Chocolate Milk Time!

Alright people,

Well, I know it's been a long time since my last blog post, but beer is still beer, and I'm here to talk about it, and a few other things.

First, the Reds failed miserably in their postseason game, and I'm finally over it now that they fired Dusty and hired a new manager. The Cardinals lost in the World Series, and subsequently gave me much relief.

Goose Island released their Sisters this past week. There were two new ones, Gillian and Halia, to go along with Lolita and Juliet. If you don't know, Lolita and Juliet are wild ales that are both considered sours. Gillian and Halia are farmhouse ales that are aged in wine barrels with strawberries and peaches respectively. I was able to run down a Juliet and a Halia. I had the opportunity to purchase the other two, but at a fairly high markup, so I skipped.

On to the beer of the night; 4 Hands Chocolate Milk Stout. 4 Hands has become somewhat of a consistent brewery appearing on this blog, and this beer is their seasonal for the fall. It combines two of my favorite styles, milk stouts and chocolate stouts. So let's take a look at this beer a little more closely.

This one starts off looking big and black in the glass with a somewhat sizable head. Lacing on this one is very good. The scent and taste of this one is pure chocolate; semisweet for most of the smell and drink, but still sweet enough to provide a very distinctive flavor. Light in alcohol and fairly high in carbonation, this beer is a little out of norm for me for stouts, as I like imperials, but that makes it very drinkable. Check out my full review here.

Overall, I liked this beer. Chocolate milk in a beer? Yes please. Until next time, cheers!
-Chris

Fruity Beers

Alright people,

In the past couple weeks, I've had a fairly busy life. Between work, going home for a wedding, and going to 2 Reds' baseball games this past week, it's been life in the fast lane for a little while. It's about time I take some time out for beer stuff.

About 2 weeks ago, 4 Hands released a variant of their summer seasonal Prussia Berliner Weiss. For those of you that are beer nerds out there, you know a Berliner is a sour mash beer, which means brewed a little different, that generally has lower alcohol content and a slight tart or sour flavor profile. This style has been a summer favorite in Europe since the time of Napolean, and now Americans are starting to enjoy them more and more.

For this post we're going to be talking about Prussia and its variant, Ruby Red Prussia, which uses ruby red grapefruit juice in its brewing process.

To start, I found the regular Prussia to be a fairly average to slightly above, American version of the Berliner style. More lemony with its tart flavor that others, the sourness wasn't overwhelming, and got balanced out by a very grainy wheat presence in the beer. The wheat flavors all came towards the end of the drink, with the tartness being up front, and really reminded you that, although this is a light, tart style, its roots are in a wheat beer. Check out the full review here.

Next up, Ruby Red Prussia. As you can see in the picture above, the Ruby Red pours a darker, more pink in color on the left side. The difference in the size of head was quite noticeable, but that was due mostly to my own incompetence at pouring. The grapefruit was instantly noticeable in the Ruby Red, providing a somewhat drying, fruity flavor to the base Prussia. I've never really eaten grapefruit plain, but this fruit was a good addition to the Berliner style. I think maybe a blueberry or blackberry done similarly would be even better. I  hope to start seeing a lot more beer ideas like this. Other than the grapefruit flavor, this version was the same as regular Prussia; mildly tart, grainy and wheaty on the end, light and highly carbonated for a quenching drink on a summer day. Check out the full review here.

Since those beers were a couple days old, we're going to try a new interesting take on fruit in beer today in the form of Stone's new collaboration; R&R Coconut IPA. To clarify the story on this one, similar to the Wootstout from a post or two ago, this is a collaboration. R&R stands for Ryan and Robert, the two homebrewers made this recipe originally. In addition, the frounder of Rip Current Brewing helped them to dial this recipe in, and then they took it to Stone for larger scale production and distribution. There's a full story if you search the internet or get a bottle; I'm too lazy to tell it.

First off, this beer is a beautiful pour. It's clear golden in the glass with an average sized head, but tremendous retention and lacing. The scent was intriguing, with the usual floral and tropical IPA scents, but a touch of coconut in the too. The taste was insane. So much hops bitterness right up front mask many nuances in the flavor. Only a small hint of the coconut in the middle to end of the drink. This is one of the most bitter beers I have ever had. Check out the full review here.

So there it is; an assortment of fruity beers, but none are how you would normally think of fruity beers. The grapefruit Berliner opened up some cool ideas for Berliners, but the coconut IPA....it had a good idea, and not great execution. Either way, it's an exciting time to be a beer fan in America.

Also, the Reds beat the Cardinals today. Time to make a push for a Reds October! Until next time, cheers and go Reds!
-Chris

What the hell is a WOOTstout?

Alright people,

Once again, it's been a while since my last post, but I'm over apologizing for it. If you're reading this, then it's obvious that you are loyal enough not to give a damn. Anyway, on to the beer of the night, Stone Brewing's Stone Farking Wheaton WOOTstout.

