Dogfish Head Craft Brewery: World Wide Stout (10-Year Challenge)

2009 and 2019 World Wide Stout from Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

Style: Wheat Wine Aged in Bourbon Barrels

Special Notes: “A very dark beer brewed with a ridiculous amount of barley.”

Malts: Barley

ABV: 15 -20%

IBU: 70

Availability: Yearly release

@untappd says: 4.43 (2009) and 4.35 (2019)

If there’s one thing I enjoy, it’s a dumb social media trend. Lately, I’ve noticed everyone posting their photos from 2009 alongside their photos from 2019, aka the 10-Year-Challenge. Just because my Windowsill wasn’t around 10 years ago—I moved into this house about 7 years ago—doesn’t mean I can’t participate.

I decided to dig deep into my cellar for this challenge. A few months ago, I took a trip to Harry’s Wine & Liquor Market in Fairfield, CT and found out they were opening up their cellar. Excitedly, I rummaged through that area of the shop and picked up a 2009 World Wide Stout from Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (along with a 2016 version). What a find!

Just the other day, I took a trip to Wine and Beyond because I heard they were going out of business. While the sales weren’t all that great (there are minimum prices for alcohol), I did pick up a bottle of the 2019 World Wide Stout for a couple of dollars off the regular price. Now, in all their glory… the 10-Year Beer Challenge!

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery World Wide Stouts
Check out my entire collection of the World Wide Stouts; a 2009, a 2016, 2 Oak Aged Vanillas from 2017 and the 2019. (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)

Do you have any beers in your cellar that you could do the 10-year-challenge with? Let me know in the comments below!

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Goose Island Beer Company: 2019 Bourbon County Brand Wheatwine Ale

Goose Island Beer Company: 2019 Bourbon County Brand Wheatwine Ale

Style: Wheat Wine Aged in Bourbon Barrels

Special Notes: The Wheatwine Ale is back for its second year. This year, it is aged in Larceny wheated bourbon casks from Heaven Hill.

Hops: Millennium

Malts: 2-Row, White Wheat

ABV: 15.4%

IBU: 60

Availability: Very limited release

@untappd says: 4.16/5

I know. I know. I said yesterday that I only wanted the two variants I bought yesterday—the Mon Chéri and the Café de Olla—and that I was happy to leave Total Wine without the Wheatwine variant. I know! I said that maybe when I got my bonus in two weeks, I’d go back and try to find more variants. Stop judging me!

Goose Island Brewing Company: 2019 Bourbon County Brand Wheatwine Ale
Look how pretty it is. How could I leave it at the store like a heartless bastard? (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)

Today, my wife and I went to the vet to pick up the memorial prints they made us for Brutus (our birdy that we had to put down last week). Afterward, we decided to stop by Stop & Shop for groceries. We were in a different town, so we popped Stop & Shop into the GPS and went. Guess where it was! Yep… the same shopping plaza as Total Wine. I said to myself OK. I’ll pop in. They’ll be sold out, and I won’t be able to buy it. And I’ll be happy to go home. Turns out they had the Wheatwine Ale. So now I do too. I’m only one man. I’m weak!

Anyway, this one is different from last year’s award-winning release because it is aged in Larceny wheated bourbon casks from Heaven Hill. I hope it’s good!

Did you guys find any others on Day 2? Let me know in the comments below!

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Goose Island Beer Company: 2019 Bourbon County Brand Stout Release

Goose Island Beer Company 2019 Bourbon County Brand Stouts

Style: Imperial Stout Aged in Bourbon Barrels

Hops: Millenium

Malts: 2-Row, Caramel, Chocolate, Debittered Black, Munich, Roast Barley

ABV: 14.4%

IBU: 60

Availability: No longer in production.

@untappd says: 4.54/5

If you guys recall from last year, I managed to track down every single Bourbon County Brand Stout release from Goose Island Beer Company. This year, with that hunt out of my system, I decided not to go all-out crazy on Black Friday, setting my sights on the regular release and two variants—the Brand Café de Olla Stout and the Brand Mon Chéri Stout.

