As a Bay Area native and a lover of rich, sweet stouts, I was surprised I’d never heard of this beer until a few weeks ago. I was out with a friend at my local bottle shop, and he and the bartender started choppin’ it up about High Water’s Campfire Stout. I remember standing there thinking “wait, how can this be? There’s a stout made in the Bay Area prepared with graham crackers and marshmallows, and I’ve never heard of it before?” All I kept thinking was: Must. Get. My. Hands. On. Campfire. Stout. ASAP.
Fast forward to the next week when I went grocery shopping at Whole Foods where I usually examine the beer fridge for far too long to see what’s new (or at least what’s new to me). Most of the time, nothing. But this time, I spotted High Water’s label. I recognized the label but never paid much attention to it. From what I’ve seen, all their beers have the same label of the flowing waterfall, but differentiate by the background color of the label. To be honest, I think I’m more attracted to something a bit more modern such as what Green Flash has done with their new labels or Evil Twin’s simple design. But, to each his own. High Water’s label never really stood out to me because the waterfall is the emphasis, not the type of beer. If I would’ve read “campfire stout” in big letters or seen a picture of a campfire, I probably would have been intrigued all on my own. But hey, I’m a lady, and we ladies like our labels!
In any event, I bought a bottle of the Campfire Stout to bring to my mom’s to share with my stepdad and her. They live in Petaluma aka the very edge of Wine Country, but they are not really beer drinkers, nor are they really wine drinkers. My stepdad likes an O’Doul’s every now and again, and my mom likes her whiskey, Fireball to be exact. They drink wine and beer but don’t fit the stereotype of someone who lives in Sonoma County. So bringing the Campfire Stout was a bit of a risk. Or, was it? Both of them were sold by the idea of the beer being made with real graham crackers and marshmallows. Actually, that’s really all I had to tell them. We cracked open the bottle that Saturday afternoon and absolutely loved it, all of us.
High Water’s Campfire Stout is a hardy, sweet stout full of s’mores' flavors. To get the full effect, you must drink and smell at the same time as the smell is probably more potent than the taste itself. I should also mention that this beer won gold at the Great American Beer Festival for the “special beer” category. I’m not sure what qualifies as a “special beer,” but I agree with the judges, Campfire Stout is one special beer!
Fast forward to the next week when I went grocery shopping at Whole Foods where I usually examine the beer fridge for far too long to see what’s new (or at least what’s new to me). Most of the time, nothing. But this time, I spotted High Water’s label. I recognized the label but never paid much attention to it. From what I’ve seen, all their beers have the same label of the flowing waterfall, but differentiate by the background color of the label. To be honest, I think I’m more attracted to something a bit more modern such as what Green Flash has done with their new labels or Evil Twin’s simple design. But, to each his own. High Water’s label never really stood out to me because the waterfall is the emphasis, not the type of beer. If I would’ve read “campfire stout” in big letters or seen a picture of a campfire, I probably would have been intrigued all on my own. But hey, I’m a lady, and we ladies like our labels!
In any event, I bought a bottle of the Campfire Stout to bring to my mom’s to share with my stepdad and her. They live in Petaluma aka the very edge of Wine Country, but they are not really beer drinkers, nor are they really wine drinkers. My stepdad likes an O’Doul’s every now and again, and my mom likes her whiskey, Fireball to be exact. They drink wine and beer but don’t fit the stereotype of someone who lives in Sonoma County. So bringing the Campfire Stout was a bit of a risk. Or, was it? Both of them were sold by the idea of the beer being made with real graham crackers and marshmallows. Actually, that’s really all I had to tell them. We cracked open the bottle that Saturday afternoon and absolutely loved it, all of us.
High Water’s Campfire Stout is a hardy, sweet stout full of s’mores' flavors. To get the full effect, you must drink and smell at the same time as the smell is probably more potent than the taste itself. I should also mention that this beer won gold at the Great American Beer Festival for the “special beer” category. I’m not sure what qualifies as a “special beer,” but I agree with the judges, Campfire Stout is one special beer!
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