Oh Yeah, Blogs. Dragon Milk Stout.

My poor, sad, neglected blog. Grin and Beer It? More like Frown and Blear it. Anyways, never fret, I've had some beer. Hmm, some recent ones were:

• Lagunita's Censored Ale
• Lagunita's Undercover Ale     

(Apprently Lagunita's are troublemakers)

Reem brought me some lovely WI beer including:

• Ale Asylum's Ballistic (YUM)
• but also Sprecher's Hard Root Beer which is not yum. Be forewarned. 
• Locally I've enjoyed Short's Good Humans. And probably some other stuff.

Like today:

Once upon a time I had Dragon's Milk Stout from New Holland (Holland, MI) on tap somewhere and I couldn't stand it and never tried it again. Until recently when I bought a bottle of it, deciding to give it another shot. UM, DELICIOUS. What happened the first time? I'm glad I tried it again.

It looks like coca-cola but a little darker. Not much to smell at first, but as it warmed the bourbon, vanilla, and toasted notes came out. Very strong flavors. I gave my dad a taste, and he described it accurately by exclaiming, "WOAH!! Jesus." The bourbon and vanilla notes for sure stand out, along with dark fruits and boozy booze.

It's creamy and thick, and drinkable considering the 10% alcohol by volume and strong flavors. It's probably one to sip and to share.

Dragon's Milk Stout, I'm glad I didn't give up on you. A-

Happy Birthday to Us! Birthday lunch at Growlers.

 My twin sister and I, at Growlers. We are now 34. It seemed like Growlers was playing music just for our demographic. Weezer, Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana...

My sister is awesome at planning activities for her out-of-town relatives. She got a groupon for Growlers; this is our first flight - 3 IPAs and 2 stouts. Anderson Valley Hop Ottin', Avery IPA, Flying Dog double IPA, Keegan Joe Mama's milk stout, Young's Double Chocolate stout. Some of our comments (I took notes): the Anderson Valley was all grapefruit, the Flying Dog douple IPA had noticeable alcohol warmth, Keegan Joe's Mama's milk stout smelled and tasted a lot like espresso, and Young's Double Chocolate stout was very smooth and much sweeter than the milk stout.

 Charming quote on the menu.

 Me in my happy place.

2nd flight - Kolsch lager, Bluepoint lager, Bronx black pale ale, Southern Tier's Eurotrash pils, Avery's White Rascal. Notes: The Kolsch was very light, and my sister enjoyed how well it went with her bacon-heavy brunch. The (Southern Tier) Eurotrash pils was light on the tongue, light in flavor, and refreshing.

 Oh, and food! French toast with potatoes and duck sausage.

 My BLT with a fried egg and cheese.

 

We got 2 glasses of our favorites. The Bronx Black Pale Ale, and Avery's White Rascal. My nephew is named Avery, so it was pointed out he is a rather White rascal. I enjoyed the Bronx Black Pale Ale enough to get a pint of it. I found it to be nutty, hoppy, chocolaty, and roasty with strong flavors.

Cheers, twin!

Innis & Gunn - a birthday treat.

I'm in NY! Visiting my twin sister and her beautiful family. My sister encouraged me to try some new beer! So we picked up a gift set of Innis & Gunn's Oak Aged beers. I don't believe I've ever had Innis & Gunn before - they have a neat story. A whisky producer wanted to make an aged whisky flavored with ale...Said ale was born, used to flavor the whisky, and sadly thrown away. Luckily someone tasted the ale after it was aged in the whisky barrels and noticed it was delicious! Yay - thanks for the delicious accident, fellas.

We got to taste the original, a rum cask aged ale, and a winter porter.

1) The original. 6.6% ABV (alcohol by volume) aged for 77 days. 

It poured a clear light orange-amber, with low carbonation.

Strong nose. Oak and vanilla. A little caramel and hops. Sweetish, pleasant. Easy-drinking. 

 

2) Rum-Cask aged. 

A wee heavy.This one poured a dark ruby red/brown with light brown head. Very pretty. A stronger nose and flavor than the original - rum and vanilla! Definitely more of a sipper than the original. 7.4% ABV; matured for 57 days. As it warmed, the vanilla stood out in both nose and flavor. Lovely.

3)  Winter beer.

A porter brewed with molasses. 7.4% ABV and matured for 39 days. Very dark brown with ruby highlights and a sudsy brown head. Flavor was heavy, and not like a typical porter. The molasses was definitely noticeable along with some dark fruit, vanilla, and oak.

Overall, all 3 were delicious and fun to taste with my family. My dad and I liked #2, the rum cask beer the best. My sister was partial to the original.

