tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24697426536832751202012-01-12T12:17:51.606-08:00Documentation of my career as an amateur beer drinker.Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.comBlogger941100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-59191931041428183492012-01-12T12:17:00.000-08:002012-01-12T12:17:51.614-08:00

The most special day of the month (of awesomeness) deserves the best beer, right? I guess it could be up for debate but considering that St Bernardus Abt 12 is my favorite beer and the St Bernardus Christmas Ale is a very similar beer, it's hard to argue too much. It's a great beer for a good price too, maybe a buck or two more than the regular St Bernardus offerings. I shared some with my

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-70630772865390326242012-01-09T12:23:00.000-08:002012-01-09T12:23:43.611-08:00

Christmas Eve had rolled around finally and I got to bust out some of the beers that I had been saving for this exact holiday. The first was an unofficial entry into the MoA but still worth mentioning. Goose Island's Christmas Ale didn't seem like the most intriguing beer since brown ales are usually at the bottom of my list of styles to try but I really liked the label and always appreciate a

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-57207903243276034392012-01-09T12:11:00.000-08:002012-01-09T12:11:50.465-08:00

Belgian Style Yeti is a beer I've been siting on for about half of the year and I really didn't know what to expect. Alvey was sampling some at the Four Firkins last month and while it's tough to get a good gauge on a beer in that setting, I knew that I liked it. I also have some Tiny from Weyerbacher which is also described as a Belgian style imperial stout. When I first heard about this

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-23520981279927014922012-01-09T11:53:00.000-08:002012-01-09T11:53:06.757-08:00

By now, you shouldn't be surprised to see a Lips of Faith beer from New Belgium in the MoA lineup. This is another one that I've been sitting on for awhile and really looking forward to drinking. As has been discussed before, I'm a sucker for beers with cherry and I've had the kriek style before. Interesting story behind this beer: In a never-ending quest to create new beers and defy category,

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-4452684657627458192012-01-04T12:09:00.000-08:002012-01-04T12:09:34.093-08:00

December 21st saw a night of beer for dinner. By that I don't mean meticulous menu planning meant to pair wonderfully with the complexity of a wonderfully crafted Belgian beer. I mean I started drinking beer and forgot about eating dinner. Not that that's a bad thing. Nothing wrong with being extra happy on a Wednesday night. It was actually a two-fer that night (well, maybe one and a halfer)

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-70796300473900549732012-01-04T11:49:00.000-08:002012-01-04T11:49:16.383-08:00

Alright, back to this. I've fallen behind in writing about the Month of Awesomeness but I kept up the important part, the drinking. December 20th saw yet another visit to the New Belgium Lips of Faith lineup, this time with a personal favorite - Le Terroir. This is a unique sour beer in that it was dry hopped which gave it an unusual extra dimension over other sours out there. This has to be

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-34919305517896832462011-12-19T20:09:00.000-08:002011-12-19T20:09:45.650-08:00

Another week in the MoA brings us to yet another Lips of Faith offering from New Belgium. As I've said I have a bunch of these and this month should see several of them consumed. Eric's Ale is one that's not even on their website anymore but being a sour ale I wasn't worried about sitting on this one.  It was aged in oak and refermented with peach juice.  I'm not picking up too much of the wood

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-51220256819712991982011-12-19T11:44:00.000-08:002011-12-19T19:54:57.831-08:00

Another week in the Month of Awesomeness finished up with a double shot of beer.  Surly Brewin'g's Smoke Lager was the main entry of the day but an even bigger drinking vessel was consumed first, Fitger's Wildfire Lager. A few of us spent a weekend at the North Shore of Lake Superior last month and the trip really kicked off with an afternoon (ok, late morning into afternoon) of drinking at

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-16083672284879083942011-12-18T13:26:00.000-08:002011-12-18T13:26:38.172-08:00

The Ovila Saison has been waiting to be consumed for a long time so the MoA is the perfect time to do it. I'm not saying that it has been in the collection for longer than most others but it's a beer that would have been opened a long time ago if not for one little detail. I really wanted the matching glass. I really liked the glass the first time I saw it and did my best to track one down

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-42491184377811812932011-12-17T19:17:00.000-08:002011-12-17T19:17:07.368-08:00

Friday night saw us come to the end of the Ommegang run but it was a damn good run. Hennepin is the only beer from the week that is a part of their regular lineup but that doesn't make it any less awesome.  This is the bottle that came with the aforementioned gift pack and it's one of my go to saisons because it's pretty easy to find. Since I wanted to finish off the work week how I started it,