2016 - 2019 Bourbon County Brand Stouts from Goose Island Beer Company
My entire collection of Bourbon County Brand Stouts and variants from 2016 through 2019. Not bad, right? (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills.com)

According to Goose Island, the Café de Olla is inspired by the traditional Mexican beverage of the same name. They added coffee beans and cold coffee to regular BCBS and then added cassia bark, orange peel and panela sugar to make it even better. The Mon Chéri, meanwhile, is billed by the brewery as a “love letter from our brewer, Quinn, to his wife who loves cherries.” It’s made with Balenton and Montmorency cherries with a bit of brown sugar added for flavor.

Thankfully, my local Total Wine in Norwalk, CT had everything I wanted! They also had the Bourbon County Wheatwine, but I decided to save myself $25 and just stick to the ones I had my heart set on. That being said, I do get my bonus in a couple of weeks…perhaps the hunt will be back on then?

Are you guys on the hunt for this year’s releases? Let me know in the comments below!

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Mikkeller Brewing NYC: Outta the Bike Lane

MIkkeller Brewing NYC: Outta the Bike Lane

ABV: 10.5%

IBU: N/A

Availability: Rotating

@untappd says: 3.82/5

If there’s one thing I don’t like, it’s bikers using the regular lanes to travel. Stay in the bike lane! Unless you’re this New England IPA from Mikkeller Brewing NYC. The label art is on point as always from @keithashore. As for the beer, which I picked up at @beertable in Grand Central Terminal, it was OK. It was solid, but it didn’t blow me away. I think the Untappd score reflects that pretty well.

Fremont Brewing: The Sister IPA

Fremont Brewing: The Sister

Style: Imperial IPA

Special Notes: Named to honor all the sisters in the world.

Hops: Mosaic, Ekuanot, Calypso. Amarillo extract.

Malts: 2-Row Pale, White Wheat, Vienna

ABV: 8.5

IBU: Mind Your Business

Availability: Rotating availability

@untappd says: 3.91/5

Here’s a shoutout to all of the sisters in the world!

Fremont Brewing is family-owned and was founded in Seattle in 2009. It has everything I always love to see in my breweries; locally sourced ingredients (organic when possible), a green mentality, and a passion for making beer that matters. They’ve won awards for sustainability and pride themselves on their conservation and activism record. It’s really an amazing-sounding place. They do so much cool activist and conservation stuff that I can’t even talk about it all!

Fremont Brewing: The Sister
Beer definitely matters, and so does this label! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)

Fortunately, they also make some pretty solid beer; at least that was the case with the Sister Imperial IPA. It’s brewed with 2-Row Pale, White Wheat and Vienna malts, and the hop lineup features some heavy hitters like Mosaic, Ekuanot and Calypso, with some Amarillo extract thrown in for good measure. It’s dank and tropical, with lots of good fruity flavors and some good hoppiness.

The name and the description on the can are tributes to sisters everywhere. As it says: “Without sisters, we would never have learned the finer points of emotional warfare, or the art of huffing and puffing, or snide remarking, how long to carry a grudge, or the true meaning of loyalty when one of us is hurt. The Sister is fittingly bitter and a little sweet but she will always be there for you. Because sisters matter.”

Shout out to my sister—and constant contributor to the Windowsill—@bookfiend77. Love you, sis!

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. Fremont Brewing: Sister . Here’s a shoutout to all of the sisters in the world! . Fremont Brewing is family-owned and was founded in Seattle in 2009. It has everything I always love to see in my breweries; locally sourced ingredients (organic when possible), a green mentality, and a passion for making beer that matters. They’ve won awards for sustainability and pride themselves on their conservation and activism record. It’s really an amazing-sounding place. They do so much cool activist and conservation stuff that I can’t even talk about it all! . Fortunately, they also make some pretty solid beer; at least that was the case with the Sister Imperial IPA. It’s brewed with 2-Row Pale, White Wheat and Vienna malts, and the hop lineup features some heavy hitters like Mosaic, Ekuanot and Calypso, with some Amarillo extract thrown in for good measure. It’s dank and tropical, with lots of good fruity flavors and some good hoppiness. . The name and the description on the can are tributes to sisters everywhere. As it says: “Without sisters, we would never have learned the finer points of emotional warfare, or the art of huffing and puffing, or snide remarking, how long to carry a grudge, or the true meaning of loyalty when one of us is hurt. The Sister is fittingly bitter and a little sweet but she will always be there for you. Because sisters matter.” . Shout out to my sister—and constant contributor to the Windowsill—@bookfiend77. Love you, sis! . ABV: 8.5, IBU: Mind your own business (their words), Available from January to June . @untappd says: 3.91/5