This beer has bee getting a lot of buzz around the online beer community, I think mainly because it's a stout, it's been barrel aged (partially), and it's made by Stone, meaning it gets shipped everywhere. Like any other Stone beer, I had to read about a half a book on the back of the bottle to find out the story on the beer. Turns out Wil Wheaton is a beer geek, and he just happens to know Greg Koch over at Stone Brewing because of this. In addition, some guy who runs some website called fark.com is a beer geek too. His name is Drew Curtis. Anyway, these guys all got together and made a beer.

Way too nice out to drink inside

Here's the deal with this beer; it's a stout, made with rye and wheat, with pecans added during brewing, and 25% of it aged is whiskey barrels. Frankly, the partial barrel aging is a trend I like to see, because it cuts down on the severity of the barrel flavors. Back to the beer and its use of interesting grains, this beer definitely displays a unique flavor profile that is unlike almost any other stout. I have a hard time describing it, but I assume that the wheat and rye mixing with super dark malt flavors produces it. The really great part of this beer's flavor is the partial barrel aging like I mentioned earlier. The lingering taste is almost all barrel, but in a balanced, not overpowering way.

All in all, this is a pretty good imperial stout that just also happens to be barrel aged (partially) and sells at a good price. Those facts alone make this a beer that is flying off the shelf. That being said, I've seen plenty of it around, and it is totally worth grabbing a bottle. Check out my full review here.

On a title-related note, I still have no idea what a WOOTstout is. Apparently, Wheaton does something in his life that involves the four letters WOOT. Hell if I know. He's fairly big in the sci-fi world, and that's a side of the internet that I don't enjoy venturing into. Until next time, go Reds! And cheers!
-Chris

A Bit of a Rant

Alright people,

First off, sorry for not getting a post up about St. Louis craft beer week, but I tried to go to one event, got terrible service (aka not served in 30 minutes) and left. The rest of the week I decided to stay home and taste and review new beers I had already purchased.

Anyway, that's it for an apology. Now it's time for a rant. Is it just me or are breweries releasing seasonals earlier and earlier? It's not just me, that was a rhetorical question. It's happening.

Case and point, I bought a sixer of Schlafly Pumpkin Ale today. Don't get me wrong, this is a great beer; probably the best pumpkin beer out there. Hell, it might be the best pumpkin beer ever made....it's that good. Pumpkin pie in a bottle. Where I get frustrated is the fact that it is currently the beginning of August and fall seasonal beers are coming out.

Previously, I thought it was just macro brewers pushing seasonals early, like with Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy coming out in March. Now, Schlafly Pumpkin Ale drives the point home. Everyone is releasing early. I can't blame them; if you have a popular beer and other brewers release theirs, you have to follow suit to keep the revenue up, but it's getting excessive.

Part of my attraction to beer itself is its versatility. There is a beer for every occasion, season, and setting. The season piece is fading fast though. I don't really want to consistently drink imperial stouts in the heat of a midwestern summer. Similarly, I don't want to drink a shandy in the dark, cold of winter. Granted a taste of an out of season beer is good every once in a while, but that's why I keep a cellar of pretty much everything but IPA's. Let people drink seasonally unless they plan otherwise.

Honestly, I really don't know what you 26 readers are supposed to gather from this post, but sometimes a good rant is just needed. I know I haven't given you guys a picture in this post so here ya know.

Really Linus? In August already?

Until next time, drink seasonally, and cheers!
-Chris

Anchor and This Week

Alright people,

Well, it's been a few days since I've written here, I guess the second week of work got to me. Anyway, last weekend I was able to grab a 6-pack of 6 different Anchor beers. I've already had their flagship Steam Beer, so I grabbed 6 others. Today we'll be talking about Liberty Ale, Porter, California Lager, and Brekle's Brown.

Let's start out with the Liberty Ale. First off, this is an IPA, but I grabbed one bottled in February, so it probably wasn't the freshest. For an IPA, or even a pale ale, this was rather light in the hops bitterness category. The body wasn't too bad, high in carbonation, yet lighter across the palate. The pour and scent of this one really outperformed the taste. Not a bad beer persay, probably much better when it is fresh. Check out the full review here.

Next up, Anchor Porter. This one starts off looking great, and interestingly enough, smelling more like a bock or a bark Belgian beer than a porter. Lighter in the roasted malts than most, the scent and the taste have more of a dark fruit flavor going on. For a porter, this is rather light feeling on the tongue. Smooth and easy to drink, this is another solid offering from Anchor. Check out my full review here.

Betting third in the Anchor lineup is their California Lager. This was a rather simplistic beer. To me, this is the craft version of a Budweiser. On the light side of scent and flavor, crisp and clean flavors on the tongue, and a simple, yet refreshing flavor profile. This lager was somewhat grainy in flavor, leaving impressions of corn and grassy flavors. Very easy to drink, and quite smooth, check out the full review here.