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-55950701918136216642011-12-17T19:03:00.000-08:002011-12-17T19:03:48.535-08:00

Halfway through the MoA brought us to yet another bottle of Ommegang that has served as a bar decoration for sometime now, the Biere de Mars. I wasn't sure how this one would hold up being one of the bottles I wanted to drink awhile ago but it's another one made with brett and it did some nice things to the beer.  Looks like it's the only bottle I'll ever have since it appears to be retired but

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-73509345665015930002011-12-17T18:57:00.000-08:002011-12-17T18:57:32.413-08:00

Yeah, by Wednesday there was a definite theme to this week's MoA beers. I've had a good looking row of Ommegang bottles for a long time, too long in my opinion and I figured I'd keep knocking them down. This time I went for the Aphrodite. Definitely one of the more unique beers I've had and that's in a totally good way.  Made with pear, raspberries, grains of paradise and brett and the combo

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-14857626304317074242011-12-17T18:45:00.000-08:002011-12-17T18:45:52.428-08:00

Tuesday brought not only another Ommegang beer to the MoA but another collaboration beer, this time brewed with Brasserie d’Achouffe. This is the beer that comes in a gift pack with Hennepin and Three Philosophers and a glass for a ridiculously low price (you couldn't buy all three beers let alone the glass for the price I've seen the set go for). So yep, that's how I got mine. This beer was

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-49894521211078700752011-12-17T18:34:00.000-08:002011-12-17T18:34:39.516-08:00

I thought it might be tough to keep up with MoA (I'm not typing the damn thing out every time anymore) on the same night as Beer Club but I'm persistent, I knew I could make it work. After almost everybody cleared out, it was time to open up a bottle that I had put away. I told Hoffman to pick out the bottle that would become Beer Club extra credit and Monday's entry into MoA. There were a

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-69118838218306689282011-12-15T12:13:00.000-08:002011-12-15T12:13:30.203-08:00

Time nearly ran out on Sunday's entry into the Month of Awesomeness but it was saved in the 22nd hour of the day by another Lips of Faith offering by New Belgium. This time it was the Prickly Passion Saison. It's no secret that saisons are one my favorite styles of beer but I initially passed on it because I already have way too much beer and one of my Getting Tanked with Frank partners Mark

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-25028644006452922492011-12-15T09:21:00.000-08:002011-12-15T09:21:51.885-08:00

I managed to fit a moment of Awesomeness into the middle of Toy Fest on Saturday with the latest Stone Anniversary beer. I split this one three ways but still stayed on track to reduce the inventory a bit. I didn't notice a huge difference between it and the Stone Sublimely Self Righteous but I'd have to try them side by side to verify. This beer was definitely good enough that I'd be glad to

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-1627781122397268242011-12-13T12:08:00.000-08:002011-12-15T12:13:59.855-08:00

I managed to sneak in a bomber Friday night while putting the final touches on Toy Fest prep. No need to put the Month of Awesomeness off the burner when it could be staying alive on the back burner. I wasn't sure which one to pick until I realized I still had a bomber of a fresh hop IPA waiting in my fridge for me. I've been sitting on quite a few Lips of Faith bombers for awhile and decided

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-54030658967532476612011-12-13T11:59:00.000-08:002011-12-13T11:59:40.662-08:00

Hopefully I didn't scare anybody into thinking that the Month of Awesomeness had ended. Hell, it wasn't even on hiatus. It just wasn't being documented in a timely fashion due to Isenberg Toy Fest 2011 last weekend. The Vixen by Samuel Adams is here to fix that. Well, it was here last Thursday anyway.  I'm not sure why Sam Adams gets ragged on by some beer geeks but I think they're full of

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-33444831303160390982011-12-08T07:28:00.000-08:002011-12-15T09:26:09.884-08:00

Yet another installment of the Month of Awesomeness. Last night's edition featured Kasteel Rouge. As with many beers, this one had an odd way getting into my house. I stumbled across a steal of a deal for the Kasteel glass ($2.99!) and then realized I had never had any of their beers. When I saw they had one made with cherries, I was sold. Actually the beer was sold. To me. I'm a fan of this

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-57590313887303952992011-12-07T12:46:00.000-08:002011-12-15T09:25:36.203-08:00

