Boise, Idaho. August, 2018.
The owner of Edge Brewing, Marcus, invited the band to stop in for some lunch and, despite it being 11 a.m., immediately brought out sampler trays of the many beers he brews right there in house. Given the time of day, my eye was caught by the word “Breakfast” and so I dove right into this amazing stout.
Idahoans are a hardy lot, and the cold winters have made them great appreciators of a muscular stout. Edge’s Breakfast Stout satisfies the locals, and that’s no easy task. It’s an oatmeal stout and has the thickness you’d expect from one, along with plenty of locally roasted coffee bean flavor to give you the idea that the beer you’re drinking will somehow imbue get-up-and-go. My feeling was more of a get-up-and-sit-back-down.
This stout has a wild beard, bushy eyebrows, a thunderous laugh, and scars from a cougar attack it survived three winters back. It doesn’t shake hands, it hugs. Chuck Norris once tried to fight this stout when he was in Boise shooting a movie and forfeited at the first sip, saying, “Fighting is stupid” ending his career.
It was high on the list of the tastiest stouts I’ve tried, and it filled our conversation that morning with stories of our various travels, the sign of a great stout. I gave it a 4, but only because I personally don’t gravitate toward coffee in beer. The malt and hops do it all for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, coffee and all. If you’re in Idaho, give Edge Brewing’s Breakfast Stout a taste and see for yourself.
Sip score = 4/5