Glad I got to try these! Thanks twinny.

#1) The Original - A-
#2) Rum-cask aged -  A
#3) Winter beer - B+

Kombucha...Ginger...Beer

Well, it's a new year and that means resolutions. My dad and I are both trying to get in shape. He's riding his excercise bike, I'm taking walks, we are eating our veggies...And for the month of January we vowed to cut out both beer and ice cream. And, we've both cheated. But just a little!!

I did cheat with one beer that was hardly beer. It was kombucha. I've had kombucha a few times. I don't really get it, but I know it's super healthy and has weird floaty yeast/bacteria strands. This one was from Unity Vibration Living Kombucha Tea LLC in Ypsilanti, MI. The bottle informed me that it is oak barrel aged, open-air fermented, bottle conditioned, with fresh ginger and full leaf hops.

Appearance: did not really look like beer or kombucha. No floaties. Pale yellow. Little carbonation. Cloudy.

Smell: Fresh ginger! Lemon. More kombucha-smelling than beer-smelling.

Taste: Ginger up the wazoo! (I love ginger). And kombucha. And vinegar. And alcohol. So weird. The bottle says there is "crushed fruit" but not what kinds. I pick up lemon and maybe apple. The oak flavor is barely noticeable as are the hops. Ginger/Kombucha dominates.

Mouthfeel: Thin and crisp.

Drinkability: Surprisingly good. Drank this faster than I would a normal kombucha. Maybe I drank this faster even than a normal beer.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It is not like a typical beer. It was very refreshing and tasty. And perhaps had some health benefits. Perfect for semi-cheating on my new year's resolutions.
A

Thanks for Holiday Beer Gifts!

I have really nice sisters! One of them lives in NY. She gave me a hard-bound book version of my blog! So fancy and awesome! Thanks Rebecca. Another sister lives in Portland, OR. Rachel has hooked me up with beer before and for Xmas this year she got shipped me a special holiday Rogue collection.

It included a glass with the bottle art from "Yellow Snow IPA;" it also included a bottle of that, Santa's Private Reserve Ale, and Roguenbier Rye. I'm particularly excited about the Rye ale. Rogue has farms, and grows some of their own hops, barley, and now rye. It sounds like their first crop was demolished by slugs; not easy to combat.

 The beautiful and tasty Santa's Private Reserve ale.

 Mmm, mmm, mmm...

Yellow Snow IPA. Excellent. And not as yellow as I expected. 

Thanks Rebecca and Rachel! And hoppy holidays.

HopCat - Short's Birthday Party

So I finally went to the HopCat for the first time recently. This was after a show in Grand Rapids, and I was excited to hear we were only a few blocks away from this highly esteemed beer bar.

HopCat is always cool but the night we went, it was a special Short's Brewing event! You can't really tell from this picture, but it was cool to see 34 Short's handles all in a row. It was in honor of the founder of Short's turning 34. He was running around in full mustache.

They were sadly out of S'mores Stout, which I have always wanted to try. However, I got 2 other unique beers. First the Captain Fantasy which combines 2 of my favorites - pear and Saison. It was delicious. Light body, Belgian yeast, pears. Then, out of pure curiosity, I tried The Gambler, an IPA aged in Bourbon barrels with tobacco. Whiskey, tobacco, and gambling all in one little snifter. It was weird. Very floral, strong tobacco smell and taste, sugar, and bitter hops. I liked it! But not enough to get it again. I love how unique so many Short's brews are.

 

Tobacco beer. "The Gambler."

 Cheers, no jeers! This photo includes Coke and a Cider.

Finally got to try the much-hyped HopCat "crack fries." With cheese no less. Delicious. Also these fried nuggets of joy. Rumor has it that there will be a 2nd HopCat location opening up in Lansing in 2013 with 100 taps and crack fries. I do hope there's enough of a craft beer market to support this along with all the existing beer bars in Lansing.

Brown Shugga', Oh Honey Honey

Random selection at Taps 25 one night. Lagunita's Brown Shugga,' a big American Strong Ale at 9.99% (let's just say 10) alcohol by volume. It is brewed with brown sugar, hence the name.

Good looking beer! Head stayed solid after a 5 minute restroom break. I came back and it looked the same.

 Still looking good.

Very hoppy. Pine, pineapple, oranges, caramel malts, sweet from the brown sugar but not overly so. Both alcohol and sugar started to stand out more over time.

Going, going, gone! Very tasty beer, extremely drinkable despite the high alcohol content, interesting concept on this one. I like. A-