Awesomeness rolls on with a beer I had once before and wasn't too impressed with that time. I had this last time after several other beers and was a bit underwhelmed with it. The hops were noticeable in a fresh aroma and flavor way but did nothing to contribute any bitterness. It wasn't a bad beer to me, just an incomplete one. Fast forward to this time. I definitely liked it more and I'm

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-40489771944741667852011-12-05T18:30:00.000-08:002011-12-15T09:25:11.292-08:00

The Month of Awesomeness continues with a 3 Sheets Imperial IPA from Leech Lake Brewing Company. The brewery first showed up on my radar thanks to my good buddy Captain Dave who discovered them because they're very near to his cabin. He hooked me up with this 750ml of their monster of a double IPA a little while ago and this month seemed like the time to finally crack it. I can't recall many (if

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-72432620959547493192011-12-04T19:26:00.000-08:002011-12-15T09:24:47.570-08:00

Today's contribution to the Month of Awesomeness is Unibroue's Terrible. This is a beer I've been sitting on for awhile but I've been excited to try it as I've heard good things.  I'll start with the only real complaint I've had about Unibroue's beers before, they seem to have a "house taste". I'm not sure where that comes from but I am pretty sure I could tell a beer is from Unibroue based off

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-73451823824055037862011-12-03T18:25:00.000-08:002011-12-15T09:24:29.780-08:00

Day three of the Month of Awesomeness brings us to a Stone Cali-Belgique IPA. I should have probably drank this one awhile ago but to be honest I wasn't sure how much I'd like the style.  It intrigued me enough to buy a bottle though and I finally got around to drinking it. It was a nice occurrence of serendipity because Allison was in the mood for Thai food and brought home some Sawatdee right

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-3533606557965722902011-12-03T18:17:00.000-08:002011-12-15T09:23:16.756-08:00

The second beer in the Month of Awesomeness is the a 750ml of Boulevard Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale.  It's one of my few remaining in this size bottle, they now come in 12 oz bottles and the cork and cages are harder to find. I still have a couple more I bought a few when it first came out because it's one of Allison's favorites (so I once again shared). It was a very nice beer to drink although I

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-10093320114547032552011-12-03T17:32:00.000-08:002011-12-15T09:22:36.988-08:00

The Month of Awesomeness kicks off with an offering from Great Divide. Loved this beer just like the 15th Anniversary Wood Aged Double IPA. I shared it with Allison but had to switch glasses with Allison because she wasn't a fan of all the floaties in her glass. Guess I should have dumped the bottom of the bottle in mine because I don't mind them at all.

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-27271691611857196692011-12-03T17:19:00.000-08:002011-12-15T09:26:43.768-08:00

I was inspired by Brian & Co's Beer Advent Calendar and decided I might do my own version of it only with a lot more drinking and a lot less writing. My version will consist of drinking a different bomber or 750ml out of my bar every day this month. They don't have to be new to me but they have to be new to the month (i.e. repeats don't count). I'll share some, some I'll drink all on my own.

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-75525671364394865072011-06-08T06:04:00.000-07:002011-06-08T06:04:22.052-07:00

I don't know anything at all about this style of beer but based off what I read about it and knowing how awesome of a job they did with Stag numbers 1-3 I'm very excited to give this one a try! Schell Stag Series #4:  Burton Ale  OG  22 PlatoIBU  60 IBUSRM 24  Before India Pale Ales were synonymous with Burton upon Trent, there was Burton Ale a darker, sweeter beer.  Burton Ales were so

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-89438567885139412372011-04-28T11:14:00.000-07:002011-04-28T11:14:09.470-07:00

The March edition of Beer Club saw another month scheduled around the release of a beer.  This time it was the Schell's Stag #3, a rauchbier.  Like the March 2010 meeting, I decided to serve food to complement the beer.  Thanks to Dave's advice I bought some different cheeses and put them out with some deer sausage.  I couldn't quite figure out what cheeses were supposed to go with these beers

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-880623846840894462011-04-27T14:31:00.000-07:002011-04-27T14:31:36.905-07:00

We did Trappist beers in general for March 2010's Beer Club but I decided to break it down a bit further and do specifically the abbey (and abbey style) dubbels.  I wanted a nice mix of American beers to mix in with the Belgian beers.  This was not only to compare and contrast how the breweries in the US interpreted the styles but also give some examples of beers that didn't cost $5+  The

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-48111080919260105642011-04-27T14:18:00.000-07:002011-04-27T14:18:50.129-07:00

