Irish Style Extra Stout

Holy shit!!! this tastes like St. Patty's Day! I don't think the picture is good enough, but around the label it says "A narrow neck keeps the bottle from being emptied in one swig - Irish Proverb" Damn they were right! I probably would have tried to finish it all in one swig if I had had more than a six pack. This is a full bodied Irish stout and it tastes outstanding. The score on Beer Advocate does not do it justice.

This is Shlafly's Foreign Extra Stout and has 8% abv. It pours a nice dark brown with ample tan head. It has a pretty thick mouth feel that is almost chewy. It smells like sweet roasted goodness.

The flavor is big and in your face. It has a nice blend of dark fruits, licorice sweetness and a little bit of bitter coffee. There is a little bit of roasted malt goodness, that give it just a bit of sharpness. There is a great boozy backbone to this beer as well, and it just mellows out beautifully as it warms up a bit. You can really taste the 8% in a great way. Often this sort of thing will detract from a beer, but for this one the booziness just seems to fit. There is a solid hop profile to back everything up. This helps keep it nice a dry as well as give it a crisp clean finish.

I have had a lot of stouts this St. Patty's Day and this was probably my favorite. I even went out to grab another six pack in hops of making the season last a little bit longer.

I give it a 4.5 it was totally my favorite St. Patty's Day find.

O-Dawg:
Sweet malt nose.  Boozy heat.  Medium body, slight bitter finish.
4

El Duque:
I just.  I just didn't like it, and this will probably leave me with the least eloquent review so far.  It just felt too sweet, not enough malt, and then add in the booze and it just felt disjointed to me.  I think this is a case of my palate not being really attuned to this one.

I give it a 3

Beer Gear: Kickstart your Growler!

So, you didn't make it into the BRÄULER FreshCap™ Kickstarter Campaign by The Zythos Team back in October of 2012.  Nuts...

You can't wait for their next Kickstarter to launch the TapCap™ system because Uncle Bucks Birthday is just around the bend...  But you want to get him something similar...  I mean for pete sake the man taught you to appreciate craft beer!

Well you Sir are in luck!  Feast  your eyes on these inventive modern marvels!  Act quick and you can help fund these creative projects and be the first Hoser in your area to get your mitts on one!  Just remember... these aren't 99¢!!!



The TapIt Cap: The beer growler's best friend 
by Robert Scott

The Perfect Beer Drinking Vessel and Private Keg! 

by Drink Tanks

The Scene: Drink me I'm Irish!

In my family every holiday seems to revolve around some sort of wine, beer or alcohol. On top of that, there are many Holidays that seem to revolve around beer, Oktoberfest, Mardis Grass, and of course St. Patrick's Day. I am not Irish, but St. Patty's speaks the most to me. When else can you dress up like a deranged green midget and drink until you can't make full sentences? This year for St. Patrick's Day my wife and I packed in as much as we could.

We started our day off at the first ever Shamrock 5k in broadripple. It was great because a bunch of local breweries came out to support the cause (Upland, Sun King and Fountain Square). It was a traditional 5k run, but at every 1k you got a beer... a small beer but you could grab as many as you wanted. It was 9 am so I was getting some strange looks for taking two or three at a time. The race was great and it ended with a stop at the Broadripple Tavern for some green beer. Yes, I had green beer... it's a holiday I felt obligated.

After Broadripple we drove home for quick shower and change. Then we headed to the Union Brewing Company for their St. Patty's Day party. The bar was packed, but there were two tents out back and the party was just getting started back there. It had a great atmosphere and there was plenty of space to spread out. There was a guitar player out back in one of the tents playing some tunes. Cameron (the head brewer at UBC) released five new sweet / milk stouts with all sorts of different flavors (arranged in order of my favorite).

• Mint Everest Chocolate Mint Stout
• Carri's Car Bomb Irish Whiskey Stout
• S'Mores Graham, Chocolate and Marshmallow Stout
• Almond Joyous Coconut Almond Stout
• Olde Tyme Root Beer Stout

The UBC beers were great as always and everyone was really getting in the spirit of the holiday. There was some good Shepard's pie and corned beef and cabbage, that were catered. On top of their St. Patrick's Day specialty beers, they had their beer Miami Weiss (not exactly Irish, but one of my favorite that they do) as well as Harp, Guinness and Strongbow on tap. 

St. Patrick's Day did not disappoint this year. Everyone who put together programs did a great job. They were full of booze, fun and a few barons looking like leprechauns.   

  

Here’s to a long life and a merry one,

A quick death and an easy one,

A pretty girl and an honest one,

A cold pint-and another one!

