December 5 - Spring House - Satan's Bake Sale

Spring House Brewing - Satan's Bake Sale
Mint Chocolate Chip Stout

Last night, for no good reason, I decided to try a Starbucks Peppermint Mocha while I was getting my wife an iced coffee to take to work today.  I really enjoyed the balance of the coffee and peppermint in the drink.  At 320 calories, though, I don't think I'll get it again.  However, it set me up for this sweet (literally) brew that I'll be reviewing for you tonight from Spring House Brewing.

This past summer, I was lucky enough to know the right people and get a tour of the Spring House Brewing operation.  An college friend knew a guy, who knew a guy, who knew a guy...Anyway, he was able to set us up with a tour of the small, and I mean small, facility that these guys use to brew their beer.  It's so small that if you have a 3 car garage that is 2 full stories, I would venture to guess you'd have the same set up.  If that is you, GET BREWING!  They actually have to bring in a mobile bottling unit to get their beers ready to ship and consume.  There is no room to bottle these tasty brews.  That should be changing in the future, however.

OK, I guess it's like the same size as the house, but it's relatively small compared to other brewing operations!

After the quick tour we went downtown 

to the Spring House Tap Room and got a 10 beer sampler that was unlike any other.  If you get down to the Lancaster area, and have an hour or two to kill, I highly suggest visiting this place for a meal and some beer.  I haven't found a bad beer from these guys and this beer is no exception!

10 beers in 1 flight!  Circa Summer 2014 - Thanks Mr. Josh and Mr. Ryan!

This beer poured an opaque black color that absolutely no light passed through.  There was a tannish-brown head on the beer that left lacing in the glass throughout.  As a matter of fact, as I look at my empty glass right now, the lacing is still present in my stout glass.

The aroma of this beer is strong, roasted chocolate along with peppermint.  Ever have a Girl Scout Thin Mint?  Yeah, it' smells like that.  EXACTLY like that.

The taste was right on point with the aroma.  The taste started with a bitter, peppermint punch in the palate.  The strength of this taste dissipated as I continued to drink as well as the beer warmed slightly.  The sweetness, for me, hit me in spurts.  At times, the sweet peppermint was very sweet, and at other times, it wasn't as overpoweringly sweet, relatively speaking.  The beer finished strong with a coating, warming feeling in the throat along with a mild hop bitterness, coupled with the coffee flavors.

At 8.4% ABV, this beer, for me, is definitely a sipping beer.  With the peppermint flavors, it's not something that I would drink endlessly.  However, I believe that it would pair as an awesome dessert beer.

A great way to start the weekend off right!

4 out of 5 stars!