Like brown ales, porters were another style of beer that I wasn't crazy about doing because they seemed a bit on the boring side to me.  A lineup like this proved me wrong though: Summit Brewing Company - Great Northern Porter Odell BrewingCompany - Cutthroat Porter Deschutes Brewery - Black Butte Porter Great Lakes Brewing Company - Edmund Fitzgerald Porter Founders Brewing Company - Founders

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-59487467627489297192011-04-27T14:10:00.000-07:002011-04-27T14:10:01.463-07:00

This might be another repeat month but considering how different this category of beers can be I think it's a no brainer to do it every year.  This is also the first month that we split into two nights because of the high interest in attending a club meeting.  The first night we welcomed Max as a first (and so far only) time guest. The lineup: Odell Brewing Company - Isolation Ale Samuel Smith -

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-50106007850512923682011-04-27T13:52:00.000-07:002011-04-27T13:54:44.641-07:00

I always knew we'd end up doing a brown ales month but I never thought I'd want to until I finally tried Bell's Best Brown and rediscovered Surly Bender all over again.   We also set the record for most Minnesota beers in a given month with four. The lineup: Surly Brewing Company - Bender Bell's Brewery - Best Brown Lift Bridge - Chestnut Hill Brau Brothers - Ring Neck Braun Ale Boulder Beer

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-79536747554268557222011-04-27T13:43:00.000-07:002011-04-27T13:55:08.223-07:00

Yep, it's another repeat of 2009 but we've come such a long way that I thought it was a good time to revisit what's probably the overall favorite style of the club.  That and there have been a shit ton of new beers that I wanted to introduce everybody to and/or compare to each other. The lineup: Odell Brewing Company - India Pale Ale Dark Horse Brewing Company - Crooked Tree IPA New Belgium -

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-87768724417585686772011-04-27T13:29:00.000-07:002011-04-27T13:29:08.763-07:00

One of the hardest things about keeping up with this damn thing is the fact that I want to stay somewhat chronological and timely if I can.  What that usually results in is a lack of updating because I'm constantly behind on Beer Club updates. Well, we're gonna get all caught up here and it's gonna be in a quick and dirty fashion.  Just a quick mention of the lineup and a pic or two for each

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-7316909539495115212011-03-12T13:33:00.000-08:002011-03-12T14:07:13.171-08:00

I once agreed with the great Ron Burgundy when he said "I will not eat cat poop!" but that was before I realized that people paid hundreds of dollars to do it.  OK, maybe not to actually eat cat poop per se, but there is a coffee that is made by harvesting the coffee beans that are passed through a civet cat's digestive system. I saw that Mikkeller made a beer using this coffee and at first I

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-89017242767790398152011-03-12T10:56:00.000-08:002011-03-12T10:56:46.117-08:00

In another attempt to jump start my writer's block, I've changed the title and layout of this blog.  In the beginning the title was pretty reflective of how I thought and since then I've come full circle (well, maybe not full circle but quite a few degrees around that circle). I now know that the more I thought I knew, the more I realized I don't know shit.  So while I'll still continue to spout

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-64126854705922971502011-02-19T10:20:00.000-08:002011-02-19T10:26:42.493-08:00

Well, let me clarify that. I don't give up on the blog by any means. But I do need something to keep it fresher and easier for me to update and by that, I mean I need to keep it easier for me to WANT to update it.As of right now, I'm about four months behind with Beer Club and not being caught up with that has made me not really want to write about anything else. That being said, I'm going to do

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-67397403681850282612010-10-05T15:58:00.000-07:002010-11-26T14:45:41.898-08:00

***Editor's note - Yeah, I suck at keeping this thing up. I'll try to do better once I get caught up with the next three! ***The anniversary event, a year in the making had finally arrived. As I stated in August's write up, I can't believe we made it this far. I can barely hold a fantasy football league together from year to year, let alone a monthly beer club.Don't get me wrong, people love

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-16457239448337444522010-09-02T10:51:00.000-07:002010-09-25T12:51:48.766-07:00

Beer Club Volume 12... it's hard to believe even as I type it. Not only did we not fall apart after a few months but we've grown to be a pretty strong club. We've added people and the only ones we lost are one who moved away and a couple that realized it just wasn't for them. We did have a prodigal son but like in the original story we were all glad to have him back.Brent being welcomed back

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-2701271996102899992010-08-19T10:00:00.000-07:002010-08-19T11:28:24.966-07:00