The Scene: Tin Man Brewing Company

View Larger Map

You ever have an urge to make a  road trip?  If this particular wanderlust hits you, and you are going to attempt the new piece of I-69 south of Indianapolis... please, Please, PLEASE fuel up at the ONLY gas station on this humpy bumpy...  It's at I-69 and 58.   That's it...  till you hit Evansville.

You've been warned.

Now on to the fun stuff!

College was a haze of TERRIBLE Beer had by most if not all college bound tweeners.  Just enough taste to let you know it was there, enough alcohol to get you drunk and just cheap enough to keep your college budget afloat.  Tin Man Brewing Company company has a slogan, "Ordinary Beer does not compute".  To this I must agree.

l had a flight of all their usuals and their seasonals paired with the most delightful portabella mushroom calzone with Spanish rice.  Their menu was still in flux when I was there last.  I remember more than a few individuals grumbling about them not having their killer BBQ from the previous week.

The quick and dirty, from the Light to the DARK SIDE!

Circuit Bohemian Pilsner:
First off, I haven't found a Pilsner that I have liked... Until now.  A distinct start middle and end, very crisp and light.  If it had just a little bit more complexity or flavor ride it would push it to a 4.

Alloy American IPA:
To be very fair I am hard on IPA's  I love them with all my hops infused heart.  I was disappointed I could not have a sip of their DIPA v.1 but this was a nice solid everyday IPA.  If i stacked it up against the Bier's PDG in a taste off Alloy would loose.  Sorry boys!  But a Gold Spacelies Sprocket for effort!
Solid

Rivit Irish Red Ale:
All sorts of malt all over this!  It's earthy yet flavorful!
Solid 



/que the Imperial Death March

3 Gear Robust Porter:
Dark molasses chocolate and caramel notes with just a hint of smoke.   I really enjoyed this one!  This beer was what I wanted Flat 12's Pogue's Run Porter to be.  I'm still disappointed about that beer...  I'll post my further ruminations on this trend in beer later.  Yes Joe, another place and over beers.

Dry cell Irish Dry Stout:
Deceptively Light and creamy.  If i had this on St. Patties Day it would have been all I drank!  Lighter than a Guinness, yet more flavorful.  Really GOOD!


On to the Seasonals!

Gear Box Dark Ale:
Really dark and toasty malt nose.  Little sweet with some spice to it!  Clean finish.
Better than average but not good enough...

Bourbon Rye Dry:
Sweet wood bourbon flavor forward, malt, then finishes with a slight warm heat.  Nicely Done!  Much preferable to the Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale that is all bourbon heat and no beer taste...  Reminds me of Boombozz's Bourbon Barrel Ale.

Not only is Tin Man Brewing focused on building and cultivating a knowledgeable, responsible, and thriving craft brew culture in Evansville, IN.  They are also dialed in on making their brewery/business earth friendly.

BREWniversity: Beer Can Benefits

In my real life I'm in the packaging industry, and I just had the opportunity to sit down with someone I work with that specializes in food packaging, and now he is looking to can beer. He knew I was a big beer head, so we went through some of the benefits and drawbacks to canning. The benefits seem to outweigh the disadvantages, but there are some barriers and sadly right now most people don't know about the benefits.

First off, the primary problems are that people say they can taste the metal and it looks less classy or craft. As far as taste goes these days the cans are all heavily lined with a polymer (basically a high tech plastic layer) that makes it so there's no leaching of the metallic flavor. Now you might get some of the flavor if you are drinking directly out of the can, but you should be pouring all craft beer into a glass anyway (this helps release more of the aroma and allows the beer to breathe). Probably the biggest issue with the can is that people consider it to be of lower quality. We are so used to having national big brews in cans that we assume anything that comes in a can is not as good as a bottle (which traditionally held importers that we assume are higher quality). This is similar to the issue people have with boxed wine. The airtight pouch inside a box of wine is actually the best way to store a good vino.

The primary benefits are no oxidation and no skunking. Can lids are tighter than bottle lids allowing less oxygen to get into the beer. Oxidation is what causes a wet cardboard flavor and flatness to the beer. It happens when air mixes with the beer for too long. This can happen during aging or because of a weak cap seal. Skunking is caused by light entering the beer. Clear glass and green glass are the worst, because they provide little to no barrier for light. Brown glass is ok, but light can still get through. Cans are the best because they are completely solid. People don't know that beer can be skunked in a matter of minutes. In fact, if you are sitting on your back porch in the summer enjoying a very hoppy beer in a nice clear pint glass, it can start to skunk as you drink it (the more hops in the beer the more likely it is to start skunking).

