Monk's Cafe Flemish Sour Ale Beer Review

Picked this one up one a sour beer run to my new favorite beer store, Ale Yeah in Roswell, GA.

Pours with a lot of big sticky foam and a dark cherry colored. Hint of vinegar on the nose. Currants as well maybe? Fizzy at first in the mouth. Tart, smooth, sour finish. Hangs around for a little bit but not too long. Granny Smith apple kind of pucker.

A pretty good example of an entry level Flanders Brown. Good but not great. I'll give it a 3 out of 5.

Happy Drinking!!

I should have the next Vinyl and Alcohol post up later this week. Thinking The Association meets Mikkeller.

Vinyl and Alcohol: New Belgium Lips of Faith Tart Lychee Review and ZZ Top "Eliminator"

Now, we flip the script and head to the other end of the Alphabet to give the last album in my catalog a spin.  ZZ Top's 1983 smash "Eliminator". It was either this or my first foray into the Association.  After a hard day at work I really wasn't feeling the whole 60's boy band/barber shop quartet vibe.  Was much more in the mode for some good Texas Blues infused Rock with a side of 80's synth for good measure.  Billy shredding away on the guitar with Frank and Dusty just trying to keep up.  Paired this listen with a bomber of New Belgium's Lips of Faith, Tart Lychee.  Why?  Why not, had this sitting in the fridge for about a week and have been looking forward to popping the top.  Love this beer, anyway... on to side one!

Boom, right out of the gate: "Gimmie All You Lovin'", "Got Me Under Pressure" and "Sharp Dressed Man".  Talk about the 1927 Yankees of 80's rock.  You would be very hard pressed to find three better side one, track one through three.  All three walk the perfect line between grungy bluesy guitar riffs and polished, synthesized 80's rock.  Out of the three I like "Sharp Dressed Man" the best.  Great lyrics, an unforgettable guitar hook, just blasts straight through the whole song, not a down note in the whole thing. If I had a band this would be one song I would insist that we covered. 

The Beer: Yum!!  For some reason my pallet has moved on from big hop bombs and on to sour and wild ales.  Love the funk, the unpredictability.  The Tart Lychee has a slightly vinegary nose, smooth in the mouth, picked up raspberry, cinnamon, vanilla.  Just the right amount of oak, not to much to come out in the flavor but you can tell its back there playing second violin.  Nice pucker, hangs around in the mouth quite a bit after you have swallowed.  Head flattens out quickly, color is a hazy light copper.  Really wish this was a year round brew.  I'll rate it 4 pints out of 5.

Back to the tunes.....  After basking in the afterglow of "Sharp Dressed Man", the rest of side one back off a bit.   "I Need You Tonight" sounds like something off a Thin Lizzy B-side (not entirely a bad thing).  "I Got the Six" picks the speed up a bit, sounds like Dusty is singing this one, Dusty shouldn't sing any.  It does sound like a great song to haul ass to in the middle of the night though.

Side jumps right back off the mat and hits you in the face with "Legs".  Anyone of a certain age remembers this video, the car and the girls.  I do like the song but have always felt it could drop about a minute and a half and be just about perfect.  The outro gets a bit repetitive and long winded.  "Thug" is next, did Law and Order come on all of a sudden?  Base line sounds just like the old Law and Order intro from the early 90's.  Did Dick Wolf own this album, here this song and say "I want that base line as part of the intro for this new series I have thought up" ?  Other than that teaser, a completely forgettable song.  "TV Dinners"? Ugh, no thanks.  This is when I really start to remember why being able to skip songs quickly on a CD was such a big deal.  A few words on the rest of the songs; "Dirty Dog" a slightly worse take on the Legs theme, "Flag Her Down" Was Swing time rockabilly infused Texas Rock ever popular?  Had to be written in the middle of a 3 day bender, "Bad Girl" Sounds like Sammy Hagar used this to write Wango Tango from, that is not a good thing.