*Editor's note - one of these months I'll get my Beer Club write up posted in time. July was not the month though.*When I first started Beer Club, I would have never dreamed about doing a month focusing on pilsners. At the time, I associated pilsners with the yellow fizzy American macro lagers that Beer Club was supposed be leading me and my beer drinking buddies away from.I'm not sure at what

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-34060573721793364132010-08-12T17:25:00.000-07:002010-08-12T17:47:34.428-07:00

Time for another quick review. I first had Pilsner Urquell as a sample at the Four Firkins a few months ago. I wasn't able to get a good feel for the beer but I did know that I wanted to try some more of it.For our anniversary shortly after that, Allison and I went to Murray's for dinner. It's amazing how a place that tries to be that classy can give me their "beer list" on a quarter sheet of

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-91978834404720339882010-08-11T18:03:00.000-07:002010-08-11T19:13:33.312-07:00

I figured what better way to get on a roll tonight than to review another beer. Since I bought some Chimay cheese last weekend and have been on a Belgian kick lately, I figured Chimay Rouge (or Red if you want to sound less pretentious... let's go with Red) would be a good choice for my second beer of the night.If you've never heard of Trappist beers before, do yourself a favor and check out

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-78984795327903163202010-08-11T15:32:00.000-07:002010-08-11T18:03:49.879-07:00

I figured it was time to get back to doing a few reviews on this blog from time to time. I realize I don't have the most sophisticated palate and sometimes have troubles picking out exact notes in the aromas and flavors but dammit, I like drinking beer and I can tell you if one is good or not.So here goes, back in the saddle again with a Boulevard Smokestack series beer. This one is their first

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-39509407107619116452010-07-26T10:17:00.000-07:002010-07-26T11:23:14.575-07:00

June's Beer Club was such a good time it took me over a month to recover from it and write about it. Our newest member Todd is a party animal and we all drank non stop for the last five weeks. OK, not really... I've just been busy guy (or a slacker if you wanna go that route).Let's rewind five weeks. It was time to introduce hefeweizens to the members of Beer Club who hadn't had the pleasure

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-82464258180707295112010-06-26T15:00:00.000-07:002010-07-13T12:29:28.270-07:00

As you may or may not know, the 2010 National Homebrewers Conference was in Minneapolis (technically Bloomington) last month. Homebrewing wasn't really on my radar when tickets went on sale for all the events so the seminars and everything else really didn't mean too much to me.What did mean a ton to me though, was that a lot of my out-of-town friends were going to be in the Twin Cities for the

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-29871785181261423942010-06-15T10:28:00.001-07:002010-06-15T11:24:23.547-07:00

A couple Saturdays ago I attended my first ever BrauFest. As you may or may not know, Brau Brothers Brewing Company in Lucan, MN was the location of our beer club's first ever field trip (we even got our picture on the slideshow on their home page). The day we went included an open house at the brewery which included a self guided tour of the hop fields followed by a street dance outside the

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-57846087074868509212010-05-30T11:46:00.000-07:002010-09-20T06:01:03.988-07:00

As with saisons last month, I wanted to plan May's Beer Clubl with some beers that everybody could try and enjoy during the hot summer months in Minnesota. Let's face it, Bourbon County Stout might be one of the best beers on the planet, but it's not something you wanna sit out on your deck drinking several of on a 95 degree Saturday afternoon in June.Enter wheat beers and witbiers. Rather than

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-75673158027847990592010-05-13T10:58:00.000-07:002010-05-13T11:41:15.611-07:00

I'm not sure how I missed the first however-many-of-these there have been, but a few months ago I heard about Sam Adams annual Longshot competition. In a nutshell, it's their contest for home brewers to see who can submit the best beers with the winners being produced and sold in six packs. The most recent winners were an old ale and a barleywine with saison brewed by an employee of Sam Adams

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-43080224704011887952010-04-30T12:45:00.000-07:002010-04-30T08:25:29.849-07:00

Well, it appears that spring has finally sprung in Minnesota. About damn time. I thought it was time to start introducing the group to some beers that go down well in the summer so that they don't try drinking an imperial stout when mowing the lawn and accidentally revert back to Miller Lite. Wheat beers/witbiers/hefeweizens were all on my radar but I decided to start with my personal

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-68194443968880984202010-04-18T21:16:00.000-07:002010-04-21T11:00:44.419-07:00