Other benefits are that you can take it to sports games, tailgate parks and other venues that might frown on broken glass. Cans are universally more acceptable than other types of containers. Also there is a solid environmental story. Cans are one of the most recyclable materials we use. According to The Aluminum Association, creating an aluminum can out of recycled materials requires only 5 percent as much energy as creating a brand new can from bauxite ore. This is a more efficient process than most glass.

Drawbacks for breweries with cans are pretty serious. All container designs that are going to hold beer or any alcoholic beverage have to be approved by the ATF (alcohol tobacco and firearms) so getting each  design can be costly and time intensive. They have to have specific information on them about the individual beer. Printed cans have higher costs and higher minimums than labels for bottles. I am sure every home brewer has gotten a pack of Avery labels and printed them out at Kinkos to put on their beer. A brewer can do this on a much larger scale, therefore getting it for way cheap. Cans on the other hand have much larger minimum orders because of what's needed for custom printing.

  

Same can above right and left with a different circular sticker.

Sun King does sort of a mash up. Their specialty beers have small stickers on the beer cans indicating what brew is inside. This lets them do large runs of Reserve cans and Standard cans with general Sun King information and then add the sticker to get everything else that the ATF would require.

Right now we are seeing more and more breweries using cans. Locally Sun King and Tin Man have embraced the change and nationally we are seeing a lot of cans out of Sixpoints and many others. As the average craft drinker gets better educated I see this trend increasing. I believe we can all put old biases aside and embrace what is better for the brew and for the planet. God I sound like Al Gore...

Special thanks to Alex Linz from Unisource Worldwide and Ron Smith and his Masters in Beer Appreciation class.

Rad Red

Upland is Indiana's second largest craft brewery. They are well known for their wheat beer and their wheat and most importantly they are located in Bloomington, by the IU campus which makes them near and dear to my heart. With the Big 10 tournament underway I felt like it might help my Hoosiers if I enjoyed some Bloomington beer while wearing my striped pants.

One of the best parts of being so large, is they are easier to get in liquor stores, and anywhere that may sell premium beers. Rad Red is their amber ale, and one that I did not drink a ton of in college, so I wanted to give it a chance. I picked up a six pack and made it happen.

It poured out a nice light amber color with more sediment than I expect from a major craft brewery, but since I home brew that doesn't scare me off. Upland is known for doing great beer and doing it green, so I am not sure about their filtration process. They head went away quickly. It didn't have much of an aroma, sort of a bready beer like smell (not very helpful I know, but sometimes beer just smells like beer).

The beer had a light maltiness with some smoked flavor and caramel and bread flavors making up the sweet side. It had a piney hop bitterness throughout the entire beer that I was not expecting from an amber, but also not over powering. It finished with a sharp hoppy bite, but some of the caramel flavor lingered after every taste. It had a nice mouth feel with a strong effervescence. It was very light in flavor and in consistency  This beer is nothing wild and crazy, but it tastes good, and has a nice easy feel that would let you drink it all day long.

I give it a 3.

My week with Bloomington Brewing Co. (Part I)

Out of pure universal convergence, I ended up drinking most of Bloomington Brewing Co. offerings in one week... and it was awesome.

This post is an amalgam of sorts.  It doesn't really fit into our usual forms.  It's more of an anecdote that winds through a lot of what we talk about here on the blog.  I would piece it out, but the gestalt is way more interesting than just a review of a nitro pour java stout (oh yes, we will get to that).

I celebrated Presidents Day by helping some friends find a place to live in Bloomington and day drinking at Lenny's, the restaurant that is the one half of the sympathetic symbiosis with the other being Bloomington Brewing Co.(BBC).  Of course the food was great.  Of course that could have been because I ordered and drank most of a flight on an empty stomach.  The food was trumped by the two highlights of my tasting,  the Java Porter, and the Ole Floyd Belgian Strong Ale.

The Java Porter was excellent.  Creamy head and mouth feel.  Strong chocolate malt and coffee nose.  It was a wonderful combination of boozey coffee and sweet syrup smoothness.

Then it went next level with a Nitro pour of the Java Porter.

This brew really benefited from such a smooth pour.  The mouth feel was like cream taken from the rivers of heaven.  Seriously.  It was nice to have such a velvety background to launch all those aforementioned flavors to the front.  The same could be said for their Big Stone Stout.  With CO2, it was kind of watery, but with the Nitro, it was very smooth, and richer to taste.  Truly a treat.

I would give the Nitro Java Stout a 4.5, without nitro, a solid 4.




The new specialty beer was their Ole Floyd Belgian Strong Ale.  Belgian Strong Ales have become a new crush of mine, so I was excited to taste BBCs new offering.