To Wrap up, I really wanted to love this album, and I really like 3 and a half songs out of the 11.  Too much filler, drum machine (sounds like a 5 year old programmed it at that).  The "filler" songs may have sounded fresh in 1983 but end up all sounding waaaay too dated now.  I do love my some ZZ and am looking froward to listening to Tres Hombres in a few weeks.  Wonder how that one will end up grading out?  If I am going to have to start giving a score, let's just use a scale of 0 to 10.  I'll give this one a middling 5. 

Happy Drinking and Listening!!!

AC/DC - "Back in Black" and "Dirty Deeds" meets Southern Tier Pumking Review

So, why Vinyl and Alcohol? Well I happen to have a few hundred records that I have acquired through either charity (thanks Mom, Dad and others!) or through my own purchases. Besides trying to find good local beer when I am on the road, I also try to hunt down independent local record shops. Anyway, after a bit of inspiration from Counterbalance columns over on PopMatters, I have decided to try to work my way through listening to all my albums. There are a good number I have never even dropped the needle on so I am looking forward to hearing some new things. I'll start with "A" the first week then flop to "Z" the second week and then back and forth. This should break up some of the multiple albums by the same artists a bit (and keep me from reviewing the Beatles for about 9 straight weeks). I figure I have roughly 300 albums, so I'll finish up sometime in the middle of 2018! And since I am going to be listening to some good tunes, what goes better than a good beer. I'll try to pair each listening with a new beer, should give me a good chance to go through some of the interesting stuff in my cellar. Anyways, here goes!

Music: AC/DC - "Back in Black" and "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"
Beer: Pumking by Southern Tier First one off the rack

The 1980 rocker by AC/DC with new front man Brian Johnson.  I don't think that I have ever actually listened to the album.  I don't mind AC/DC but I have never really sought them out, never had a "Man, I really need to listen to some AC/DC right now!" moment.  Looking at the track listing, this thing reads like a greatest hits album.  6 of the 10 tracks are in regular rotation on the classic rock channels, heck I am pretty sure I know most of the words to the songs. 


Ok, on to side one (yes kids, records have these things called "sides", you have to get up and physically turn the record over when you get to the end of the song).  Boom, right off the bat "Hells Bells" blasts onto the scene which then goes right into "Shoot to Thrill".  Rest of side one rolls along quite nicely, just good straight forward rock.  Not songs that I love but probably the perfect background music if you were shooting pool in a bar somewhere.  Side 2 kicks off with "Back in Black" and then you deal with the murderers row of classic rock staples of "You Shook Me all Night Long", "Have a Drink on Me", "Shake a Leg" and closing with "Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution".  Pretty solid record eh?  A good one for sure.  I may not ever seek this record out in the "Man I really need to listen to Back in Black tonight" vein, but if I ever have a few friends over to throw darts, shoot pool and drink some beer then this one may very well make it on the turn table.

Beer pairing with a record is a bit new for me so I just grabbed the beer I've been really looking forward to having again, Southern Tier Pumking.  Damn I love this beer.  Not too much pumpkin, good balance, just the right amount of spice and sweetness balanced well with the alcohol notes.  I have got to get a few more bottles of this before it rides off into the sunset for the next 10 months.  A solid 4.5 pints out of 5.  Really went with the mood of the AC/DC session, smooth, straight ahead good beer.

Ok, now the most surprising review of the night. An oddity in terms of release date, AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap".  Originally released in 1976, it was not released in the US until 1981, a year after "Back in Black".  So you have an album with original lead singer Bon Scott first showing up in the US a year after the mega hit that was "Back in Black" was released with the new lead singer Brian Johnson.  Huh?  Yeah.  I have the US pressing, which apparently is missing some songs from the Aussie release and has others edited a bit differently than the original.  Only two songs I had ever heard from this record were "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" and "Big Balls".  The rest were the first time I had ever heard them.  So what did I think?  Well, I really like this record better than "Back in Black".  Yes BnB is anthem rock royalty but there is just something a little cooler about this record.  Bon's lyrics and delivery are far better than Brain.  He exudes cools and character in every word, BJ just kind of shouts everything on BnB.  The song type varies a lot more on this album, makes it a  much more interesting listen.  I actually have found my favorite AC/DC song on this record, "Ride On".  A menacing slow burn of a song, sounds like AC/DC ripped off Bob Segars "Turn the Page" a bit.  A very cool track.

