Dave Johnson emailed me late last night to let me in on some very exciting news, the brewers at O’Fallon Brewery have gotten the go ahead to brew a new seasonal beer. Always interested in brewing a stout, they decided that with cool weather quickly approaching they decided to go with a beer that will provide a winter warmer, a Cocoa Cream Stout. The beer will initially be a draught only product, but hopefully if there is enough enthusiasm we’ll see a bottled product in the near future.

Dave and Brian Owens put their heads together a came up with a recipe that contains Carafa and flaked barley and instead of piloting the new beer out on their homebrew system, they’re going whole hog and brewing a batch on Thursday. As Dave told me about not piloting it out, “That’s the same way we did the 5 Day and it came out OK.” Yeah, I’d say 5 Day IPA came out a bit better than “OK” as it’s now O’Fallon’s best selling beer. This sounds like a great winter beer and I can’t wait to try it.

Just in time for these chilly winter nights, Morgan Street brewery has released their Dopplebock. I’ll let Drew do the honor of tell you about this beer:

It’s a rich and full bodied winter warmer with loads of malt character. It’s packed with Pilsner and Munich malts, light brown - dark amber in color and impeccably smooth. If you need a winter warmer without getting bowled over with alcohol, hops or spices a pint of this will do the trick.