Beer For Breakfast Stout
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

Beer For Breakfast StoutBeer For Breakfast Stout
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From:
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
 
Delaware, United States
Style:
Sweet / Milk Stout
Ranked #384
ABV:
7.4%
Score:
88
Ranked #13,476
Avg:
3.94 | pDev: 10.15%
Reviews:
192
Ratings:
794
Status:
Active
Rated:
Jan 29, 2023
Added:
Nov 19, 2014
Wants:
  39
Gots:
  173
20 years ago when Sam was first cooking up ideas for brews (literally) for his soon to be brewpub, one of the first concoctions tested and implemented was Chicory Stout, a breakfast-themed beer with Mexican Coffee, Chicory, and Licorice root. 20 years later, we’ve brewed a supped up mac-daddy version of this OG Dogfish brew to commemorate the anniversary of Chicory, aptly named Beer for Breakfast. We took the original Chicory recipe, doubled the grain bill to hit 10% ABV, and tricked it out with all other sorts of delicious Breakfast-minded ingredients including lactose sugar (the sugar that lends Milk Stouts their character); barley malt smoked over local Fifer Orchards wood; maple syrup harvested from trees at Northfield Mount Hermon, the Western Massachusetts school where Sam and wife Mariah met; Steve’s Smokey Double Dark roast coffee from J & S Bean Factory in St. Paul Minnesota (a special nod to one of Sam’s favorite bands – The Replacements, who hail from Minnesota and wrote one of Sam’s most beloved songs: Beer for Breakfast); and for the quintessential Delaware breakfast touch – 25 pounds of Rapa Scrapple, which was added to the mash. Huge notes of coffee in the nose give way to sweet, smokey, and savory layers in the flavor which overlap bittersweet chocolate, roasty espresso, and malty undertones. We don’t have much of this one, so come and get it while it lasts!
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by Boto:
Photo of Boto
Reviewed by Boto from Connecticut

4.03/5  rDev +2.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
12oz bottle: This one pours an inky dark brown color. There was a small light brown head that didn’t linger long. It has a nice nose. Roasted barley, coffee, some chocolate, smokiness, maybe some floral notes also. A lot going on here. The taste is also quite good. Chocolate, roasted malts, coffee, a touch of sweetness from the lactose, some chicory. Don’t think the scrapple is adding any notable flavors, but I like the idea of my favorite breakfast meat in my beer!
Mar 18, 2017
More User Ratings:
Photo of stevoj
Reviewed by stevoj from Idaho

4.21/5  rDev +6.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
On tap at PreFunk. Pours out a nice clear golden with soft creamy head, lazy carbonation. Slightly oily, creamy mouth feel, yeasty, grassy aroma and taste. Mild spice on the back on the finish leaves some tang lingering.
Jan 29, 2023
 
Rated: 3.75 by TMoney2591 from Illinois

Nov 27, 2021
 
Rated: 4.25 by Cotton_27 from Michigan

May 09, 2020
 
Rated: 3.75 by BEER88 from North Carolina

Jan 19, 2020
Photo of MonDak_Joe1953
Reviewed by MonDak_Joe1953 from Minnesota

3.98/5  rDev +1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
12oz bottle. 2016 release.
Black colored body, with a thin brown back lit edge. Active surface with a thin tan colored head. A little bit of an oily sheen of lacing left behind.
Aroma still expresses coffee, along with smoked malt.
Taste is roasted, smoked malts, and joined in by a little coffee and sweet cream (lactose?). Maple flavor is distant and there is no Scrapple taste, other than a hint of smoked meat.
Thinner mouth feel. Good carbonation.
There is more coffee in the smell than in the taste but that could be affected by age. The smoke works quite well and could have been better with some chiles or cinnamon.
Dec 21, 2019
 
Rated: 4 by JonB25 from Delaware

Sep 13, 2019
 
Rated: 4.16 by beerjerk666 from Florida

May 27, 2019
Photo of Oh_Dark_Star
Rated by Oh_Dark_Star from Washington

3.42/5  rDev -13.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
Way too charred and roasty in character.
May 04, 2019
 
Rated: 3.5 by dafla67 from Pennsylvania

May 01, 2019
Photo of GuyFawkes
Reviewed by GuyFawkes from Illinois

2.9/5  rDev -26.4%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Bottled 11/15/16; drank 12/3/16 @ the Yarchives.

