Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

E.A. Poe

Once, though not at midnight, nowhere near midnight,
Perhaps while reading, certainly while napping and
My chamber door is almost never closed…
I bared my soul and to my everlasting surprise
There, hidden deep inside, at the core, was a
Crypt Keeper Stout waiting to be poured.

Cool, not cold and impenetrably midnight dark, smooth and sweet with hints of coffee and roasted barley. Gently carbonated with a velvet texture where a sip will fill your mouth with sweet softness. Curiously, were you to reverse the metaphor and put velvet into your mouth it would unlikely bring memories of Crypt Keeper Stout to mind.

As I pondered late one dreary morning on this delight of nature and chemistry, I wondered what would happen if I replaced some of the Weyermann Carafa II malt with chocolate grain and added 4.5 oz of chocolate nibs which were soaked for 48 hours in vodka to the secondary fermenter.

Time will tell. Time will tell.