It smelled like boozey and sweet and felt the same.  The taste was rich and complex.  The candy sugars added more to the complexity of the taste than to syrupy sweetness, which was also helped by the alcohol cutting through the malts and sugars.  It was like a beer port and was very enjoyable.

I would easily give it a 4



In order to shorten the post, I will continue in Part II, when, a week later, I accidently stumble into a BBC tap takeover and one of the brewers set up shop next to me and chatted me up

Lips of Faith: Imperial Coffee Chocolate Stout

I've had about 7 of the various Lips of Faith series beers from New Belgium Brewing and I am not stopping there. My wife has stepped up to the plate and has really been enjoying them with me. So far the Lips of Faith: Imperial Coffee Chocolate Stout has been my favorite. It has 10% abv and 39 IBUs. It's an imperial stout so it totally fits right in my wheelhouse.

It smells like a Starbucks mocha. The coffee and coco were really in your face as soon as you cracked open the beer. It poured out dark and smooth with a tan head that continued to produce lacing throughout the drink.

Right up front there was a dry and bitter chocolate flavor mixed with a surprisingly subtle hint of coffee. The coffee flavor was not too in your face. There was a nice slight smoked malt flavor that rounded the whole beer out. Really all of the flavors were surprisingly well balanced and mellow for an imperial stout, they can totally get super sweet sometimes. This did not turn out too much like a dessert. It had a clean dry, bittersweet chocolate kinda finish that you do not always get from an imperial.

This was a shockingly well rounded imperial stout. I give it a 4.

Winter Abbey Ale

Due to the season, I felt obligated to try some big name winter beers. I was able to pour myself some of this Blue Moon Winter Abbey Ale. This is by Blue Moon which is owned by Coors, which is owned by Miller, which is just freaking huge. It is 5.6% abv, which is heavier than your average macro brewery.

The brew pours out a dark red with little to no white head. It basically started off as lacing on the top. It smelled like winter fruits and bready malts.

The flavor was sweet but not heavy or syrupy. It had a lot of bread doughy flavors. There were hints of toffee mixed with just a bit of caramel. At the end there were light flavors of dried fruits. This gave it a hint of spiciness that added a winter feel to the beer. It finished off with a light herbal hop flavor that was not very prominent.

I would probably not buy this beer for myself again, but if someone offered it up I wouldn't turn it down. This is a situation where a big name brewery tried to make a craft beer for the masses, and it just feel flat. There was nothing distinct about this beer and nothing impressive. Other than the fact that the abv was higher than your average Coors product, there wasn't much to redeem it.

Try it for yourself, but do it at your own risk. I think I got the beer for a buck at some Kroger sale, so no big loss.

I give it a 1.5

Untappd

Untappd (notice the lack of an 'e'; it takes a little while to get used to, but now, if I ever have to use the actual word, I'll probably misspell it) is the ultimate intersection of beer and social media.  It allows you to log and rate beers, and connect with friends.  They have apps for Android and iOS, as well as regular and mobile websites.

Untappd has a very large database of beers, and I've found it very uncommon to find beers that aren't there; however, if you do find yourself in that situation, it's fairly easy to add the beer yourself.  Once you've found a beer, you can check it in, add it to your wishlist, or find nearby places where others have checked it in.  When you check a beer in, you can also add a rating, a location (provided by Foursquare), a picture, and a 140 character comment.  Once you've checked a beer in, Untappd will give you recommendations of other beers you might like.  You can also view the check ins of your friends, and other nearby users.

Here are the Beer Barons on Untappd:
The Big Guy
El Duque
Knight
O-Dawg
Professor Beer

There are a few alternatives out there, the most legitimate of which seem to be Beerby (rhymes with 'nearby') and Pintley.  I haven't been using either for very long, but it seems that Beerby is a less complete version of Untappd; at one time they were competitive, but Untappd seems significantly more robust at this point (much of which is due to Untappd aquiring RedPint).  Also, (on Android, at least) the Untappd app is more polished.  Pintley isn't exactly analagous, and seems more geared towards generating recomendations, which I haven't found terribly usefull (though I have been using it for a very short time).  I plan to continue using all three for a while (with Untappd as my preference, if convenience is an issue), and if either of the other apps proves to be more usefull than my original impression indicates, I will be sure to let you know.

Rye Barrel Aged Big Black Dog 68

Big Black Dog is Flat 12's seasonal rye stout. This year they kicked it up a notch and aged it in a Rye Whiskey barrel. The Big Black dog was named after a hockey player who wore the number 68. In his honor Flat 12 makes this beer at 6.8% abv and 68 IBUs.

