Special Notes: Brewed with Barrington Coffee Roasting Company cold brew coffee, and Goodnow Farms cacao nibs.
Hops: Hop extract
Malts: Pilsner, Abbey, Turbinado Sugar
ABV: 10.0%
IBU: N/A
Availability: Columbus
@untappd says: 4.03/5
Now I’m gonna have Kid Cudi stuck in my head all day.
Have you ever had a coffee barleywine? I’ve purchased two in my life—counting this year’s Bourbon County Brand release—but Trillium Brewing Company’s Cacao Day & Night is the first one I’ve actually ever tried. It’s definitely unique, but if you can get over the fact that you’re not used to tasting coffee in a beer outside of a stout, you’ll find a really robustly flavored barleywine that’s really enjoyable to sip.
Cacao and coffee? Not in a stout? OK, baby! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
I picked this one up on my trip to Trillium’s canton location couple of weeks ago, but I lost it in the back of my fridge. Don’t you hate when that happens? Anyway, it’s from the Day & Night series of coffee barleywines that Trillium has been putting out for a minute now. However, the variants of this brew usually involve different types of coffee. The coffee used in this one comes from frequent contributor Barrington Coffee Roasting Company, but the key ingredient is the cacao nibs from Goodnow Farms. This one is wonderful on the nose, and the flavors really push through too. Like I said, it’s a little weird when coffee isn’t in a deep dark porter or stout, but I really liked this one.
Middle school Me to adult Me: You’re writing a post about how good social studies is? Who have you become, man?
Because of all the awesome Trillium Brewing Company beers I bought on my craft brewery road trip two weeks ago, I’m still getting around to posting about the other awesome breweries I hit up with my buddy, the Galley Cookin’ Beer Snob. Today, I want to talk to you a bit about Castle Island Brewing Company. It was the second stop on our tour, and we weren’t there for very long—just took a quick look around and bought cans—but I was pretty happy with the spot, and the beer I took home.
Does this label take you back to middle school, or what? (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Window Sills)
The coolest thing going on at Castle Island while we were there was the Can derby. I’m not sure the rules, or how it all works with the signups and such, but a large space within the brewery was used to create a race course, and entrants made cars out of beer cans to battle it out for supremacy. You can see one of the cars in the photos below. It was pretty awesome, and makes me definitely want to go back to CIB when I have more time to spend there.
About the social studies: It’s a rotating series of single hop hazy IPAs from CIB, from which eight beers have been released: Citra, Ella, El Dorado, Simcoe, Ekuanot, Azacca, Mosaic and Amarillo. I managed to grab a four-pack of the Amarillo, and I was pretty happy with it. The Amarillo hop produces some great tropical aromas and notes of ripe Mandarin orange. I dug it. Didn’t mind doing the homework on this one at all. I also picked up a four-pack of the Dream Police, a spiced porter, that I’ll review down the road sometime.
Head over to Instagram to check out more photos from my visit!
Sometimes the ocean needs to get put in its place!
As I keep mentioning, I went on a big ol’ beer road trip a couple of weeks ago. My buddy, @galleycookinbeersnob and I spent an entire Saturday traveling around Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, hitting up as many breweries as we could get to. Our final stop was Groton, CT’s Outer Light Brewing Company.
Tell me you haven’t punched the ocean before… I’d call you a liar. (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Window Sills)
We started out with a flight, which you see up on that nice in-house Windowsill at the brewery. I tried the Bring In the Dancing Lobsters (a cherry milk stout), the Libation Propaganda (a coffee stout), the SUBduction (an IPA with El Dorado, Citra, Citra Lupulin Powder and Equinox hops) and today’s official Windowsill beer (keep scrolling), the Punching the Ocean—a double IPA dry-hopped with Galaxy, Citra, Nelson and Mosaic.
The taproom itself was cool—I wish I had more time to chill out there—and all of the beer was really tasty. I definitely recommend this place if you’re in the Groton area. Have a flight or two and take home some cans!
Check out photos from my trip to Outer Light on Instagram, now!
Grey Sail Brewing of RI: Wheelhouse Series: S.O.S.
Two weekends ago, I took a beer road trip with my buddy, Galley Cookin’ Beer Snob. We started with by driving to Trillium Brewing Company in Canton, and we ended up hitting up several other breweries on the way home. One of those breweries was Rhode Island’s Grey Sail Brewing of RI. We didn’t stay for long, just long enough to check out their unique taproom, drink a couple of pints and scarf down a pizza, but it was a freaking awesome place.
First of all, the taproom. You can see from the photo—check out the Instagram post below—that it basically looks like a house. Guess what… it looks like a house on the inside, too. I’m pretty sure that’s because it’s built in an old house. I mean, check out that Windowsill!
Grey Sail Brewing of RI: Wheelhouse Series The Pearl on the Windowsill. (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Window Sills)
As I mentioned, the beers were pretty solid. Both of the pints you see on the Windowsill above are part of Greysail’s Wheelhouse Creative Ale Series. In 2018, Greysail decided to create a new, limited edition beer every two months.