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Funk Brewing: Citrus IPA

Funk Brewing: Citrus IPA

Style: American IPA

Special Notes: Brewed with tons of citrus fruit, namely grapefruit and blood orange.

Hops: Citra, Simcoe, Mosaic, Experimental “LemonBomb” hop

ABV: 6.2

IBU: 60

Availability: Available year-round

@untappd says: 3.85/5

Let’s get fondue funky on the Windowsill today!

This past weekend, I did something I’d never done before. No, it wasn’t black tar heroin… I went to a fondue place! It was a chain place called the Melting Pot. I actually had so much fun that I forgot to take pictures of most of the action! Anyway, our waitress was super nice and the food was fun to cook. Definitely liked the cheese starter and the chocolate dipping desserts at the end the best, but the entree course and salad were pretty good too. Also, I discovered a new beer while I was there!

I’d never heard of Pennsylvania’s Funk Brewery before I got to the restaurant, but it was basically the only real craft beer the bar had. It opened its taps in 2014 and is co-owned by Jon Norman and Kyle Funk—that’s his name on the sign, in case you can’t tell. The two are brothers-in-law, too, which is always a good story. If you find yourself in PA, you can visit one of their two taprooms—in Emmaus and Elizabethtown.

The new beer I discovered at the Melting Pot, is one of Funk’s year-round brews: The Citrus IPA. Citrus was Funk’s first IPA, and you can tell that they are very proud of it. It’s brewed with Citra, Simcoe, Mosaic and an experimental hop they refer to as “LemonBomb.” The name is accurate. I got all the citrus goodness on the nose and tongue from this beer. I liked it so much that I ended up having three during our four-hour, four-course meal. I really liked it!

Check this, and video from my fondue experience, on Instagram right now!

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. Funk Brewing: Citrus IPA . Let’s get fondue funky on the Windowsill today! . This past weekend, I did something I’d never done before. No, it wasn’t black tar heroin… I went to a fondue place! It was a chain place called the Melting Pot. I actually had so much fun that I forgot to take pictures of most of the action! Anyway, our waitress was super nice and the food was fun to cook. Definitely liked the cheese starter and the chocolate dipping desserts at the end the best, but the entree course and salad were pretty good too. Also, I discovered a new beer while I was there! . I’d never heard of Pennsylvania’s Funk Brewery before I got to the restaurant, but it was basically the only real craft beer the bar had. It opened its taps in 2014 and is co-owned by Jon Norman and Kyle Funk—that’s his name on the sign, in case you can’t tell. The two are brothers-in-law, too, which is always a good story. If you find yourself in PA, you can visit one of their two taprooms—in Emmaus and Elizabethtown. . The new beer I discovered at the Melting Pot, is one of Funk’s year-round brews: The Citrus IPA. Citrus was Funk’s first IPA, and you can tell that they are very proud of it. It’s brewed with Citra, Simcoe, Mosaic and an experimental hop they refer to as “LemonBomb.” The name is accurate. I got all the citrus goodness on the nose and tongue from this beer. I liked it so much that I ended up having three during our four-hour, four-course meal. I really liked it! . ABV: 6.7, IBU: 70, Available year-round . @untappd says: 3.85/5

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New England Brewing Company: Fuzzy Baby Ducks

New England Brewing Company: Fuzzy Baby Ducks

Style: New England IPA

Special Notes: Just look at the label!

Hops: Citra

ABV: 6.2

IBU: 60

Availability: Rotating availability

@untappd says: 4.32/5

We have a New England classic on the Windowsill today!