Last up for this post, we have Anchor's Brekle's Brown Ale. This beer pays homage to one of the first brewers at Anchor, and is touted as an all malt, single hopped brown ale, with the single hop being the citra hop. Good looking pour in the glass, but the scent and taste of this beer is unique. There are definitely dominant notes of the citra hop bitterness in both the smell and taste. If I had to define this beer, I'd say it's a brown IPA, because it displays roasted malts and hops bitterness. Check out my full review here.

Well, that's that people. This week is St. Louis Craft Beer Week, and I'm going to try to hit up an event or two. Last year, this was a great chance to get some limited and rare beers at local bars, and I'm hoping this year will be the same. I'll be sure to take some good notes on new beers I try and report back to you, my loyal 26 readers. Until next time, cheers!

-Chris

Some Local Beers

Alright people,

So, if you have read the blog for a while, you'll know that my New Year's beer resolution was to drink more local beers. At school, I was able to accomplish this with help from my friends at Lafayette Brewing Company. Now, I'm moved to St. Louis. A little while ago I told you about my trip to 4 Hands, now I'm going to talk about Urban Chestnut.

Urban Chestnut is a newer brewery in St. Louis, and they specialize in traditional German beers, but they also try to put some American twists on these beers. I've had their 2 flagship beers, Winged Nut and Zwickel before in Indiana, but tonight, we're going to talk about two of their new beers; STLIPA and Schnickelfritz.

First off, we have a traditional hefeweizen, Schnickelfritz. This is part of their Reverence Series, in which they make traditional styles and pay homage to brewers of the past. This is does just that with the classic spices and light wheat flavor of a hefe. What's different about this beer, in my opinion, is the balance between wheat and spices. Most hefes' spices are aggressive and overpower the wheat to a certain extent, but the spices here are mellowed and balance very well with the wheat. An incredibly light beer in body, this is very drinkable, but the carbonation is way up there. Check out my full review here.

Next, the Urban Chestnut STLIPA is a part of their Revolution Series. This series of beers allows some creativity on the part of the brewers in order to bring a modern American twist to their lineup of mostly German style beers. As the name would suggest, this is an IPA, a double as a matter of fact, that is named for the brewery's hometown. Huge hops start this beer out in both smell and taste. I was reminded quite a bit of Resin by Sixpoint while drinking this beer, simply because the hops were so aggressively resinous. Instead of floral or pine-like hops, these were just very aggressively sticky and bitter. This was a true hop-head's dream in a glass. Check of my full review here.

All in all, I like Urban Chestnut's beers. I want to get into some more traditional German style lagers. I forgot how smooth they can be! I aim to make a visit to UCBC's biergarten in the coming weeks, and hopefully I'll get around to writing about it. Until next time, cheers!
-Chris

4 Hands

Alright people,

So last week the lady friend and I took a little trip into the downtown area to check out 4 Hands Brewing Company. 4 Hands is a young brewery, being only 1.5 years old, but I think they are making a name for themselves. If you've heard of these guys before, my guess is that you've heard of one of their saisons; Pyrus and Prunus. While at the small tasting room/pub/brewery, I had a pint of the Pyrus Saison. This saison is supposed to have flavors of pear, white peppercorn, and orange zest that were added while brewing. Frankly, I get a small amount of spiciness, and almost no fruit.  That being said, this is a very approachable, very good saison. I would recommend anyone looking to try the style to try this beer.

Courtesy of 4 Hands Brewing Co.

Anyway, we took the tour they offer (Saturdays at noon and four), and it was fairly interesting. All of their operations are in one room of the older, industrial building they inhabit. I believe their brewing setup is a 15 BBL system, all grain. Very small bottling line right in the middle of the room. They fill 6 bottles at a time then hand package into cases, which we were told they have to hand glue shut. The most interesting part of the tour is the barrel-aging area in the back corner. Not a big operation, but they probably have 25 barrels, mostly wine barrels, aging mainly stouts and wilds. They mentioned one of their BA beers, Cuvee Ange, which is a wild, aged in red wine barrels with raspberries and blackberries. I personally can't wait to try to get my hands on this stuff.

Back to the tasting room/pub, I really enjoyed the decor. A chalkboard on the wall describes their commitment to sustainability, which includes recycling brewing products, but more importantly, where all of the interior materials came from. The bar top, tables, chairs, bar foot rest, and outside tables are all made of materials they took out of their current building when they moved in. Really a cool part of this brewery.

Since I'm talking about 4 Hands, I figure I'll include a review of one of their core beers; Reprise Centennial Red. The beer's label touts that the beer is made using only one hop; the Centennial hop. It's an interesting take on an everyday beer style. Pours and smells basically like any other red ale you've had, but the use of one hop makes this one a little different. Instead of being malty and then hoppy like most reds, this one is balanced with malts in the beginning, but the hops are less bitter than most on the back end. The hops provide a somewhat muted, and maybe even musty, mild bitterness. Anyway, this is a solid, somewhat unique everyday beer or 4 Hands. I can see this beer having a loyal following for regulars.

Well, there she is....two posts in two days. Enjoy it while it lasts people! Until next time, cheers!
-Chris