Beer fans line up in Oswego to try new stout

Craft beer fans lined up outside the Oswego Brewing Company on Main Street in downtown Oswego Saturday morning, July 6, to be among the first to taste a new stout that combines chocolate, cupcakes and beer.

The Triple Chocolate Cupcake Stout, made with Chocoholic cupcakes from Smallcakes Cupcakes & Ice Cream in Aurora, was created by homebrewer Ricky Cervantes of Foreign Exchange in collaboration with Smallcakes owner Sal Khan and B.J. Patel, Oswego Brewing Company sales and marketing coordinator.

“I’ve been a follower of Ricky for a while...we were always talking ‘Let’s make a beer one day,’ and he came up with the recipe, and I got interested,” Patel said. “There was opportunity for us to collaborate with him - he’s got a really good following - and at the same time, it’s been a year for us so now we can do experiments and learn something new from this guy.”

“Oswego [Brewing Company] had just opened when we first started talking about this, and he (Khan) had just opened his (cupcake) store, so I figured we can bring everyone together, it’s great marketing for all of us, and it’s going to create a great product in the end,” Cervantes said.

The Chocoholic cupcake; a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting, and chocolate shavings, were used to brew Cervantes’ chocolate stout, also made with cacao nibs and vanilla beans.

The brewing and aging process for a stout is longer than for a regular beer, about a month to a month and-a-half, Cervantes said, including the additional ingredients.

“This is going to be perfect, it goes well, it’s going to complement the beer, and it came out amazing,” Khan said. This collaboration, Khan said, was the first of its kind for the Smallcakes franchise, a worldwide company.

The stout was brewed at the end of May and bottled at the end of June, Patel said. Ten barrels were brewed, creating about 700 bottles and some barrels for draft, allowing visitors to try a glass before they purchase a bottle.

Cervantes thanked Patel and Khan, as well as the rest of the OBC and his supporters.

“Being able to put out a beer of this caliber, this scale, I’m excited to see the turnout,” Cervantes said. “I just want to thank everybody for buying this beer, following what I do, and letting me keep doing what I enjoy.”

The Triple Chocolate Cupcake Stout is available at the Oswego Brewing Company at 61 Main Street, Oswego.