Back in May of 2017, my sister’s friend Arona got me a growler of New England Brewing Company’s Fuzzy Baby Ducks for the sill. Ever since then, I’ve been hoping some cans of this incredible beer landed in my lap. Leave it to my sister and her friend to make this happen again, nearly two years later. As a reminder to those of you who weren’t yet Windowsillers back in the day, and are wondering why the name of this IPA is so absurd, I’ll re-tell the story. NEBCO gave this beer a ridiculous name so that dudes ordering it would have to say something very embarrassing to bartenders. Pretty great!

New England Brewing Company: Fuzzy Baby Ducks
I love everything about this label. (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)

Don’t let the name of this beer ever discourage you from ordering one from your local barkeep if you’re lucky enough to come across it at one of your local dives. If you like Citra hops, this is your beer. It’s made with 100% Citra. It’s so juicy, hoppy and delicious. The taste is simply magical—like a bunch of fuzzy baby ducks sliding down a rainbow that’s coming out of a unicorn’s butt. Yep. Go find this beer. It’s one of the best in New England!

Head over to my Instagram for more great New England craft beer!

Southern Tier Brewing Company: Samoa This

Southern Tier Brewing Company: Samoa This

Style: Imperial Stout

Special Notes: Inspired by the Girl Scout Cookie that shares its name. Notes of sweet chocolate, caramel, and coconut with an underlying flavor of shortbread

ABV: 10.0

IBU: 40

Availability: Rotating availability

@untappd says: 4.14/5

Are you ready for Samoa great beer on the Windowsill?

If there’s something Southern Tier Brewing Company does well, it’s dessert beers. That’s what their Blackwater series is all about. From barrel-aged ales with fruit to thick and creamy sweet stouts, they do the after-dinner-brew so well!

Southern Tier Brewing Company: Samoa This
Don’t you just want Samoa this great beer? (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)

Tonight, I hit the town with a few coworkers for some food and drink. Unfortunately, the bar we went to didn’t have craft beer. It did have really awesome onion rings and a surprisingly excellent lamb gyro, but I had to settle for non-craft. When I got home, my wife and I found some cheesecake in the fridge, courtesy of my mother-in-law, so I decided to rectify the dinner wrong by reaching for a dessert beer in my fridge. It was the Samoa This.

If i had to choose one word to describe the Samoa This, it would be decadent. It’s an imperial sweet/milk stout brewed with pink Himalayan sea salt and natural chocolate, with coconut and caramel flavors added. It’s a perfect dessert beer—sweet, creamy and indulgent. It’s Southern Tier’s interpretation of the Samoa cookie, and I gotta say they did a pretty good job! I think we know what @ctbeerandcookies would pair this one with, right?

Head over to Instagram for more great Beers on Windowsills brews!

BAD SONS Beer Co.: Mechanical Milkman (S’Mores)

BAD SONS Beer Co.: Mechanical Milkman S'mores

Style: Imperial Stout

Special Notes: Conditioned on espresso beans, graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows. Lactose sugar added.

Malts: Chocolate Malt

ABV: 5.5

IBU: N/A

Availability: Rotating availability

@untappd says: 3.58/5

Who am I kidding? Stout Season is year-round here on the Windowsill!

Back in January, my good buddy @galleycookinbeersnob and I took a trip with our wives to BAD SONs Beer Co. in Derby, CT. As usual, the beer was solid, and the company was pretty cool too. We did a couple of flights, tried a couple of pints—that was the release day for the Triple Snaps collab they did with @thedrunkalpaca—and even ended up picking up a couple of limited to go bottles from the fridge at the brewery. If you haven’t had the chance to get down to Derby, Y’all need to go there ASAP. Great place!

BAD SONS Beer Co.: Mechanical Milkman S'mores
Ride ’em cowboy! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)

One of the limited release bottles I snagged was the S’Mores variant of their Mechanical Milkman stout, which is a “silky smooth” bourbon barrel-aged nitro stout loaded with chocolate malt and lactose sugar. This variant is further conditioned on espresso beans and all of your favorite s’mores ingredients—graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallow. Although it’s less hefty than I typically like my stouts, and the s’mores flavors were a bit subdued, I really liked this brew. I wasn’t blown away or anything, but I liked this one.

