An evening at Ashley's

On a recent trip to Ashley's, we continued our beer tasting frenzy . We opted for our usual sampler of the rotating taps, trying 4 new beers.

Arcadia Jaw-Jacker Ale: an easy drinking beer with a finish that reminds me of drinking pumpkin pie. I can't imagine drinking it any time of year but autumn. M found it lackluster, missing 'something'.
Avery "The Kaiser" Imperial Oktoberfest: I found it to be smooth and unusual with a nice flavor. M said it was well balanced and "won't hurt the tonsils on the way down".
Kuhnhenn Brewing A Few Schillings: M thought it was full and sweet, while I thought *too* sweet, almost syrupy. What is the ABV on this one??
Flying Dog Barrel Aged Gonzo: A barrel aged Imperial Porter with a surprising orange blossom nose!

Of all that we tried, I can't say that I would order a pint of any of them. M liked the Kuhnhenn.

Pizza Beer - the verdict

You may recall a previous post about Pizza Beer, a beer brewed with tomato, basil, garlic and oregano. Well, last night we finally had an opportunity to try it. The first thing we noticed was the nose- let's just say it was strong. Four of us tried it, and unfortunately, I can't say that any of us really liked it. In all fairness, we tried it straight without any food accompaniment, and it would likely taste better with pizza or at least Italian food. Personally, I thought the oregano was just a wee bit overpowering. :-(

Some people shouldn't be allowed to drink beer

Man cited for allegedly buying beer for young sons

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

(09-24) 14:09 PDT Fond Du Lac, Wis. (AP) --

A father who bought a beer for his 4-year-old son at the Fond du Lac County Fair and shared it with the boy's 2-year-old sibling was cited after becoming belligerent when he was approached by police.

A woman working at a beer tent last July told an officer she thought the man was joking when he asked for two beers — one for him and another for his 4-year-old son.

When he was questioned by an officer, he told him it's legal for underage children to drink in Wisconsin, as long as they're with their parents. The officer countered that the boys weren't old enough to know what they were drinking.

A police report said the man began yelling and swearing and was kicked off the fairgrounds.

The Fond du Lac County district attorney recently requested that the man be cited for disorderly conduct.

Beer tasting madness!!

OK, maybe not madness, but we have tried a LOT of different beers in the past week! I can't remember the names of all of them, so I'm gonna start with tonight and work my way backward as best I can... bear with me! Unfortunately I can't write full on reviews for all, as, well, my tastebuds won't let me, but I can at least offer up a few impressions:

Bell's Oktoberfest - an unpasteurized brew with a unique finish!
Lagunitas Sirius - never tasted anything quite like it in a bottle, and apparently they don't want the secret to get too far out... a hi-gravity cream ale. YUM! One of Lagunitas' seasonal beers, I hope we can still find some in stores...
Brooklyn Brown Ale - I don't like all brown ales, as so many of them lean toward the coffee. This one was a pleasant surprise. Reminds me a bit of Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale - tasty!
Loose Cannon Hop3 Ale - wow! I really expected it to be TOO hoppy with a name like that, but was pleasantly surprised.
Rogue Double (yes, DOUBLE) Dead Guy Ale- I couldn't find anything about it on the Rogue website, but others were talking... I've always been a Rogue fan, and this is definitely a fun addition to their list of beers.
Brugge White Ale and Triple de Ripple - some friends from Indy met us at my folks over the weekend, and brought up some treats, including a 750 each of three different Brugge Belgian beers. I only tried the white, which I'd had before, and found it to be a nice, refreshing, lounging by the pool beer. The friend who brought these brews his own, and we all agree, we like HIS Belgians better, though.

The most pleasant and fun surprise of the past few days has to be the Beer Cave at the Northside Carry Out in Wabash, IN. Thanks for the tip, Scott! Having grown up in Wabash, I've long known that if I want a decent beer while I'm there, I'd have to bring it from Indy. No longer! Northside now carries quite an outstanding selection of micros and international beers, both warm and cold, that can be mixed and matched to make your own 6 pack! SWEET! The 4 of us collaborated to come up with 6, though now I can't recall exactly what we bought, of course, except the Loose Cannon and the Rogue. Regardless, props to whoever recognized that niche and stepped up!!

Pizza Beer?

A friend of the blog just sent me a link to Mamma Mia Pizza Beer. I'm not quite sure what to think about this.... beer that tastes like pizza?? Has anyone tasted this? While it doesn't sound particularly appealing to me, I am curious about it...

Two Great Things that Go Great Together

For many of us, this is a big weekend. Notre Dame is playing their home opener as we speak (vs. San Diego State- I'm giving M grief since he has degrees from both), and my beloved Colts open tomorrow night against my other favorite team, da Bears.

On top of all THAT, today is our first "game day" in Ann Arbor. We can hear the PA announcer from our house and many of our neighbors have lawns covered with parked cars. Driving to the Kerrytown Farmer's Market this morning, we got to observe UM students at their finest. If by finest you mean jaywalking, playing beer pong, and funneling beer down from the roofs of their porches. :-)

It also means an excuse for us to break out the beer a bit earlier in the day than usual, so we're trying beer #2 of our Bello Vino haul: Phin & Matt's Extraordinary Ale, from Southern Tier Brewing Company. It's an American Pale Ale, and while it smells nice, it's missing something. I'm wondering if it's the artesian water, as to me it tastes almost "too pure". M thinks it's like a bunny rabbit with one leg: no hop. Don't get me wrong, I'll finish my beer, but I don't think we'll be buying this one again. Sorry, guys.

