer I haven’t had yet, you’ll see why in a second), any beer that is fermented simply using yeast to produce a beverage that is 21%abv is simply impressive.  And while we here in the US do always try to get things to be bigger and better, this beer may take the cake in terms of local breweries pushing the limits of brewing!  While I don’t know the flavors, or if it’s even great to drink with that much alcohol, one thing is for certain: This is a beer that will warm you up!

BelHaven Wee Heavy Scotch Ale – To put together a list like this and not mention a Scotch Ale might have been an atrocity.  And Belhaven makes one of the best and well known Scotch ales (translation: you’re likely to find it in the store!).  With it’s warm, delicious caramel flavors and aromas of sweet dark fruits, this beer is flavor packed and a joy to drink.  While it’s not as high an ABV as the other beers, it makes up for this in being as flavor packed as a beer can be.

And now, to the beers I’m enjoying for this evening!

Hook Norton Double Stout - I’ve had this beer sitting in my basement for some time, and now is the time to drink it!  What better way to put the snow to work than to use it (and the previous snowfall) as a cooler to chill my beer! (careful, this beer is only 4.8%abv, so it will freeze easier than the above mentioned beers!).  The beer has a good amount of carbonation, which produces a prodigious head and pours a jet black color with dark tan head.  Aromas of dry chocolate malt and typically more earthy European hops are noticeable on the nose.  The mouthfeel has a bit much in the way of carbonation, but this is saved somewhat by the very creamy head that helps balance out the beer.   The flavor is relatively mild, good chocolate malt, hints of more dark roasted malts but nothing really overpowering or overtly present.  A little hint of sweetness at the finish goes a long way to accentuate the creaminess of the head in the next sip, giving the beer an ever increasing ‘chocolate shake’ type of flavor and mouthfeel.  Nice beer, not as potent as I wanted, but still a good, standard stout.  2.5/5.

De Ranke XX Bitter – A Belgian IPA?  Sure, why not!  In preparation for the upcoming Belgian Beer Fest at Max’s Taphouse here in Baltimore’s Fells Point, I figured I’d give this beer a shot, be adventurous.  And boy did I make a bad choice.  I poured the beer into a tulip Chimay glass, and it poured a well carbonated nice golden color with 1 finger head that rapidly receded.  The aroma was… kind of strange.  Like damp earth with hints of citrus… but more like if you buried bitter orange peel in your basement floor (assuming a dirt floor) and dug it up two weeks later.  The taste was even worse.  It’s not an enjoyable Funk, like some geuze have, and it’s not an IPA by any stretch of the word.  It’s like a Belgian tripel, only with no yeast or spice, watery mouthfeel and high carbonation, and with a musty bitter skunk flavor.  Off bottle?  Perhaps.  But man, this was a surprise.  Possibly the first Belgian beer I poured down the drain (it broke my heart, but I couldn’t drink it).