Final thoughts:

I am going to look forward to listening to a lot of music I have never heard before and finding plenty of hidden gems (like "Ride On").

AC/DC, I am going to have to try to find some of their earlier Bon Scott albums to go through.

Pumking: One of the best seasonal pumpkin beers around.

Happy Drinking (and listening) Everyone!!!

Records and Beer

After a great week plus of some amazing beer and great live music I got to thinking.  Why don't I try to pair up some music reviews with my beer drinking?  I am a bit of a vinyl record collector, have a bunch that have been donated to me from friends and family, plus a lot that I have picked up along the way (in addition to trying to hit as many local breweries while on the road I also try to seek out small independent record shops).  Anyway, I think I am going to attempt to work my way through my entire record collection.  I'll review one record and one beer each week!  Yep.  I'll start with the letter "A" week 1 and then letter "Z" week 2 and alternate from one end of the collection to the other (that way I figure I won't be reviewing 7 straight Beatles records) until I meet in the middle somewhere, going to guess around Billy Joel (I have them sorted by last name or band name).  Looking forward to listening to some records I've never pulled out (the Dionne Warwick records may be a bit tough to get through) and force myself to try a new beer each week (should also force me to go through some of my cellared beers when the right record calls for it!).  Anyway, going to kick it all off tonight!  Wish me luck!

Happy Drinking!!

Getting Ready for IPAday

Thursday 8/2 is IPAday this year.  Don't really know how the date was chosen but heck, any day that we can celebrate a fantastic beer style is a good day.

Beer Season Creep?

So I saw an ad about a week ago from New Belgium.  It was for the release of their new Fall seasonal, Red Hoptober.  So a fall seasonal released in late July?  Let me try to remember my seasons here..... Winter is Dec-Jan-Feb, Spring is March-Apr-May, Summer is June-July-Aug, Fall is Sep-Oct-Nov.  Ok so I'm not crazy.  A fall beer released in the middle of the summer.  What have the breweries become, auto makers?  On sale now, the new 2015 Lexus....

All kidding aside, I understand why the seasonal releases get pushed a bit earlier.  Heck I welcome it a bit just because I am not a big fan of many of the summer seasonal beers.  Just means I'm a few weeks closer to football season, a few weeks closer to buying a 12 pack of Sam Adams Octoberfest, drinking 2 of them and remembering that I really don't care for it, and then spending the next 6 months pawning them off on buddies when they come over to hang out.

Anyway, just kind of downloading my brain this morning.  Have brainstormed some homebrew ideas. Going to start fooling around with a true IPA recipe.  May brew a few batched back to back with the same malt bill and fool around with the hops to see which ones I like the best.  I also plan on making another batch of my Red IPA since it seems to be a favorite with everyone in the neighborhood.  Figure I'll try some sort of barleywine this fall as well.

That is it for now,

Happy Drinking!!  

A Beer Review? Really?

Four of them in fact! Imagine that, a beer blog with a few beer reviews!

First up, Great Divide Wolfgang Doppelbock Lager.

I'll keep this one simple, Wow. Balanced, smooth, a few hops in there, dead on style. I need to go stock up on this one for the fall and figure out how to rig my kegerator as a place to start lagering. Buy this beer now! My rating, 5 pints out of 5.

My Homebrew Red IPA Hybrid:

This is the 2nd batch of this I have made. My thought when designing this one was, hey I really like Red Ales, I really like hops so let's try to combine them. I'll call it "Redstone" Red IPA. 1st batch was spit on, malty, smooth, good hop kick and it clocked in at a sneaky 8.5%abv. 2nd batch I fooled around with the hop bill a bit and ended up with a much different brew. Sweeter, more flowery, not as much bite on the end. Still good but the Ukrainian judge takes off a half point for the landing. Let's call this one a solid 3 pints out of 5.

Now to the not so hot reviews.