The beer pours out a thick, dark black with a brown head on top. The head is about one finger tall but fades away to lacing after just a minute or two. Right when you bring it to your nose you get a blast of rye whiskey flavor. It is sweet and spicy with a nice note of booziness.

There's a strong cocoa flavor without a ton of heavy sweetness or the vanilla flavor that you get from a bourbon barrel aged beer. There are hints of caramel and roasted oak just behind the cocoa. There's a very nice consistent whiskey flavor throughout the beer. The rye has more of a spicy flavor to it than the bourbon barrel aging gives, and the spice lasts throughout the beer. The stout is also brewed with rye malt.

This is a great beer. It is heavy, but not so heavy that you can't drink a few of them in a row. It is sweet, but not sweet enough to make you sick to your stomach after half a growler. Incredibly well balanced would be an understatement for this beer. Each unique character has been allowed to have its moment in your taste buds. Right now you can get this on growler, so get it while you can.

I give it a 4







El Duque: I will admit, when I had this, I was nursing the Vertical Epic tasting hangover.  With that being said, what better cure than a good ol whiskey stout.  There were two things going on in my mouth.  The first was sweet toffee and oak.  Kind of like a burnt marshmallow.  The other was straight whiskey booziness.  It created a great taste combination, but even though the rye cut it well, I still found the syrupy-ness a little much, which may have been because my liver was holding my soul hostage.

If I could cellar this and let it mellow, this would easily be a 5, but fresh from the tap, its a little too raw, but it's damn good.

I give it a 4

An Epic Vertical Epic Review

El Duque has set the bar high. There are so many epics that we look to these days. I thought nothing would be better than Homer's Odyssey, but then I remembered that it's been too long since I read that in high school and I can probably only name one character without googling it. What I do know, is A Game of Thrones!!!

These days you can talk about aGoT with just about anyone nerds, business professionals and of course beer geeks.

The true hero of my night was Vertical Epic 05.05.05, so we will call it our House Stark. It was dark and bold with big sweet malt taste. Perfect for a cold winter night. After seven years it had mellowed nicely and there was not much heat remaining from the heavy booze (8.5% abv). Great chocolate and toffee flavor with a nice banana Belgian yeast flavor. It was a medium bodied beer that finished clean and crisp. The beer was  strong, upfront and honest, just like Ned kept his house. It was a shining example of a Belgian Dark Strong.

The second most impressive beer was Vertical Epic 07.07.07, so we will call it our House Lannister. Unlike 05 this was light and bubbly. The flavor was complex and subtle. There was intrigue mixed in with malts, hops and yeast. The ginger provides a great soft flavor that rides throughout the entire beer. It is bubbly and effervescent. The beer is outgoing and social just like the Lions of Lannister. It was a strong flavored brew but finished off dry and bitter. A clean end to a very exiting drink.

The beer that I thought was most under appreciated was Vertical Epic 11.11.11, so we will call it our House Targaryan. I love dark beers with some big off flavors. This beer was infused with a dash of spicy fire. The hot pepper was in the aroma and in the flavor. The hops complimented with peppers very well. They had just a hint of spice and floral flavor. The Belgian flavor was strong in this one as well. It was a true Belgian Strong with an awesome West Coast American kick. This was also one of the stronger beers, with 9.4% abv. Between the chili and the booze this one brought dragons fire to the party in a big way.

The beer I was least impressed with was the Vertical Epic 04.04.04, so we will call it our House Tyrell...don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad, it was just a bit lame. There was nothing wrong with the beer, it just had nothing particularly exciting going on with it. It was a pretty traditional light refreshing Belgian beer. The 8.5% abv had mellowed out very nicely after eight years of aging, so that didn't stand out. The flavors were soft and sweet with just a light bit of flavor.

I agree with El Duque, the Vertical Epic 12.12.12, was just misunderstood. Like the men of the Iron Islands, House Greyjoy, it was bold and harsh. It was a strong beer with some pretty overpowering flavors. Please keep in mind that it'd also aged the least, so it hadn't mellowed much at all. The cigar was needed to reign in the dark spicy holiday flavors of the 12. This would be a great after dinner drink, but be ready for it to be in your face.

All of these beers were awesome. The worst of them was much better than a 4. The best of these was absolutely fantastic. This was a modern day epic for your taste buds. It was distinctly Belgian, with an incredibly forceful hint of California from our friends at Stone. They embraced someone else's tradition and made it their own for all of us to enjoy. Like with all good books, movies and TV shows, we are sad when they end, but happy we got to experience them. If you can get your hands on any of these beers, even if it is only two or three of the recent ones, do it. It was a great experience.