TYPE OF BEER: Stout
DATE CONSUMED: 03/24/20
BREWERY: Nickel Brook Brewing Company, Burlington, ON, Canada
PURCHASED AT: The Barrel Room
ALC/VOL: 4.5%
COLOR: Very Dark Brown

 

 

By now it should be no surprise that I like, love stouts. I can’t remember all the stouts that I’ve ever had, but I’m pretty sure they’ve all been good.

I had the Cheeky Bastard Stout from Nickel Brook Brewing the other night when we were semi-binging one of our new favorite shows, Succession on HBO. It’s really good. Anyway back to the beer.

Since we’ve been on lockdown I haven’t paid our friends over at Erik’s Grocery Bag a visit to restock my supply like I normally do. HA! I said normal. My beer supply lately has been stocked by Keri and her crew over at The Barrel Room. It’s a cool, local beer and wine bar that we frequent. She’s been doing curb-side pickup and deliveries to keep people stocked up and supplied during the Covid funk. So when we placed this order, Christina told her… “you know, give us beers that Joe likes and a couple vanilla porters for me.” As I said, we frequent the place so Keri knows.

In her batch of picks, she included the Cheeky Bastard Stout from Nickel Brook Brewing. Hmmm. Wait a minute. Is she saying something about me? I’d never heard of Nickel Brook Brewing, but they’re out of Burlington, Ontario, Canada. To be honest, I had to look at a map to see exactly where that is.

Well shit! Come to find out after looking at the map, I’ve been through Burlington (at 128.75 km/h) a ton of times. Huh… who knew. I obviously didn’t. I’ve traveled that route so many times on the way to vacation or to Toronto for web conferences it’s ridiculous. Now I have to find out if my Canadian friends have ever been to the Nickel Brook Brewing.

Sorry, I digress. Now, the beer! This beer was delicious. As dark as it was, it went down light and smooth. You could taste the chocolate and the coffee, but neither overpowered. I apologize for not showing you what it looked like in the glass, but I got so caught up in the show, I drank it before I realized I hadn’t shot it. I can though, with 100% certainty say, that I will have this beer again. We placed another order with The Barrel Room and Keri included another Bastard in her picks. YES!

In the picture below, we were snacking on what we’ve affectionately nicknamed “crack corn.” This stuff is absolutely addicting. You start eating it and find yourself wanting more and more AND more! It’s called Sweet and Salty Popcorn and it’s made by my friends at KellBran Candies. it’s a combination of caramel corn and cheese corn. Oh man is it good.

KellBran Candies, a long-time client, is your typical Mom and Pop operation. Kathy and Jim, aka Mom and Pop, create some crazy good candies and snack foods. Their caramel corn i’ve been told, is second to none. I’d like to give a personal view on that, but I can’t get passed the Sweet and Salty. They also make incredible brittles and tout their peanut brittle as the thinnest around, and it truly is. We’re in the process of building their new and improved web store right now, but if you’re interested in trying some of their products, please do. They have some of their best sellers online now. But like so many of us right now, they’re doing their best to stay afloat, so if you’re looking for some incredible snackies, won’t you show them some love. Just tell ’em sent you! You won’t be sorry.

If you happen to see this beer at your local shop or you happen to find yourself in Burlington, pick one or more of these up for yourself if you’re a stout fan. I highly recommend it.

Cheers!

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