Bomb Lager:

I had a 6 pack of this dropped off at my house by the local rep! I'll give them an A for effort. The cans are very cool with nice art work and boy do I wish the beer could live up to the art and devotion of the area rep. It is called a Helles Lager. Sure, if Miller Lite claims to be a true Pilsner then I guess this is a Helles. Pretty strange up front, I get orange? Reminds me of Sundrop, fizz sticks around and the flavor just disappears. Sure I guess it is smooth but, eh, not much else doing with this one. 1.5 pints out of 5.

Last and least....

Batch 19 Pre-Prohibition Lager:

Ok, maybe the ones I got sat in a hot truck for a month. Tasted like a skunked Milwaukee's Best. So yeah, yuck. If this is truly what Pre-prohibition beer tasted like maybe it's a good thing they stopped making it. .5 a pint out of 5.

That is it for now dear readers,
Happy Drinking!!

Homebrew: Berliner Weisse Edition

A quick update on my homebrewing front.  Taco Mac is sponsoring a homebrew competition this month and I plan on entering my "Redstone" Irish Red IPA hybrid beer.  Only batch I have to bottle up is the second batch where I had to use Columbus instead of Citra hops and I threw in some of the Tettnang and Hallertauer hops I had left from my dunkelwiezen.  Still a pretty good beer but a tad sweeter than the first batch.  I don't like it as much but have several buddies who tried both batches and they like this one better.  Guess I'll have to wait and see how it turn out.

As for bottling the beer, I tried a home solution to the beer gun about a month or so ago with the last dunkelwiezen and smoked stout.  Plan on popping a bottle of the dunkel tonight to see if the carbonation has held.

On to my latest brew day, did a Berliner Weisse 2 weeks ago.  Learned from the Dunkel regarding using rice hulls during the sparge, worked really well, nothing stuck this time!  Why a Berliner Weisse?  I don't know, figured I like wheat beers and I like sour beers so why not try the only sour wheat beer there is eh?  Should be pretty easy drinking right now best guess is it will clock in around 3.5% abv or so.  Makes it a really nice session beer for the late summer.  Looks like the perfect color in the primary, still bubbling away a little bit.  My wife went down to the basement a few days after I pitched the yeast and she came up complaining that we must have a sewage leak.... Yep that's wheat yeast and Lactobacillus for you.  Anyway, plan to move it over to the secondary in the next few days and then letting it work for another month or so....Hmm maybe the first football game would be a good time to debut this one.

Happy Drinking!!

Are Growlers Good for Georgia?

Short Answer: Yes and No.

Long Answer: Well here goes nothing....

I was first introduced to the idea of a growler of beer while traveling around for work to other states that allow breweries to sell beer directly to the consumer. The growler allows a small brewery to sell beer to go without having to invest in a bottling line.  It allows their customers to take the beer they can get at the tap-room or local bar home and then return the growler to have it re-filled.  See here in Georgia we have a set of laws that require any brewery to have to go through a distributor in order to sell there product. No beer to go at the brewery, no on site tap room where the brewery could sell pints and thus no growlers filled on site. Wineries in the state do not have the same problem, they are more than welcome to sell their wine direct to anyone that shows up, they can also sell their wine by the glass. Hmmm. 

So, say I want to start a brewery (actually I really do want to start one sometime), in which state is it going to be easier for me to get started?

State 1: A state where I can find a small space to build the brew-house, put in a small bar area up front, sell pints/growlers/kegs direct to customers who stop by off the street (and thus be able to experiment with very small batch brews and allow my loyal customers to try them before going large production) and be able to self distribute my beer to several local bars/grocery stores/liquor stores.

State 2: Find a small space to build a brew-house, beg and plead with beer wholesalers to pick up my product and sell it to a bar or liquor store.

Ok, so the situation in Georgia may not be that dire. More and more craft breweries are starting to pop up. Red Hare, Monday Night, Wild Heaven and Jailhouse are a few of the brave companies that have decided to give the craft brewing thing a try here in the peach state. But this 3 tier system (Brewer ---> Wholesaler ---> Retailer) does have something to do with the stunted growth of breweries here. Heck, there are about 10 breweries in Asheville, NC. Population of Asheville? 83,393. Breweries (Just counting Breweries and not Brew Pubs) in Atlanta: 6, population: 5 Million +. Gee wonder why that is?