The first photo you see is of the S.O.S., which was the third release in the series. It’s a New England IPA hopped with Ekuanot, and dry-hopped with Vic Secret, Bru-1 and Topaz. Super juicy and hazy! The second beer is The Pearl, which was the fifth in the series. It’s not just a stout—it’s an oyster stout, made with Watch Hill oysters. Don’t forget the Cacao nibs and vanilla beans, too.
I managed to snag a couple of take home cans and bottles, but I’ll show you guys those another day. If you haven’t checked out Greysail, make sure you do. Great brews, and an awesome place!
Check out some cool photos from my stop. The taproom is unreal!
Get a glass of water, cuz we’re bringing a different kind of heat on the Windowsill today!
Aside from craft beer, I’m also a big food guy (a little too big, if you ask my doctor). And, to the dismay of my wife, I like my food spicy. This means that I’m always ready to try a new kind of hot sauce. Luckily, for me, I found a way to combine my passions: the Butterfly Bakery in Vermont.
Aside from bars, cookies and granola, Butterfly Bakery loves making hot stuff. The bakery was started by Claire Georges in 2003. When it all began, Claire was baking in the middle of the night in a local coffee shop, dropping off her goods at local stores in the early morning hours before they opened. In 2007, she got a space of her own, and hired her first employee in 2014. Claire prides herself in her commitment to grow Butterfly slowly, in a sustainable manner, and using only local ingredients to make her delicious treats.
Take a closer look at these awesome sauces! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
Somewhere along the way, she also started making hot sauces as a side business. In 2015, she expanded that, which is what brought her company to my sill today. I’d seen Butterfly’s products on the Instagram of my good buddy, @irie_viewbrew, and I reached out to see if there was any way I could sample the company’s hot sauces. Claire generously sent me four different sauces, each made with a different variety of local craft beer.
I ended up with bottles of Heady Topper (made with The Alchemist), the Red Heady (the “owner’s reserve” also made with Alchemist), the Habañero Lime Switchback (made with Switchback Beer) and the Peppercorn Porter (made with Queen City Brewery).
As you can see, the only one I’ve gotten to so far is the Heady Topper. I couldn’t help myself. It was absolutely delicious! I really can’t wait to try the rest, and I can already tell they’ll be wonderful. Check out Butterfly Bakery’s Instagram, and go buy some of their sauces… if you can take the heat!
Back in 2017, I visited Trillium Brewing Company’s Fort Point location for the very first time. Part of my haul that day was a 4-pack of the Free Rise saison dry-hopped with Citra. I really liked it, and reviewed it later that August, but I didn’t realize it was part of a single-hop showcase series at the time.
Don’t mind my messy sink, check out the label! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Window Sills)
When I took my trip to Trillium’s Canton location last week, I saw they had the Mosaic dry-hopped version, and I had to have a couple cans. I did a little more research, and it turns out Trillium has released several versions of this beer: The original Free Rise, the aforementioned Citra, a Galaxy one, a Nelson one and a Motueka Free Rise. From what I’ve gathered through reading and tasting, they’re all pretty damn good.
Let’s talk about the Mosaic today, though. Like the Citra, this is a very delicious saison. Like Trillium’s other forays into the style, the Free Rise ignores the tradition of making these saisons a little less alcohol heavy (the style originated in France as the daily 5 liter allotment for farmhands, so it had to be lower in ABV… unless you wanted your farmhands passing out and messing up your farm). It’s got a solid punch at just under 7.5 alcohol by volume, but it retains all of the qualities that make other saisons great. It’s crisp and carbonated with that solid saison yeast flavor, and that extra Mosaic in the dry-hop really makes it quite delicious. I wish I could drink 5 liters of this every day, that’s for sure.
I’ve now tried two of these Free Rise saisons. Can’t wait to try the next kind!
Check this one out on Instagram, now! Follow Beers on Windowsills if you like beers… or Windowsills!
A little birdie told me there’s a kickass Pale Ale on the Windowsill today!
Have you heard of Trillium Brewing Company’s Small Bird Series of American Pale Ales? Don’t worry, no actual birds were harmed in the making of the series. They’re all named after diminutive versions of popular birds. It’s also a way for the brewery to denote that the beers in this series have a smaller ABV than their typical cans and bottles.
Look at that adorable little partridge! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Window Sills)
So why is the series named after small birds? Is there a particularly enthusiastic ornithologist in the midsts at Trillium? Not exactly. According to Trillium’s own Twitter, the series was inspired by a typo. It seems someone was trying to type “Little Brewster” (a small island in Boston Harbor), and it was autocorrected to “Little Rooster.” From that mistake arose inspiration, and the rest is history.
