Dessert in a glass and some macrobrews

August 6th I was in New Ulm visiting my parents and brought a few brews with for the weekend. The first one I cracked open was and Un*Earthly by Southern Tier. Now I always give my mom a sip of whatever I'm drinking and she always takes it even though 90% of the time she makes the classic bitter beer face. I figured something that had 11% ABV and mad hops wouldn't be something to she'd like. She loved the smell, took her sip, nodded in approval and passed it on to my stepdad Marv who agreed with her assessment and they both took another swig before letting me have it back. Who knew? Maybe more people out there would like massively hoppy beer if they just gave it a chance.

August 7th we went out for supper at a local restaurant that of course had Schell's beers as 4 of their 5 taps - Grain Belt Premium and Premium Light and Schell and Schell Light with the standard Minnesota beer (Michelob Golden Light) being the 5th. I was in the mood to have a Premium so I ordered one and it went down so smoothly I had to order a second.

Later that night I opened up a beer I've been very excited to try, another Southern Tier beer called Imperial Creme Brulee Stout.

Here's what I wrote on RateBeer.com:

Wow, this beer has all kinds of stuff going on. Pours very dark brown with a brownish head to it. Smells amazing. Very sweet with aromas of vanilla, caramel. Flavor is also very sweet with the vanilla being the very prominent flavor. Massive beer that tastes like dessert in a glass. Had a 22 oz bomber that would have been perfect if I had 1-2 people to share it with.

I'm a little on the fence with this beer but leaning towards giving it big thumbs up. This would be the ideal beer to split between three people right after a meal for a literal dessert.

I thought I was done for the night but still wanted something so I cracked open the very refreshing summer beer, Rogue's Somer Orange Honey Ale. This stuff is so good in the summer that I'd drink tons of it if it wasn't so damn expensive. My RateBeer.com entry:

The commercial description is pretty accurate. Smelled very refreshing and tasted the same. Could definitely make out the orange and honey and didn’t find it to be too sweet which is what I was expecting. Went down very quickly, this is a very good summer (somer?) beer.

August 8th found me in Redwood Falls, MN for a wedding. Being the hate-to-be-late guy that I am, we were in town 45 minutes before the wedding started. After a long search for the only place in town to have beer (literally), I walked in with last night's Grain Belt still in my head wanting a glass of it more than anything at the moment. Score! It's one of 4 taps in the bar and went down as well as I had imagined on this scorcher of a day. I've decided this is going to be my next keg in the bar. It was my only beer of the day but I did have a couple of Johnnie Walkers at the wedding reception.

My first beer of August 9th was one of a Nude Beach by Point. The last bottle of this that I had was a little disappointing because it seemed to lack the flavor that I remembered when I sampled it at the Four Firkins. This one totally hit the spot though. It wasn't quite as refreshing as the Rogue from Friday night but wonderful none the less. Wussy beers do have their place and a super hot summer day is that place. Also had a few Mich Goldens at Mama G's before, during and after our volleyball games. Another beer in its proper place.

The sad news of the day is that the Cinema Grill doesn't carry its impressive array of microbrews during the summer. I went there excited to order a Furious only to find out that they only were carrying the 3 lightest beers on the menu until the fall. I changed my order to water because it seemed appropriate. Oh well, October isn't that far away I guess.