One of the things I had envisioned when I was coming up with the idea of Beer Club was that we'd do some field trips as a group. While some very loose versions of "group outings" had occurred (Josh & I going to Surlyfest, Paul & Paul & I going to Winterfest), a true group outing had yet to happen.Surly was very high on my list because of its closeness and because of how much we all love their

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-22790702352029186942010-04-13T14:41:00.000-07:002010-04-14T11:07:05.487-07:00

When we were planning our trip to Mexico with Dayna and Noe, there was one usual part of traveling that didn't enter the equation for me because I didn't expect to find a brew pub or a local brewery to visit and I was just hoping to find drinkable beer period.Now, in my efforts to tow the line between beer geek and beer snob I try to stick to the notion that my real favorite beer is the one I'm

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-59424663776364253552010-03-18T10:41:00.000-07:002010-03-19T11:58:13.283-07:00

We're finally back to another episode of Beer Club that has no rhyme or reason for the month other than that I've really started to like Trappist ales and wanted to expose the rest of the group to them. They have such a cool background and history behind them (for some great info on them, click here).In a nutshell, Trappist beers are those brewed by or under the control of Trappist monks. There

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-72902886784411055782010-02-16T20:35:00.000-08:002010-02-18T11:23:22.798-08:00

I decided to go with Bocks for this installment of Beer Club in honor of Bockfest at Schell's Brewery in New Ulm. It ended up being doubly important this year because sadly my streak of seven years at Bockfest was broken this year. At least I had a good lineup of beer to help me feel better about it.Rather than focus on one of the specific bocks like dunkler bocks or doppelbocks or heller bocks

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-23157261849797305422010-02-15T11:40:00.000-08:002010-02-16T12:18:44.139-08:00

So I've been all in to the craft beer scene now for less than a year and as of ten days ago I had yet to attend one of the big beer festivals. I've been to Surlyfest and Darkness Day but I'm talking about the kind where you can drink a billion samples of kick ass beer all under the same roof. I barely missed out on Autumn Brew Review last year because by the time I had discovered its existence

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-28541161958430523312010-02-01T10:50:00.000-08:002010-02-11T11:28:54.797-08:00

(This took me WAY too long to finish but at least I got it in before February's Beer Club!)Much like most of the meetings so far, January's Beer Club was timed around the release of a specific beer. This month that beer was Hopslam from Bell's Brewery.As I mentioned in my first ever blog post, Hopslam was a different kind of gateway beer for me. It was the beer that sparked my interest in

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-84443435411766756642010-01-12T11:25:00.000-08:002010-01-12T12:11:54.860-08:00

I was in New Ulm last weekend visiting the parents and it had been almost four years since I've taken a tour of Schell's Brewery so I had yet to enjoy a brew in the new tap room. The agenda was a relaxed one so a Saturday afternoon tour seemed not only doable but mandatory.I wasn't sure if they'd be doing tours on a 5 below day in January but not only were they doing them, the tour was full.

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-5254729731091364012010-01-08T10:34:00.000-08:002010-01-08T10:59:16.963-08:00

Monday morning I got a message from Shawn from BGP via Twitter asking if I was going to go to Town Hall that night to see Greg Koch from Stone brewing. This was the first that I had heard of it but I was all over it. I had heard that he was talking about coming to MN and was asking where a good place to have a beer in Minneapolis would be but I missed his tweet from

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-75757347725423336432010-01-07T10:57:00.000-08:002010-01-07T12:59:03.783-08:00

Before I left town for my 6 days of Christmas vacation, I made sure I brought with me plenty of beer to drink and also made sure that I had plenty of new ones to rate. Here are the results.The first night I had Flying Dog Horn Dog Barley Wine and Goose Island Pere Jacques.I haven't had a ton of barleywines but this one seemed to be pretty decent. Big boozy beer with a thick chewy mouthfeel.