This one was yet another solid pale ale from Trillium. It might be small on ABV, but the Puny Partridge is big where it matters most: flavor. Mosaic and Nelson Sauvin hops provide do most of the work with the taste and aroma of the brew. Citrus and tropical fruit galore. Super refreshing! The Puny Partridge, and the rest of this series, are definitely not for the birds.
Check it out on Instagram, now. Support Beers on Windowsills with a like and a follow!
Look at this lovely box! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
A month later, I got a random DM from my good buddy, @bedwetr7 aka Josh. He had seen in my Instagram stories that I was hoping to score a Proprietor’s—a story I had posted mostly as a shot in the dark—and he’d answered my call.
Josh contacted me saying that he’d bought one with me in mind, if I was interested in a trade. All Josh wanted was some Trillium brews. I was pretty shocked. The Proprietor’s goes on Ebay for tons of money, after all. To get an offer for a fair amount of brews was great. Thankfully, I don’t live prohibitively far away from either Trillium location, and I’m always looking for a reason to go to them. I asked Josh to cellar my stout for a month while I planned a road trip to Canton. Two Saturdays ago, I went (you’ve been seeing the fruits of that trip for the last 9 days). A week later, I shipped out his beers, and he shipped me mine.
And yes, this beautiful bottle was inside! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
Last night, I got my end of the trade, and completed the greatest beer hunt of my Windowsill’s young life. So, what makes the Proprietor’s so special? Every year, Goose Island makes a special version of their Bourbon County Brand Stout for the ones they consider “the adventurous beer lovers who responded so favorably to our first batch of Bourbon County Brand Stout in the early 90s, and who loyally, year after year, share our passion for bourbon barrel-aged stout.”
The Proprietor’s is always the best of the best, made with unique ingredients from the rest and a special recipe put together by Brian LaGro. For 2018, the magic word is chocolate. It uses a combination of dark chocolate and two kinds of cocoa nibs. It’s rich, decadent and includes all the chocolate flavors, from “silky milk chocolate” to “deep and earth dark chocolate.”
Head over to Instagram to see this one it all its glory. Make sure you follow Beers on Windowsills for more great beer!
Here at Beers on Windowsills, we never say no to coconut.
The last time I visited Trillium Brewing Company’s Fort Point location, I picked up a 4-pack of their PM Dawn. I drank three pretty quickly, but one ended up lost in the back of the fridge for a while, before I finally reviewed it back in early January. On my trip to Canton, I was lucky enough to score the Coconut PM Dawn. So happy I did!
There are two major differences between the original PM Dawn and the coconut version. First, the coffee. The original, at least the cans I got, were made with coffee from Barrington Coffee Roasting Co. OK, so that’s still technically true, but the coffee used in this can of Coconut PM Dawn is branded as Trillium Coffee. It was developed with the team from Barrington, though.
That tiny little yellow lettering makes all the difference! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
The second main difference is—you guessed it—the coconut. Toasted coconut, to be exact. Trillium does something interesting with these variants—so far they’ve canned Cacao PM Dawn, Vanilla PM Dawn and Peanut Butter PM Dawn, too—in that they lower the coffee ratio used in order to allow the other ingredients to shine. You get less coffee, and more coconut, or whatever delicious special ingredient they decide to use.
The results were pretty amazing. I loved the original, but this one blew it out of the water. It’s so sweet and coconutty! That added flavor goes perfectly with this style of stout. Especially one made by a tremendous brewery, like Trillium.
Check this one out on Instagram, now. Follow Beers on Windowsills for more great craft beer!
Are you working today? I’m not, so I’m celebrating with a Trillium classic on the Windowsill!
Today is a day to celebrate the Presidents of the United States. No, not the band who sang “Lump;” the men—and, hopefully some day very soon, women—who run what I feel is one of the greatest countries in the world. I’m not going to get too deep into my politics for those of you who are just here for the beer, but let’s just say that I don’t think our current president is altogether worthy of a holiday. That doesn’t stop me from celebrating the holiday, though. Lots of good history behind the office, and hopefully a bright future!
Oh yeah. That’s that good stuff right there. Classic Trillium! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)
For my Presidents Day post, I decided to go with a classic from one of the best breweries in the world—the Double Dry-Hopped Fort Point Pale Ale from Trillium Brewing Company. Both the original Fort Point and the DDH version were first brewed in 2013, and Trillium considers it to be their signature American pale ale. It’s named after their original location, the Fort Point section of Boston. It’s their “standard daily drinker.”
The hop bill is made up of Citra and Columbus hops, and the DDH version is double dry-hopped with copious amounts of extra Citra. All those extra Citra hops make for an even juicier, even more lovely pale ale. Lots of tropical fruit on the nose and tongue. This is one of the beers on which Trillium built its foundation, so it’s worthy of celebration. Pale ale perfection in a can!
How are you celebrating Presidents Day? Answer in the comments below.
As always, don’t forget to check out Beers on Windowsills on Instagram!