So what does this have to do with the new growler fad in Atlanta?  Well I think some local businesses realized that with the booming craft beer market the idea of beer in a growler was some how cooler or better than beer in a bottle.  Well it is neat to be able to use some of the old growlers I have sitting in my basement but for the most part it just doesn't make much sense here in Georgia.  A certain store that just sells growlers just popped up near where I live, looking at their "Menu" shows they have 40 beers on "tap".  Of these there are only three that I could not otherwise get in a 6 pack.  So I can pay roughly $12 for a growler of Sweetwater IPA or about $8 for a 6 pack.  Huh?  Why buy the growler for more when it has less beer!!  Now, I would understand buying a growler of one of the local brews that you can't get other wise but why buy any of the other ones?  It's not like the keg that growler is filled from is brewery fresh.  I think some of the craft beer heads here in Georgia are getting a bit taken advantage of by these new Growler Filler Stores.  Heck I bought a growler of Great Divide Smoked Baltic Porter at the brewery for $8, and that included the growler!

I don't know what my readers opinions may be, and yes it is good that more and more people may get exposed by buying a growler of a new microbrew that they have not heard of.  Even so, I hope that those same people will some day find themselves in another more brewery friendly state and learn what the real advantage of buying beer by the growler really is!

As always, Happy Drinking!!

Asheville, NC: Beer Nirvana?

Close, at least one of the best beer meccas in the eastern USA. So many cool breweries, excellent bars and amazing scenery. I have to admit, I have a bit of a soft spot for Asheville already. I spent a few summers working at a camp near Brevard. With Sierra Nevada, New Belgium and Oskar Blues soon to set up shop in Western NC I think the secret is out. If the new growth allows the small fish to co-exist with the big fish then exciting times are ahead. Can't wait to plan my next trip to Asheville!

I tried to stop by Green Man Brewing but had forgotten that the Euro 2012 final was on. With at least 5 deep at the bar and the temp pushing 100 degrees I hopped back in the car a drove over to the River Arts district and Wedge Brewing Company. Took me a minute to find it but I am really glad I did. Neat little spot near the river and railroad tracks. Lots of nice places to sit outside (if the temp wasn't 100+!). Nice bar inside. Staff were very helpful. Since it was so hot I went for the Pilsner. An odd choice for me as I am really not a big Pilsner fan but damn, this one was incredible! Just right, quenching, a bit hoppy, wow. I guess this is what folks drinking fresh pilsner in Europe have fallen in love with. It surly has challenged me to seek out fresh brewed true pilsners. The only disappointment was I couldn't take any home in a growler. So I grabbed a growler of their Iron Rail IPA and am finishing it off now. A very nice southern IPA, not overly hopped, a tad sweet with a decent bite to balance it out. Not quite as good as the Green Man IPA but better than anything the local boys here in Atlanta have to offer.

So, as Ferris Bueller would say: If you have the means, I highly suggest that you go out and find a way to get to Asheville and drink some of the great beer.

Happy Drinking!!

Brewday and Update

A quick update. Brewed a batch of Berliner Weisse today. Should be ready in a month or so. Going to spend some time over the next week or so finishing up my Colorado trip reviews. Have a few new brew reviews to get thought as well. I am also going to be heading to Asheville next week and hope to hit up a few breweries and bars. More to come soon!

Happy Drinking!

Wynkoop Brewing Company

My 2nd stop on my Denver Brewery tour was at Wynkoop Brewing Company. A nice looking place on the corner near Coors Field and the river. Walker right in and was able to get a seat at the bar. Pretty good crowd that started to fill in even more after we sat down. The brewery and restaurant is 3 stories with tables and games up stairs and a local theater downstairs. Having had a nice dark beer at Great Divide, I wanted to lighten it up a bit. Ended up seeing that they had their London Calling IPA on cask, excellent. Pour nice, a bit hazy with just a hint of lace on top. Very nice and smooth, very subhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giftle hop note to end and a tad sweet in the middle. One of the better true English Style IPAs I have ever had. Even better with it being at cellar thttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifemp and on cask. Not too much carbonation forcing the hops through. Well balanced and I wish I could find this style around here in Atlanta. My buddy had the Russian Imperial Stout (again with the dark beers Ken, wth?) It was good but I was too lost in my perfect pint of cask IPA. I'll give the London Calling IPA on Cask a solid 4 out of 5 pints.

