Patio season continues at Sugarbowl

 After a Tuesday evening dinner of grilled chicken, we decided to walk over to Sugarbowl for chocolate mousse and some of the brews currently on the feature board. Although we brought our sweaters in preparation for a cool evening on the patio, upon arrival we found an addition of sleek looking heaters which left us toasty and mostly sweater free throughout the evening.

Heaters in action

During the past year Sugarbowl has done a great job keeping the Feature Board exciting. The 'tap' selection can stay the same for some time (for instance, the creamy Wild Rose stout I enjoyed earlier in the summer is still available), but the 'bottles' below seem to be going through at a nice clip - they stay long enough to enjoy a couple before they leave, yet there is enough new selection each couple weeks that we head back for more. While Charles went to the menu for Yukon Brewing's Lead Dog Ale, I stuck to the board and had the Verdi Imperial Stout from Italy's Birrificio del Ducato.

We've both enjoyed the Lead Dog in the past. It's smooth and malty, with a slight bite to cut through it all. Perfect to enjoy during the summer or winter. Although it doesn't look like it was overly enjoyed on Beer Advocate, Charles and I both loved the Verdi Stout. It was chocolatey and malty, and there was a slight heat running through the entire glass thanks to the addition of some chili. To top things off it was perfect with the chocolate mousse.

I also ended up with a bottle of New Morning, a "Saison" from Birrificio, while Charles decided on the BIA IPA brewed by the same company. These two were both incredibly refreshing, especially after the darker brews we started with. We could definitely detect the ginger, coriander, green pepper and chamomile in the New Morning, and overall it turned out to be a beautiful spiced beer to linger over for the rest of the evening. Unfortunately Charles didn't enjoy his IPA quite as much - too much floral and fruit for his liking.

The one thing that might keep us from continually enjoying the brews from Birrificio is the price. At $10.50 a bottle these multi-beer evenings are certainly limited, although they are, of course, thoroughly enjoyed as summer comes to a close.