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-87039802523382306322009-12-27T06:00:00.000-08:002010-02-11T13:09:20.692-08:00

Welcome to yet another episode of Beer Club where the style picks itself. With all the winter beers and Christmas beers coming out I figured it was obvious choice if we were ever going to do them.November/December was an insanely busy time for me so I put pretty much the entire lineup in Alvey's hands and this is what he laid out for me:Samuel Adams Winter LagerWell, OK, not this one. I bought

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-16851255657354564342009-12-26T10:57:00.000-08:002009-12-26T11:01:36.755-08:00

So I've been frustrated at my writer's block for this blog for awhile now and I realized one of my problems is that I tend to make it too big of a project. I think that I can't put something up unless it's an epic entry. Since I've been coming up with my rough draft of 2010 goals (a.k.a. resolutions but that sounds like something made to be broken) and I've decided to keep up with this blog even

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-91445325564615728582009-12-26T07:28:00.000-08:002010-02-11T13:06:40.224-08:00

The first two themes of Beer Club just kind of picked themselves and the third month did the same. As you can see from the Darkness Day post (Darkness Falls Across the Land), I was able to acquire some of the fantastic Russian imperial stout both for my personal stash and for Beer Club so imperial stouts were the theme for the month.Unlike IPA month, I relied heavily on advice from Alvey at the

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-58083472409735205372009-10-27T13:20:00.000-07:002009-10-30T08:37:46.387-07:00

Last Saturday was Christmas for beer geeks across the land, for it was Darkness Day at the Surly brewery. Darkness Day is the one day out of the year that you can buy the holy grail of beer, Surly's Russian Imperial Stout - Darkness. (Actually, this year if you're lucky you might be able to track some down at liquor stores somewhere but I digress).I've been up and down the spectrum on Darkness

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-16833127577737711392009-10-22T09:34:00.000-07:002010-02-11T13:07:49.402-08:00

So when I first envisioned creating Beer Club, the first goal I had was simply to find some people who would discuss all the good beers I was suddenly drinking. Since IPA's/Double IPA's are my favorite style of beer it was natural that I'd be drinking a lot of them (25 of the 95 beers that I've rated so far). Oktoberfest was too natural of a fit for the first Beer Club meeting since so many of

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-16700566790726124432009-10-21T10:23:00.000-07:002009-10-21T11:13:51.209-07:00

I read a blurb about this place a couple months ago and put it on my "places to check out" mental list. Allison works with a girl who lives in New Brighton and after arranging some logistical details we worked it out so I could pick up her husband and the girls would meet us there after work and serve as sober cabs for us since we'd be there well before them (an hour and a half head start as it

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-66621377628696631922009-10-08T18:12:00.000-07:002009-10-08T19:02:39.334-07:00

I've been looking forward to Surly's Darkness Day for quite awhile now so needless to say I was pleasantly surprised when I heard that they were tapping a firkin of it last Tuesday at the 501 Club in Minneapolis. I was able to somehow convince a couple buddies who are far from beer geeks to join me and after figuring out the logistics, all of us could enjoy as much Darkness as we could get our

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-79710264705941928252009-10-08T17:43:00.001-07:002009-10-08T18:10:44.433-07:00

As the NFL season drew near this year, I was really looking forward to tailgating again. Unfortunately due to a late starting season and two road games to start, I had to wait until the last weekend of September to get up at an obscenely early hour and drink beer before most of you were awake.As you may know, I'm hooked up with the Finnegan's Irish tailgating group (mentioned here: http://bit.ly

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-13392899390296150892009-09-30T10:32:00.000-07:002009-09-30T10:59:28.617-07:00

The first meeting of Beer Club kind of picked its own theme. Even if it seems a little weird, Oktoberfest beers all seem to come out in September and with a whole mess of them coming out the week or two before Beer Club met and Surlyfest occurring two days before it, the Oktoberfest theme seemed like a no-brainer.My initial thought was to get a few of the brands that people knew (Schell's,

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-77548127489211341482009-09-23T10:36:00.000-07:002009-09-23T11:11:02.250-07:00

As my beer hobby as spun out of control (or is it into tighter control?) the past few months, I've been finding myself wanting to talk beer more with people. I don't have a lot of friends who like to step outside their normal beer drinking boxes and those that do still don't try half of the new stuff that I do. I could hang out at the Four Firkins all night after work but I'm sure even a

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-21277315259252128712009-09-22T15:29:00.000-07:002009-09-22T16:06:22.557-07:00

As I mentioned last post, I swung into the Liquor Barrel Friday night after work to order my next keg. I decided on Grainbelt Premium to placate my yellow fizzy beer fan friends instead of the Two-Hearted that I really wanted because the last thing I need is to be pouring a glass of nectar like that and having them bitch about how awful it is while paying 3-4 times as much for it. Why do I care

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-57646566656788049702009-09-22T10:53:00.000-07:002010-02-16T11:47:26.190-08:00

