Brewery Ommegang in upstate New York has been producing a series of beers tied into HBO’s Game of Thrones television series for a few years now, but I have to say, the last couple have been kind of boring.
Gone are the licorice and anise adjuncts of 2013’s Take the Black Stout, or the ancho chili peppers of Fire and Blood from 2014. Instead, 2016’s Valar Dohaeris featured Belgian candi sugar, and this year’s Bend the Knee had honey in it, and I can barely stay awake to finish this sentence.
Okay, yes, I admit I’m maybe a little jaded, maybe a little adjunct-thirsty. But if you’re going to produce a novelty beer, Ommegang, make it, y’know, novel! Game of Thrones beers, novel — there’s a pun here, I’m sure of it.
This last Sunday was the season seven premiere of Game of Thrones, and whatever issues I may have with other GoT beers, I still want to tie my beer-drinking in with my event television-watching whenever possible. I could’ve opened a bottle of The Wolf from 3 Sheeps in honor of the new King in the North, Jon “The White Wolf” Snow. I have some mead; that’s always good for a medieval-style fantasy epic. But the Mother of Dragons, Daenerys Targaryen, is the real mover of this season’s action, and that’s where Dragon’s Milk comes in.
I could just pick up a four-pack of regular old New Holland Dragon’s Milk; it’s a fine stout, and the name reference would be intact. But what kind of adjunct hound would I be if I didn’t take the opportunity to open a Dragon’s Milk variant? The most recent in New Holland’s Dragon’s Milk Reserve series is a S’mores version, and that’s right up my alley.
The Reserve series beers are markedly harder to find than the basic Dragon’s Milk. They’re usually sold as singles to spread the wealth, be they the raspberry version from 2014, the vanilla chai from 2015, or last year’s superb coconut rum barrel-aged version. I’ve been fortunate to taste almost all of the bottled releases (curse you, Triple Mash and Mexican Spice Cake!), and after I tracked down a single 12-ounce bottle of S’mores Dragon Milk in McFarland, the GoT premiere was the perfect moment to drink it.
I also opened an Off Color DinoSmores bottled late last year to compare the relative marshmallowy merits. Where DinoSmores excels in the darker chocolate depths (and this was the non-barrel-aged version, mind), the Dragon’s Milk really nailed the purity of graham cracker flavor, as well as the overall s’mores aroma of vanilla and chocolate. The bourbon barrel backbone was just — can you have icing on the cake when you’re talking about s’mores?
The tagline for this season of Game of Thrones is “Winter is Here,” though it’s a challenge to get into that mindset with the oscillating fan whirring away next to the TV. S’mores, tasty around a campfire no matter the season, bridged the gap of seasonal cognitive dissonance.
Maybe it’s that asymmetry between tagline and actual season that inspired Ommegang to not release its next Game of Thrones beer, a white pepper and sea salt imperial witbier called Winter is Here, until well after this season will be over and done with, in October. Maybe, if the arcane signs are being read correctly, I’ll be able to drink Winter is Here while reading The Winds of Winter, the long-awaited sixth book in Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin’s series.