Only issue we had at Wynkoop was not discovered until a few days later. On the way out I decided to get a growler of something to lighten the mood up over thhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gife growler of Great Divide Smoked Baltic Porter that was already in the car. Got a sample of the Wixa Weiss, a very nice unfiltered wheat beer. Good for cleansing away a hard day of skiing. Ordered the growler, picked it up and headed on to the rest of our journey. When we opened the growler the next evening and poured the first beer we knew something was off, it poured clear. Hmm, tasted it and yep, not the Wixa Weiss. It was ok (whatever it was) but something was a bit off. Only thing I can figure it was is either the Two Guns Pilsner or the Light Rail Ale. Regardless, don't know what is was and we were disappointed not to have the Wixa.

The overall feel of the place was great, a good looking joint and the food smelled great, but alas we had miles to go until we ate.

Wykoop Brewing Company Taproom 3.5 pints out of 5 (looses a point for giving me the wrong beer in my growler!)

Next stop, Strange Brewing Company...

Happy Drinking!!

Great Divide Brewing Tap Room

1st stop on the my magical mystery Denver beer and ski tour was the Great Divide Brewing Tap Room near downtown Denver. Pretty east place to find, lots of on street parking around. We got there about 3pm on a Friday and the place was already pretty packed out. Nice tap room, good looking bar in the front with a few tables and a view of the brewery in the back. Beer was ridiculously cheap. I got the Smoked Baltic Porter and my buddy got the Espresso Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout. I think they were both $3?!?! Both beers were awesome. Smoked Baltic Porter may be my new favorite type of beer. First one I had was Left Hand Brewing's Fade to Black #2 last year. The Great Divide take on the style is amazing. Dark, smooth, just a bit smokey, a tahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifd spicy at the end. Wow, pure love in a glass. Have to start messing around with lager yeast now so I can clone one of these. We skipped the brewery tour since we had several other stops. We did great a growler of the Smoked Baltic Porter to go, fills were about $8 and the growler was around $5. A great little place and was the perfect kick off to the rest of our day.

Great Divide Tap Room Rating: 5 pints out of 5
Great Divide Smoked Baltic Porter: 4.5 pints out of 5

Happy Drinking!!

Home at last!

Got back to Atlanta safe and sound. So jealous of the folks in Colorado and the Denver area especially. 20+ great craft breweries within an hours drive plus several great local distilleries. Wow. A great trip and tons to write about.

Last breweries we hit in Fort Collins:

Odells
Fort Collins Brewery
Equinox Brewing
Coopersmiths Brewpub

Wish we had gotten the time to hit up New Belgium and Funkwerks but the timing just didn't work out.

Reviews of all to come little by little over the next few weeks.

Happy Drinking!!

Heading home...

So my trip to Vail to go skiing is coming to an end. I should have a good write up of some of the beers that I have gotten to taste while out here in the coming weeks. Breweries that I have gone to so far are:

Great Divide
Wynkoop Brewing
Strange Brewing Company
Renegade Brewing Company
Stranahans Colorado Whiskey
Breckenridge Brewery and BBQ

Also plan on hitting Odels and New Belgian tomorrow before my flight.

Tons of great beers at all these breweries plus a few seeds have been planted on styles I need to try to brew. I'll try to get up a few reviews a week until I can get through all of them!

Happy Drinking!!

Red Brick HopLanta Review

Saw this at the store and figured I would give it a shot. Poured a nice orangey color, a good and light head. Smelled like an IPA. Good and smooth for a IPA, a little woodsy. Not as floral as most west coast IPAs. Similar to Dogfish Head 60 Minute. In fact I actually like this one better than 60 min. HopLanta just has a bit more pop to it than 60 minute. All in all a decent IPA, may not become a mainstay in the fridge but a nice change up for every now and again. I'll give it a 3 pints out of 5.

