Takeout’s certified beer judge Kate Bernot has talked about dessert-sounding pastry stouts with names like Barrel-Aged Imperial German Chocolate Cupcake Stout and Maple Truffle Ice Cream Waffle. As outlandish as some of those may seem, this new brew by Smartmouth Brewery, as USA Today describes, may take the proverbial sugary cake. The Virginia-based brewery says that it “will release ‘Saturday Morning,’ a limited-edition IPA with marshmallows, at noon Saturday at its Norfolk tasting room.”
The “magically ridiculous” beer (not to be confused with Lucky Charms’ “magically delicious” slogan) will yes, be “brewed with in-house toasted marshmallows and bulk dehydrated-marshmallow-bits,” a brewery spokesperson tells USA Today, lending the beer its breakfast (or dessert) connotation. The design on the Saturday Morning beer can label looks just like a sugary cereal box, bringing to mind the Lucky Charms box but without, it must be noted, any official partnership.
Smartmouth stresses that Saturday Morning is meant to “evoke nostalgia,” “not marketing to children.” It’s hard to say what a marshmallows-added IPA would taste like (it’s also brewed with fruity Galaxy and Calypso hops), but it’s certainly in line with the trend away from super-bitter IPAs and toward a sweet, softer version of the style. With all the buzz about this new Lucky Charms-inspired IPA, Smartmouth’s Saturday Morning should do quite well, even if it is limited to Virginians who can visit the brewery or find this new release in certain restaurants or bottle shops: Smartmouth is unable to ship its beer.