Breakfast of Champs

A non-scientific survey of Sitemeter suggests that the most viewed page of The Cluemeter may be the archives page for November 2009.

Which post are they looking for?  Happy Thanksgiving?  Motivators?  "Haze Gray, and Under Way" (Updated)?

I'd kinda like to think it was the original Breakfast of Champs, in which the wonderful folks at 99 Bottles introduced me to pairing beer--specifically, beer brewed with coffee--with donuts.

Due to my work schedule at the time, I missed the "Beer and Cake" for the birthday/anniversary of 99 Bottles, and the "Beer and Easter Candy " they did...well, it's obvious when they did that.

This morning they did another Beer and Donuts, or, as they called it, "Beer and D'ohnuts", which I understand is a Simpsons reference.

Rather than the coffee beers--two stouts and a porter--tasted last year, this time there was more variety:

• Lost Coast Tanegrine Wheat  (Eureka California)
• Hitachino Espresso Stout  (Kiuchi Brewery,  Japan, and too rich for my blood under normal circumstances.)
• Baron Rauchbier  ("German style smoked beer that is most commonly found in Bamberg. 80% of the malt is smoked with Beechwood.")

So we had our orange juice, our coffee, and our cigarette I mean smoked bacon.

The Tangerine Wheat did, in fact, taste orange-y, if not orange juice-y.  Tasting notes mention wheat bread, which I could taste, and candied orange peel, which I didn't.  Maybe it was the apple fritter...

The Hitachino, well, I'd had it before, but it's like $5 a bottle, so not often.  It's an Imperial Stout, meaning it is hoppier than a standard stout.  Tastes of Imperial Stouts are all over the map; Old Rasputin is rather sweet.  This one is, well, made with espresso, so it's coffee. Maybe, the smell of percolating coffee, which is said to be the worst way to make coffee, but it smells so good...

Rauchbiers are definitely a specialized, if not an acquired, taste.  The tasting notes mention bacon; it reminded me of the English or Latakia blends of tobacco I favor when smoking my pipe; what that would do for drinking this and smoking that at the same time, I don't know.  One lady there when I was tasting commented that, as a vegetarian, she does not like "meat-flavored" things, so she didn't care for it at all.  Like I said, a matter of taste.  Tiffany (proprietor and blogger of 99 Bottles) called this "the wild card", as what it tasted like would vary so much with what donut we were eating; she said it matched best with a maple bar, but it was one donut to a taster, and I already had that apple fritter in my hand, so I guess I missed my chance...

Beer!  Not just for lunch anymore!