Happy Drinking!!

Dunkelweizen Kegged Up

Got the Dunkelweizen Kegged up last night. Should be able to grab a few sips before heading out to Colorado this weekend. Final Gravity clocked in at 1.014 and 4.7% abv. Not too bad considering the stuck sparge. I think next time I brew this one, with the addition of rice hulls, I should be able to kick the abv% up just a tad, but really 4.7% is pretty dead on where I wanted to end up. It smells just right for a nice wheat based beer. Looking forward to giving it a try.

Happy Drinking!!

When is a Ski Trip not a Ski Trip?

When there are 8 breweries between you and the mountain! So the Atlanta Beer "Snob" will be heading out west to hit the ski slopes of Vail, CO the first week of February. Heading out there with a good friend Ken (of guy who drank the entire Christmas beer selection from the belgian bar at Brick Store fame). As it would happen, any time I head to a new place I am always looking for new beer to try. We get into Denver around 2pm in the afternoon and really have nothing to do except drive to Vail. So, I started looking for breweries to visit while in Denver. I have since come to the determination that if I ever have to move from Atlanta, Denver is on my list to move to. Heck 20 or something breweries and distilleries within a hours drive? Yes please! So a quick list of the ones we are trying to go when we first get to Denver:

Great Divide
Wynkoop
Strange Brewing
Breckenridge Brewery and BBQ (probably grab dinner here)
Renegade Brewery
Stranahans Colorado Whiskey
Wit's End Brewing Company

So 6 breweries and a distillery. I plan to stock up on beer from the breweries since it should be cheaper than buying it at a liquor store out in Vail.

On the way back after skiing we are playing it by ear and are going to try to head north of Denver a bit (Ft. Collins, Boulder, Loveland, Longmount ect.) and hit a brewery or two before having to head to the airport. We may need to find a UPS store to ship so beer back!

I'll keep everyone up to date on what I try while out there.

Happy Drinking!!

Quick Resturant Review: Hi Life in Norcross

My wife and I got a nice date night out (thanks to the in-laws for looking after the boys!) and tried a new place just around the corner from were we live. Hi Life is the name of the restaurant. From the outside it looks a bit diveish? It was suggested to us by my sister-in-law who did a business lunch there. We stepped inside and were immediately greeted by a nice low key interior, kind of American laid back bistro/pub kind of thing. The host and waitress were both very nice and knowledgeable. Very large wine list, good selection of beer on tap (Guinness, Blue Moon, Sweetwater 420 and IPA, Pernoi and Stella, no american light lagers here!) and a very extensive cocktail list. I stated with a Sweetwater 420 and my wife ordered a Cosmo. She stated that the Cosmo was very well done, this planted a small seed in my head for an upcoming cocktail order to verify the ability of the bartender. Anyway, we ordered salads, she got the wedge and I the arugula. Both amazing, the wedge was a nice change up from most as it used boston lettuce instead of iceberg. I could have just eaten my arugula salad it was so good, usually not a fan of pecans, but the way the ones on the salad were toasted was great. Main course, I went with the Guinness and Coffee braised short ribs (came with greens and mascarpone mashed potatoes) and my wife with the Friday night special, 2 Maine Lobster Tails with the claw and knuckle meat, yukon gold mashed potatoes and broccolini. Both entrees were amazing! Short ribs done perfectly and the lobster was great.

Now, my little challenge to the bartender. I ordered a Manhattan with dinner. Why? Well I have a love/hate relationship with Manhattans. A lot of places really don't take the time to make them correctly. Most bars will just make a bourbon martini, i.e. bourbon with some dry vermouth and a cherry thrown in. I can tell when they are made like this just by the look and taste of the dry vermouth. The real way to make a good Manhattan is to use sweet vermouth (preferably red) and a dash or 5 of bitters. My all time favorite Manhattan place is the Bluegrass Tavern in Lexington Ky (187 different types of Bourbon!!!!!). Absolutely perfection in a glass. They also make a mean old fashioned but back to the Manhattan at Hi Life. The first clue they knew what they were doing, she asked what kind of bourbon (I choose Bookers) and asked if I wanted it on the rocks or straight up, not many places ask this when you order a Manhattan. Anyway, I got it straight up, it came out in the correct cocktail glass and I knew just by the look it was right. A very good Manhattan using the correct sweet vermouth and a hint of bitters. If I was going to nit pick and would have liked a few more dashes of bitters but thats just my taste.

