Counterweight Brewery Trip and Pairing

Counterweight Brewing 

Void Oatmeal Stout and Oatmeal Scotchies

Yummy Saison

 John and I took a quick trip to Counterweight brewery on a dreary Sunday in the beginning of December. There was a chill in the air and the sun was hiding behind an overcast sky. I had spent the day playing and doing crafts with the kids. It had come to that time in the afternoon that is like the seventh inning stretch. Spending a whole day with 2 children under the age of 5 can feel like a baseball game that won't end. I ‘asked’ (read: pleaded) with my wife for a short reprieve. I saw on social media that Counterweight brewing had just canned some Oatmeal stout and I have been thinking about this particular variety, because one of my favorite cookies of all time is called an Oatmeal Scotchie that I think would pair well with an oatmeal stout. So off we went.


I picked up John, he was cleaning leaves in his yard. This is typical form as we are both working dads with lots on our plate. I had about an hour or so of reprieve and he had to be back soon too. So we hustled and made our way to the brewery. Even though it is just one town over and had been open for a few months, this was my first tip. Pulling up to the brewery it is located in a commercial area of Hamden Connecticut in a building that has had many lives before, including a Gym. The tasting room was bustling but not hectic. A friendly bar keep offered us a few sips before we both chose a beer. John chose the 'no hope for the kids IPA' and I chose the Saison Du Raccio. 

We purchased a 4 pack of the oatmeal stout and we made our way to the second floor where there is more room to hang out. My Saison was delicious, hazy, spicy, well balanced. John’s IPA was sharp and piney, a nice New England style IPA.

I did have a sip of ‘The Void’ Counter Weight’s oatmeal stout. Although the one on tap has some coffee added which is different than the canned version I purchased, it made me optimistic for our future pairing.

Notice the brownness of the cookie

The Beer: The Void Oatmeal stout is a dark malty stout with a mild boozy note. It is toasty and interesting, it isn’t too big and heavy. The alcohol level leads to a bit of sharpness in the finish. I have tried the coffee version of this stout and I preferred that to this simpler beer.

The Cookie: Oatmeal Scotchies are a simple oatmeal cookie mixed with butterscotch morsels. They can be soft and chewy, or they can be crunchy and crisp. Unfortunately for our first experience the cookies were a bit over baked which led to a kind of roasted taste and a very crisp cookie. I think this made them not an awesome cookie for this beer. I made another round which I baked properly and they were much better. Their softness on top with the crunch of the bottom led to a perfectly balanced cookie. The butterscotch chips give this cookie a great little bump of sweetness and interest.

A much softer, more chewy second batch

Baking tip: Time is a huge factor here. Make sure you put the cookies in a preheated oven and that you follow the time, any time after 10 minutes and you are getting a very crisp cookie. The window for a perfect cookie is short. It is important to note however, that there isn't one perfect way to do this, keep them in that extra minute if you're looking for a crunch, and pull them early if you are looking for a softer experience. Do you. 

Cookie dough tip: If you want an extra special fruit crumble, use this dough on top of of some fruit pie base and you’re in for a treat. A friend made a simple apple filling with white sugar, brown sugar, some cinnamon, and a bunch of cut apples. Cooked them in a pan a bit to soften the fruit, then placed the fruit in a pie dish mixed in with the cookie dough. It was magical. 

The pairing: So far, this has been our first near miss. The cookie needs to be baked properly and I would prefer to have the coffee stout. That being said, there were some things to learn from this. I do think that an oatmeal stout does pair well with an oatmeal cookie and this oatmeal cookie is right for this. I do feel like I may be over stating the 'miss' part of this pairing. We all really enjoyed both the beer and the cookie in this pairing. Together they were good, but they didn't reach the epic level of some of other pairings.