Beer and Chocolate Tasting

When: Friday, April 18^th at 7:00pm.

Where: Stumpjack Coffee Company; Two Rivers

We will be sampling at five dark beers (stouts) from various microbreweries and pairing them with fine chocolates, including a special Stout Beer Flourless Chocolate Cake courtesy of Jennifer Pasquill of Uniquely Yours Pastry Shoppe (yup, cake made with beer).

This is going to be basically the same set-up as our wine and chocolate evening we did on Valentine’s Day, in that we’re going to limit participation to around ten (10) people and those who sign up first will be it. I’m not yet sure if we’ll be closing the door or staying open for business during this one…it is Heart-A-Rama week and we haven’t quite yet figured out if that needs to be considered for this evening as well. Becky Markvart will again be providing some beautimous musical accompaniment for the event.

The cost to participate is $25 per person. You’ll have to come in and make your payment to reserve your spot…and it’s only a week away!

Beer...the other nectar of the gods.

Part of the current Stumpjack beer selection...

Stumpjack has, in my humble opinion, the grooviest, albeit small, selection of bottled beers of any coffee shop around. Searching for and evaluating the microbrews and few select imports we offer has been a lot of fun. I'm a sucker for attractive packaging (cool bottles specifically) and that, combined with the very distinctive flavor profiles of these beers, I believe adds to and reinforces our overall image and philosophy of offering only the very best products for the price (coffee, beer, wine, pastries and food).

I'm thinking about this now as we just received a delivery of several cases of beer, including one case of O'Hanlons Ruby Stout, from the folks who make the justifiably famous Thomas Hardy's Ale. The Ruby Stout is a lovely, darker beer enriched with the addition of ruby port wine, and comes in a great, beefy thick bottle. I love changing up the inventory; getting different beers in and mixing things up periodically. Tonight and tomorrow we have live music and that always means we'll be enjoying a couple of good beers.

Chaos reigns supreme...I'll drink to that!

Well, my posting has been a bit sporadic lately, because we've got so dang much going on right now. Last week during the muggy-wave our AC didn't work, problems with the phone and Internet, our bakery case up and died after overheating, gelato equipment was scheduled to arrive and got delayed, and we were running up to Green Bay every day to work on our new cafe...not to mention all the other usual living life things that we all do (you know, like concocting beer smoothie recipes and Simpsonizing ourselves).

We opened the shop in GB yesterday (softly, quietly, don't even have the sign up yet...). More on that location and that cafe' later. Gelato equipment was supposed to come in today (after it was supposed to come in on Monday) but it's looking like tomorrow will be the day. Guys are coming in today to fix the bakery case...the kitchen fridge is full of everything that was in the case.

Beer Smoothie! Spent the last week playing with the blender (really looking forward to getting a new one) refining my beer smoothie recipe ("drinking" might be a better word than "refining" actually). It's definitely a winner. Everyone who tried it really likes it (except for Kelly, but she doesn't like beer anyway...go figure...). Have to credit a friend on the HTR forum (won't reveal his identity here...don't have his permission) for challenging me to come up with a "hops-based smoothie." It hits your palate with chocolate, then you taste the hint of coffee mixed in, followed by a really nice chocolate/beer aftertaste. It's the perfect combination: chocolate, espresso, stout.

We're taking suggestions on a name for it now. Drop in and have one and give us your name suggestion. We'll have a beer delivery Friday afternoon so come on in this weekend if you can.

PS: We are planning to be closed Sat & Sun, August 25 & 26. I'll repost this over the next couple weeks and periodically move it to the top of the list to keep it in front of people. You might want to come in and buy some beans before that weekend. Thanks.