Add Dessert Beers to America’s Pandemic Diet List

In August, Mike Simpson went home to Vermont for the first time since the start of the pandemic. His primary motivation wasn’t family bonding but the release of a rare, barrel-aged beer, Imperial Hodad from Fiddlehead Brewing. The porter, matured in bourbon casks with vanilla beans, cacao, and toasted coconut, has a 9.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) rating and the flavor of a boozy German chocolate cake. “I’ve been enjoying much less beer lately. So when I crack something open, it has to be high-quality and high in alcohol,” he says.

The Chicago-based craft beer connoisseur is not alone in his “go big and stay home” mentality. Americans have been consuming more junk food during the course of the pandemic. Just as sales of frozen waffles and Oreos are on the rise, so are beers infused with foods that could euphemistically be called “comfort.”