Black appearance.

A rough pour yielded a big dark tan head; decent lace.

Burnt black coffee, sweet cream & smoky bacon notes in the nose.

Medium thick, creamy mouthfeel.

Burnt black coffee & sweet cream flavors up front; bacon & sweet maple syrup notes on the finish.

The burnt coffee notes mar this, plus it's way too sweet; I'm the target market for this beer but I don't like it.
Feb 18, 2019
 
Rated: 3.99 by JDizzle from Indiana

Jan 31, 2019
 
Rated: 4.25 by Nurt20 from Illinois

Jan 21, 2019
Photo of Reggie_Dunlop
Rated by Reggie_Dunlop from Pennsylvania

4.5/5  rDev +14.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Common, this is awsome
Jan 13, 2019
 
Rated: 3.04 by bafcats from Pennsylvania

Dec 04, 2018
 
Rated: 3.84 by petrusek23 from Ohio

Nov 05, 2018
 
Rated: 4.01 by spiejak from Michigan

Nov 03, 2018
Photo of macrosmatic
Reviewed by macrosmatic from Florida

3.11/5  rDev -21.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3
Reviewed from (long-standing) notes. Poured from a 12 oz. bottle into an El Catador teku glass.

A: Very dark brown, opaque, with a low amount of visible carbonation. Forms a half-finger of tan head with good retention.

S: Coffee - dark and fresh brewed. Smoky and savory, with some char and just touches of Band-Aid. Dark roasted malts, light vanilla. I’m missing the promised maple syrup. Mild chocolate notes to the roasted malts, and some of spiced tobacco, anise, cola. Not particularly inspired here.

T: Coffee and smoke and Band-Aid. Roasted malts and chocolate dipped bacon. Still some notes of ginger, anise, and maybe other spices I can’t quite place. Still no maple flavor. Smoke never becomes acrid but remains kinda Band-aidy throughout the drink. Touches of cola or Dr. Pepper flavor. Coffee and the savoriness in the hang.

M: The body is thinner than expected, though not watery. Carbonation sensation very much on the low side. The alcohol is warming but not obnoxious.

O: I thought this was really a let down. I was prepared for perhaps a poor-man’s MBCP, but this isn’t even close. Too smoky, no maple syrup, and whatever spices they chose to dump into this just don’t work for me. And this is from someone who is familiar with and enjoys (the occasional) scrapple breakfast. Really not very appealing, though not quite a drainpour or anything.
Nov 02, 2018
 
Rated: 4 by Huhzubendah from District of Columbia

Aug 23, 2018
Photo of maximum12
Reviewed by maximum12 from Minnesota

3.23/5  rDev -18%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Well. Now that I’ve read the label on this 12 oz. bottle & used my Google power, I know what scrapple is. And now I want to try it.

The pour is stout black – no, not that stout - & smells like, uh, breakfast. Bit of umami (is there a more pretentious reviewing word?), salt, roast. Not sure where this is going.

Beer for Breakfast – a noble phrase. Perhaps I should have saved this to sit next to my famous Belgian waffles tomorrow morning. Other than the fine name, this is pretty routine. Big malts running throughout, slight smokiness, sweetness that might be maple syrup if I squint hard enough. Handed half of this to my wife & a six ounce pour will do just fine.

Despite the fine list of ingredients, this is pretty mundane. Pretty good brew.
Aug 19, 2018
Beer For Breakfast Stout from Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
Beer rating: 88 out of 100 with 794 ratings