So, in closing, Hi Life is a great little laid back hidden spot in a strip mall near Norcross. Great atmosphere, great wait staff, great food, great drinks one heck of a menu and very well priced. For dinner you good go all out and have a $50+ per plate dinner or hang and the bar and order a pizza or burger for a happy hour. I will definitely be heading back the Hi Life sooner rather than later!

Happy Drinking!!

Chirstmas Beer Review

Hit up the Brick Store the weekend before Christmas to finally try to drink my way through the Belgian Bar. The beers on tap were:

ST. BERNARDUS CHRISTMAS
CORSENDONK CHRISTMAS
GOUDEN CAROLOUS NOEL
SCALDIS NOEL (12% Quad)
DERANKE PERE NOEL
CHRISTMAS LEROY
N'ICE CHOUFFE
AVEC LES BONS VOEUX

The Christmas Leroy was tapped out by the time I got there. It was replaced by Samichlaus Bier. Started out with the Deranke Pere Noel then hit the Samichlaus. Got a little lucky (un-lucky?) with the Samichlaus pour. As per Brick Store custom, the majority of the beers on draft are served in the brand specific glass, the Samichalaus was no exception. Poured in a great looking tulip glass with a pour mark of 0.2L. Ok, so the pour was supposed to be 0.2L, the wonderful bartendress pretty much topped it full, closer to 0.5L. So a great thing right? Well yes and no. Samichlaus kicks in at a nigh near illegal in Georgia 14%abv! Yeah, 17 or so ounces of high gravity wonderment. Sweet, smooth, warming. Just wonderful. I wish I had saved this one until last since it pretty much blew out my pallet (and my senses, still on an empty stomach when I drank it!). So I also worked through the N'ice Couffee, St. Bernardus and the Corsendonk. I finished the night with a cellared bottle of Monstre Rouge, a Flanders Red brewed in collaboration between Terrapin and De Proef. My buddy did make it through all 8 of the drafts and was somehow still standing at the end of the night.

For anyone in the Southeast that can make it to the Brick Store from late November to Christmas I highly suggest you head over to Brick Store and try some of the amazing Winter/Christmas beers on draft upstairs at the belgian bar.

Happy Drinking!!

Rainy Day = Brew Day

Had a tennis match rained out yesterday so not much else left to do but brew! Decided to give the Dunkelweizen a go. Everything went pretty well but I did run into my first stuck sparge. Guess I'll add some rice hulls to my buy list next time I make a wheat beer. Even with the stuck sparge, I hit a good middle road OG of 1.050. With a good ferment it should put my final gravity somewhere in the 5% range which is about what I was hoping. My recipe is below:

Grain Bill:
5 lbs. - Wheat Malt
2 lb. - Munich Malt
2 lb. - Vienna Malt
1/2 lb. - Crystal Malt (60L)
1/4 lb. - Chocolate Malt

Hops:
.5oz Hallertau (60 min)
.5oz Tettnanger (30 min)

75 Minute Boil
Mash for a little over a hour at 155F.

Using White Labs WLP300 Hefeweizen Yeast

Long Time No Beer?

Wow, let that year and a half blow by quick. Let's see, I've drank a lot of great beer since the last post. Enjoyed working my way through the Brick Store Belgian Bar Christmas Beers last month. Planning a ski trip next month that will also just happen to take me by several great breweries in the Denver area. Still doing the homebrew thing. Have really progressed in the quality of my brews. Last two in particular, a big hoppy Irish Red/Red IPA was amazing and the follow up Smoked Stout was pretty good. Planning on brewing in the next week or two, going to brew up the Red IPA again and give a Dunkelweizen a shoot. Hope they turn out.

Happy Drinking and Happy New Year!