New Beer Options Find a Home on the Breakfast Menu The rise of the craft beer movement means operators have a huge variety of options available, including beer varieties that can find a natural place on the breakfast and brunch menu, such as coffee and oatmeal stouts, lighter wheat beers, low-alcohol options or fruit-driven saisons or ciders. Many bartenders and beverage teams are using these beers to update the morning cocktail classics. Beermosas are up 50 percent on menus in the past year, and micheladas (the beer-driven version of the Bloody Mary) are up 162 percent on menus in the past four years, according to Datassential’s MenuTrends. At Chicago’s Dusek’s, there are four beermosas on the menu, plus a Board & Beer Breakfast that pairs a classic breakfast board with a beer. Now breweries are responding with a number of beers featuring traditional breakfast flavors like maple syrup, orange and grapefruit, or bacon. San Francisco’s 21st Amendment brewery created Toaster Pastry, an Indian Red Ale inspired by Kellogg Pop-Tarts, which were produced in the 21st Amendment’s building at one time, while General Mills partnered with Minneapolis’ Fulton Craft Brewery on HefeWheaties, a hefeweizen meant to evoke the taste of the breakfast cereal.
Next Generation Breakfast Cocktails Sangria appears on 82 percent more breakfast menus compared to four years ago, and martinis are up 51 percent, according to Datassential’s MenuTrends. By adding traditional morning flavors, like espresso or orange juice, or referencing a traditional morning cocktail (a martini Bellini), operators can transition traditionally late-night cocktails to the breakfast menu. At 10-location Stoney River Steakhouse & Grill, the Breakfast Martini features orange marmalade and fresh citrus in the vodka-based cocktail, while the Break-fast Martini at New York’s Russ & Daughter’s Café features Beefeater gin, jam, lemon juice, egg white, Pernod absinthe and Angostura bitters (clearly, adding jam to a cocktail is an easy way to transition it to the breakfast menu). At Black’s Bar & Kitchen in Bethesda, Maryland, the Champagne Sangria features peach schnapps, simple syrup, a splash of orange juice and fresh fruit. And Minneapolis’ The Freehouse Breakfast Cocktails menu includes options like the Café Brulot Diabolique, with brandy, dry curacao, lemon bitters, cold press coffee, honey syrup and cream; and the Giggle Water, with vanilla bourbon, Domaine de Canton, pear liqueur and prosecco.
Each year, Founders Brewing Company holds a Breakfast Stout Breakfast with a breakfast buffet and live entertainment, to introduce its annual Breakfast Stout release, a double chocolate coffee oatmeal stout. Dogfish Head debuted Chicory Stout, a beer for breakfast brewed with Mexican coffee, maple syrup, smoked grains, lactose and scrapple, a type of pork scrap sausage traditionally eaten in Pennsylvania. “It’s been wonderful to see dozens of breakfast-themed beers come to market since we first did ours,” said Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione, noting that the breakfast-themed Chicory Stout helped to inspire the brand’s focus on non-traditional brews.
Winter 2015 • itmmag.com
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