Check out the Milkman on Instagram, and follow Beers on Windowsills for some great craft beer!

Southern Tier Brewing Company: Choklat Oranj (2016)

Southern Tier Brewing Company: Choklat Oranj

Style: Imperial Stout

Special Notes: Brewed with orange peels and bittersweet belgian chocolate.

Hops: Columbus

Malts: 2-Row Malt, Caramel Malt, Debittered Black Malt, Chocolate Malt

ABV: 10.0

IBU: N/A

Availability: No longer available

@untappd says: 4.18/5

It’s the last day of winter, so we’re repping stout season on the sill today! Spring is at 5:58PM Eastern, so get an IPA ready!

The saga that led to me drinking this beer is like no other in the history of the world. OK, that’s an exaggeration, but it took me a long time to get to it! Allow me to explain.

This past August, my buddy @galleycookinbeersnob gifted me a mixed 6-pack containing a bottle of the Choklat Oranj from Southern Tier Brewing Company that was bottled on March 16, 2016. It went into my fridge, where it was then lost for several months, until another friend, @marcs108, asked me if I knew of any stouts that were made with chocolate and orange. Not only did I know one, I actually had one! This was about a month ago.

Southern Tier Brewing Company: Choklat Oranj
The ingredients are right there on the label. Chocolate and orange. Boom! (Credit: Martin Stezano/Beers on Windowsills)

This past week, I took a trip to my local beer spot because they had more in stock. It turns out they had a 4-pack of the very same batch of Choklat Oranj sitting on the shelf. I picked it up and split it with my buddy—you read about this exchange in my Vapor Ringz post from a couple of days ago. This past Friday, one day shy of the beer’s third birthday, I finally cracked a bottle and gave it a try. Three years after it was bottled, and seven months after it had been given to me.

Three-year-old beer? Probably tasted bad, right? Wrong, son. This Choklat Oranj stout aged incredibly well. All the promised flavors were there. It was super chocolaty with a really nice twang of orange. The creaminess was there too, as was the sweetness. Just a solid stout. I was almost ashamed that it had taken me this long to crack open the bottle. It’s currently not in production—the last time it was made was 2017—but here’s hoping they bring it back. Awesome release from Southern Tier’s Blackwater Series. I really enjoyed it!

Check this one out on Instagram. Follow Beers on Windowsills for more great beer!

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. Southern Tier Brewing Company: Choklat Oranj (2016) . It’s the last day of winter, so we’re repping stout season on the sill today! Spring is at 5:58PM Eastern, so get an IPA ready! . The saga that led to me drinking this beer is like no other in the history of the world. OK, that’s an exaggeration, but it took me a long time to get to it! Allow me to explain. . This past August, my buddy @galleycookinbeersnob gifted me a mixed 6-pack containing a bottle of the Choklat Oranj from Southern Tier Brewing Company that was bottled on March 16, 2016. It went into my fridge, where it was then lost for several months, until another friend, @marcs108, asked me if I knew of any stouts that were made with chocolate and orange. Not only did I know one, I actually had one! This was about a month ago. . This past week, I took a trip to my local beer spot because they had more in stock. It turns out they had a 4-pack of the very same batch of Choklat Oranj sitting on the shelf. I picked it up and split it with my buddy—you read about this exchange in my Vapor Ringz post from a couple of days ago. This past Friday, one day shy of the beer’s third birthday, I finally cracked a bottle and gave it a try. Three years after it was bottled, and seven months after it had been given to me. . Three-year-old beer? Probably tasted bad, right? Wrong, son. This Choklat Oranj stout aged incredibly well. All the promised flavors were there. It was super chocolaty with a really nice twang of orange. The creaminess was there too, as was the sweetness. Just a solid stout. I was almost ashamed that it had taken me this long to crack open the bottle. It’s currently not in production—the last time it was made was 2017—but here’s hoping they bring it back. Awesome release from Southern Tier’s Blackwater Series. I really enjoyed it! . ABV: 10.0, IBU: N/A, No longer available . @untappd says: 4.19/5

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