Aloha!

Before I get back to my Bello Vino stash, I wanted to write about the beers of Hawaii. Well, two breweries, anyway: Mehana and Kona, as they were the ones we tried on our trip to the Big Island for my brother's wedding. I also got a book for our wedding anniversary (the 1st one is paper) that may make it into a future post: The Hawaii Beer Book. :-)

After visiting the spot where Kilauea's lava is currently flowing into the ocean (pretty spectacular), we stopped in Hilo for dinner at Hilo Bay Cafe (YUMMM). They had Mehana Humpback Blue on tap, and since I'd never heard of Mehana Brewing, it was a must try. Unfortunately, I wasn't impressed. While it was better with food than standalone, it leaned too far toward sweet for me. M liked it a lot, so maybe it was my tastebuds or something.

Our last day we made the trip over to Kilauea-Kona to check out Kona Brewing. While we didn't have time to stick around for one of the two daily tours, we did have lunch and sample quite a few of their beers. I had only tried Longboard Lager before our visit (many of them consumed at the wedding reception), and was pleasantly surprised to find QUITE a selection at the brewery. In addition to the ten beers listed on the menu, they had four seasonals available. We tasted 8 of the 14: Mac Nut Brown, Dry Side Stout, Pipeline Porter, Fire Rock Pale Ale, Lavaman Red Ale, Castaway IPA, Duke's Blonde Ale, and Black Sand Porter. M liked (in order) Black Sand, Mac Nut, and Pipeline. I enjoyed the Fire Rock, but REALLY liked both the Mac Nut and the Lavaman. Of course, I had already ordered a pint of Lavaman (who can resist a pint of paradise?) before the sampler with the Mac Nut came out, but live and learn. Both were really great beers!!

P.S. Back to the Bello Vino- I made it out there before we left to snag a sixer of the Breckenridge IPA, only to find that it was $13.99 for a 6-pack! Yowza! I hope that is just because it is a limited release, and not an indicator of future beer prices...

Beerin' in A2 and Ypsi

On both Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, Jeff and I attended different beer events. Both were awesome! Here is the recap!

Weber's Inn had a beer & BBQ dinner on Tuesday night, featuring beers from the Michigan Brewing Company. Despite its proximity to our home, neither of us have ever been out there. Our bad. The dinner itself was awesome--ribs (yes, I ate swine and felt guilty the whole time), barbecued chicken, corn on the cob, the best cornbread I've ever had (it tasted like those old pudding-in-the-middle cakes that my mom used to bake), coleslaw and baked beans. Along with the dinner, we got 4 beer tickets apiece, each of which was good for one bottle of beer. At dessert time (strawberry poppyseed cake, which was kind of meh), we got a bottle of Celis Raspberry or Screamin' Pumpkin spiced ale.

Caveat: I'm not a beer reviewer, and don't claim to be, so this "review" is very informal and just based on my own palate, which is nothing fancy.

Pale Ale: The first beer that I had was the pale ale, which was billed as "light bodied". I found it very light bodied--almost too light bodied. It would be good while mowing the lawn though.

Porter: MBC's Porter was really good. Porters are hit or miss with me, and this one was definitely a "hit". It almost--but not quite--had a smoky taste to it. Still, it was fairly light bodied and an easy drinking beer.

IPA: I am a huge hop head and normally, I love me a good IPA. In fact, my favorite beers tend to fall into the IPA family. This IPA was good, but not like other IPAs that I've had. The hops were different and not as noticeable. That is, when you drink another IPA, the hop taste will knock you over the head. This one kinda of tapped you on the arm.

Celis White & Celis Raspberry: These are MBC's Belgian beers. I do not like Belgian beers, so I only took a taste. Jeff reports that both were "good".

Screamin' Pumpkin: This is MBC's spiced ale. I think it'd be good during a football game, but I'm not sure that I could drink a lot of it--it was quite spicy, as it should be, I guess. :)

Hamtramck: I grabbed this beer for Jeff simply because he grew up in Detroit, near Hamtramck. I am so clever! We don't know much else about it, and I couldn't find anything on the MBC website, but it tasted like a lager to us. It had that crisp & cold "touch" that lagers often have. Light bodied, easy drinking.

I saved my favorite two for last! First up was the Amber Lager...oh my gosh! Yum! I'm not always a huge lager fan, but this was smoove and tasty. But far and away my favorite (and what I am drinking right now, in fact) was the Nut Brown Ale. It has a touch of honey taste to it, and a finish that makes me think of fall. I don't know how else to describe it. This beer has found its way onto my Top Michigan Beer List. Congratulations!

Wednesday night was the Corner Brewery's release party for its Jackhammer beer. This beer is awesome! It kind of reminded me of a stronger Dark Ale...it had that "brown ale" flavor to it. It went down extremely smooth with a little "kick" in the nose. This kick comes from the fact that the beer is over 9% abv. It sneaks up to you, sits down, talks to you, and then gently puts you on your ass. I drank a mug full and was tipsy (okay, on top of another beer that I had earlier). I feel good that I've finally found a high abv beer that I enjoy! I'm sure my liver is glad, too.