Homebrew: Dry-Whopped Stout

Name: Dry-Whopped Stout
Style: Experimental/ American Stout
Brewer: Mike Atlas
Location: Franklin, TN
Nose: Banana, slight smoke
Hops: Brewer, Cascade
IBU: 30
ABV: 5.3%

This beer is surprisingly refreshing for being so dark. The malt from the Whoppers gives the beer a dark chocolate profile that is balanced with notes of banana and sweet tobacco. The hops move beneath the surface supporting a malt flavor and a smokey char on the finish.



Before I had the beer I imagined that the Whoppers would make it sugary and sticky sweet, but this was not the case. In fact, one of my only criticisms of the beer is that it maybe could have been sweeter. I felt a little more sweetness would have balanced out the banana notes and added a more complexity to the beer.

The lighter body is in line with Atlas's vision for the beer. Atlas says the beer began as a traditional American stout but obviously things got weird. The home-brewer wanted to make a dark beer that would appeal to dark-beer lovers like himself and to drinkers who would not normally reach for a stout. After the beer was fermented Atlas "dry-whopped" the beer for several weeks with crushed Whopper malt balls. The result is surprisingly refreshing and makes a very nice food-beer.

This summer Atlas submitted the beer in a home-brew competition at Cool Springs Brewery. His beer came in 2nd place and the brewmaster at CSB has picked up the recipe and will serve it at Cool Springs Brewery Restaurant this fall with some adjustments to the recipe.

--Aaron Shepherd