Breakfast Brew?

Ok, I've been around the block once or twice and I keep hearing about these damn breakfast brews. Northern Brewer has a Breakfast stout kit, a couple bars I've been to have breakfast beers on the menu. And it leaves me wondering, what makes a beer a breakfast beer??
Is there a special ingredient like waffles, captain crunch, or maybe an omelet in the beer??

Can somebody let me in on the secret?

Oatmeal, milk, chocolate, coffee.

Oatmeal stouts, milk stouts, imperial stouts, coffee stouts.

I think that is the connection. I am personally in the process of making a 4.5% oatmeal, milk stout that I will cold steep with coffee. And drink for breakfast.

When I got off the overnight train in Vienna at 6:45 AM, there were gentlemen drinking lagers in the train station. Proper businessmen, too. Not hobos.

I think it's cultural or a fad or a marketing gimmick. I mean think about it, beer at lunch and dinner is ok, but there is 1/3 of the meal time market going untapped. Sooner or later someone was going to try and capitalize on breakfast beer.

Founders Breakfast Stout is a large oatmeal stout with coffee and chocolate. That's what I think of when I think of "breakfast beer."

Andrewtherooster said:

Founders Breakfast Stout is a large oatmeal stout with coffee and chocolate. That's what I think of when I think of "breakfast beer."

Click to expand...

mmmm breakfast stout. Yum. I'm sure that the coffee does have something to do with it.

Wow, that sounds great. I wonder what the SWMBO would say if I started drinking stout instead of coffee in the morning...

Genjin said:

Wow, that sounds great. I wonder what the SWMBO would say if I started drinking stout instead of coffee in the morning...

Click to expand...

I'm sure no one will notice if you drink it from a thermos or travel mug.

What makes them a breakfast stout is HUGE coffee, with a light caramel and some oatmeal flavors. They are coffee centric for sure.

I really enjoy breakfast stouts for breakfast when camping or starting off a big day of drinking. I have had the Founder's and it IS a great beer. My favorite meal is eggs, bacon cooked over a fire and breakfast stout. This means I don't have to make coffee which is a PITA when tent/fire camping.

My biggest issue was the lack of caffeine in the beers. So I would still have to slam a Mountain Dew which was not so good after a great breakfast as described above. This lead me to this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/water-joe-anyone-tried-yet-224879/ Now I am a happy camper! I wake up, fish my beer out of the cooler, cook my meal and by the time that it is ready to eat the stout is normally warmed up enough to be perfect...

Zamial said:

What makes them a breakfast stout is HUGE coffee, with a light caramel and some oatmeal flavors. They are coffee centric for sure.

I really enjoy breakfast stouts for breakfast when camping or starting off a big day of drinking. I have had the Founder's and it IS a great beer. My favorite meal is eggs, bacon cooked over a fire and breakfast stout. This means I don't have to make coffee which is a PITA when tent/fire camping.

My biggest issue was the lack of caffeine in the beers. So I would still have to slam a Mountain Dew which was not so good after a great breakfast as described above. This lead me to this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/water-joe-anyone-tried-yet-224879/ Now I am a happy camper!

Click to expand...

Probably a dumb question but why don't coffee stouts have caffeine from the coffee?

BostonHomeBruin said:

Probably a dumb question but why don't coffee stouts have caffeine from the coffee?

Click to expand...

I am sure there is trace amounts but the main reason is they use VERY small amounts of coffee. This means the caffeine per bottle is a very low dose.

A local brewery, Long Ireland Beer Co. , has a very coffee forward breakfast stout. A big tasting beer at only 3%ABV.

It is also delicious when used to make waffles or pancakes!

I used to go a German beer bar in Albany that does awesome breakfast food on weekends, and I always got a half liter of Warsteiner Dunkel with my eggs, sausage and potato pancakes.

Not exactly a traditional breakfast beer, but I love it.

BostonHomeBruin said:

I'm sure no one will notice if you drink it from a thermostat or travel mug.

Click to expand...

Oh, I think people will notice if you go around drinking from a thermostat

Zuljin said:

Oh, I think people will notice if you go around drinking from a thermostat

Click to expand...

Haha, I'm sure he ment thermos but I think themostat is hilarious!

Zamial said:

What makes them a breakfast stout is HUGE coffee, with a light caramel and some oatmeal flavors. They are coffee centric for sure.

I really enjoy breakfast stouts for breakfast when camping or starting off a big day of drinking. I have had the Founder's and it IS a great beer. My favorite meal is eggs, bacon cooked over a fire and breakfast stout. This means I don't have to make coffee which is a PITA when tent/fire camping.

My biggest issue was the lack of caffeine in the beers. So I would still have to slam a Mountain Dew which was not so good after a great breakfast as described above. This lead me to this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/water-joe-anyone-tried-yet-224879/ Now I am a happy camper! I wake up, fish my beer out of the cooler, cook my meal and by the time that it is ready to eat the stout is normally warmed up enough to be perfect...

Click to expand...

This is a great idea. Did you use Coffee Joe for the mash and sparge?

SenorPepe said:

This is a great idea. Did you use Coffee Joe for the mash and sparge?

Click to expand...

Water Joe and Yes. I bought a flat/case of Water Joe and used that in the 1st runnings for sure. (I batch sparge) I did not use more than that 1 case for the 3 gallon batch. I did not want to have more than a "known safe dose" per beer. So I tried to keep the volume the same. It seems to be "just right" I can have 1 and if I am still dragging a bit 1 more but I have never had more than 2 before lunch.

I had no real issues with anything from mashing to fermenting. I still have quite a few left due to the infrequency of drinking them. I will guess that by the end of summer that will be a different story. Since this will be summer #2 on the same 3 gallon batch.

I would NOT drink one of these to stay out longer at the bar or the like. There are some real health issues that go with drinking and energy drinks. Please be careful if anyone does make some of this.

Also as a note, I have NO idea if there was/is any slight off flavors produced from using the Water Joe, my grain bill and the coffee would have covered them up.

Much obliged. I'll have to give that a try. Very convenient in fact that you did a 3 gallon batch since that's my default.

My Founders Breakfast Stout clone called for a pound of flaked oats, 4 oz. chocolate, and 2 oz. coffee. Yummy for breakfast....and pretty much any other time.

Zuljin said:

Oh, I think people will notice if you go around drinking from a thermostat

Click to expand...

Good grief, that was dumb of me. I must have had some stout in my coffee.

thisgoestoeleven said:

I used to go a German beer bar in Albany that does awesome breakfast food on weekends, and I always got a half liter of Warsteiner Dunkel with my eggs, sausage and potato pancakes.

Not exactly a traditional breakfast beer, but I love it.

Click to expand...

+1 Hefeweizen is my go-to breakfast beer. Or beermosas. OJ + Hefe/Belgian/Lager...they're all good.