Last Week in Review

Well, it has been a busy month so far and thanks to some ISP problems, I haven't been able to blog too much lately.

Last Monday a bunch of us went to Lord Fletcher's on beautiful Lake Minnetonka for one of the best happy hour specials you could ask for - $4 hamburgers and $1 bottles of beer. Granted, the beer was a choice between MGD, Miller Lite or MGD Light 64, but you can't argue with $1 beers while sitting on a deck lakeside on a gorgeous August evening in Minnesota. If you're in the mood for some comedy, read some of the reviews of the 64 on RateBeer. Good stuff - http://tinyurl.com/nw5a3a

I also found out on Sunday that Casanova had Stone's Ruination IPA in stock which was curious because they said they'd update the website when they got it back in. So Tuesday night I made the road trip after work to get some. Picked up two 6packs ($18.99 per) and two 6 packs of the Stone IPA (love that stuff). Also bought 3 more bottles of Dogfish Head's 120 Minute IPA since it ages well and so I can try the one bottle I had already. Paul at work wanted me to get him some Spotted Cow from New Glarus and so I also bought a 6 pack for myself to try. Also bought a bottle of Central Waters Brewhouse Coffe Stout and a bottle of Founders Breakfast Stout off the recommendation of the Casanova website. Bought a bottle of Founders Cerise as well for something different.

Didn't feel like trying something new that night so I had my last Hoplsam instead while I watched a movie.

Wednesday the 19th was my first fantasy football meeting in the Elk's League. They have Michelob Amber Bock on tap there and since I consider this to be another gateway beer for me, along with Killian's, I thought I'd get one and rate it. This used to be my favorite beer and it was amazing to me how much it did not hold up. It still has more flavor than your average yellow fizzy beer but not as much as it should. I realized that this is just a stepping stone to the realm of much better beers. It did lead me to the conclusion that outside of this and Schell's Bock I haven't had a lot of exposure to Bocks. We'll have to fix that. As for the Amber Bock, I'm not trying to rip on it, it's still a good beer. It just doesn't compete very well anymore for me. I gave it a 2.8 rating with the following comments:
Pint glass from tap. Copper brown color, quickly dissipating head. Slight malty aroma and flavor with a slight caramel taste to it. Slightly thick mouthfeel, smooth finish with slight linger in the finish. Used to be one of my favorite beers but seems watered down and low on flavor now. Good beer for something looking to cross over into darker beers for the first time.

Thursday I realized that I didn't have to hold off on new beers until I was ready to officially rate them so I cracked open my first bottle of Ruination. It's definitely one of the best IPIA's I've ever had but I'm not sure if it's worth $18.99 vs. $12.99 for Stone's IPA. Official rating and decision to come soon.

I also had one of the Spotted Cows by New Glarus. I gave it a 3.4 on RateBeer but that seems a bit low for how very drinkable this beer is. I guess it's the "light" beer glass ceiling that's keeping it down. It has a very clean and refreshing flavor that goes down smoothly. I highly recommend this beer. My RateBeer comments:
Pours with a yellow color and thick foamy white head. Fresh, clean aroma. Smooth, thin mouthfeel. Very refreshing flavor with not much aftertaste.


Also had some Bud Selects to clean out the fridge and some Leinie's Honey Weiss from the kegmeister and finished off the night with a Hoegaarden. Very prolific beer drinking evening.

Weekend update to come soon.