I've been looking forward to Surlyfest ever since I heard about it and I wasn't disappointed. Luckily Josh was available to head to the fest with me since everybody else seemed to have a prior engagement.I kicked off the day with a Coffee Bender and when Josh showed up at my house, we had a Surly CynicAle in my bar before we took off for the brewery. I had only had a sample of this before when

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-33260479249954305272009-09-22T10:26:00.000-07:002009-09-24T10:39:38.193-07:00

Finally I get a chance to sit down and recap the last 10 days or so. Let's start off with a new source for beer that I discovered at my nephew's birthday party while chatting about beer with my brother-in-law's brother. Princeton's Liquors (http://www.princetonsliquors.com/) in Maple Grove was a very pleasant surprise for me. The Four Firkins and the Liquor Barrel remain my go to places for

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-28660017599938483142009-09-14T20:10:00.000-07:002009-09-15T00:19:19.301-07:00

Last Thursday night I volunteered to help my friend Marie with a Finegans tasting at the Liquor Barrel in Golden Valley. I was a little skeptical because I hadn't done one before and Marie wasn't going to be there right away so I was on my own for the first 50 minutes or so. But Marie needed help and it was for a good cause so I decided to give it a try as long as I could get home for kickoff

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-41389626327068098102009-09-07T18:35:00.000-07:002009-09-07T18:50:04.999-07:00

Saturday night after the Renaissance I had a Hop Juice and then switched to some Bacardi Anejo with a Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA as a night cap.Sunday my only beer of the day ended up being a Samuel Adams Imperial Stout that I've been looking forward to trying for a few weeks now. After how much I've really loved the stouts that I've tried, I figured this one would fall right in for me. I was

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-72295869298974974892009-09-07T18:04:00.001-07:002009-09-07T18:31:33.235-07:00

Saturday I went to the Renaissance Festival for the first time. It seems like something I should have been going to for years. At least I finally corrected the mistake. It turned out to be a good place for beer as well as there was plenty of it on tap and luckily for me there was some from my hometown of New Ulm. Not only did they have Premium and Premium Light, they had the new Oktoberfest

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-13704246431981407862009-09-04T20:35:00.000-07:002009-09-04T20:48:36.909-07:00

I've learned to trust the Four Firkins whenever they email/Tweet about a new beer they got in because they have yet to steer me wrong. I'll be honest and tell you that when I heard about Little Sumpin’ Extra Ale from Lagunitas I was intrigued just because it was a cool sounding name. When I got to the store on Wednesday night I grabbed a couple of bottles because it was cheap (relatively anyway

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-34701804195326564242009-09-04T18:26:00.000-07:002009-09-04T18:46:32.104-07:00

I finally have some time to catch up on some things and decided to keep ahead of the game.I needed to try something new tonight and when I reached in the fridge, the Fatty Boombalatty from Furthermore that T-Mac picked up for me jumped out into my hands.To be honest, I didn't know much about this except for seeing the name when I've been on Casanova's website. My first real exposure to Belgian

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-40261596638838487412009-09-04T16:54:00.000-07:002009-09-04T17:35:42.063-07:00

Tuesday night I had a Summit Horizon Red after work since they went down so well last weekend. Hanging the new TV in the bar was the project of the night and since it seemed like a special occasion so I figured a new beer was in order.The Stone Smoked Porter intimidated me a bit since the Smoke Ale I had from Rogue was different and definitely situational and with Stone's reputation for big

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-35279891667990064122009-09-01T10:22:00.000-07:002009-09-01T10:47:12.696-07:00

Last Friday I swung by Surly Brewing to pick up my tickets for Surlyfest. I'm hoping that Paul is able to go with me but either way, I wanted to make sure I had a couple tickets. I also picked up a Surlyfest Tshirt and a Darkness goblet and chatted with Omar for a few minutes about the Vikes, tailgating and the Surlywagon which will have a presence in Minneapolis this fall at football games.Had

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-77922224529850777322009-09-01T10:03:00.000-07:002009-09-01T10:22:20.079-07:00

Last Thursday my new glassware from Stone showed up via UPS and the IPA glass was tested out shortly after I got home from work with...Stone IPA of course. The tasting glasses are very cool as is the rest of the merchandise.I had a bottle of Un*Earthly from Southern Tier after the Stone and I've come to the conclusion that it must be the most volatile beer I've bought. As I've stated before,

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-38493943886323452012009-08-27T09:13:00.000-07:002009-08-27T09:15:50.446-07:00

Last night’s beer of the night was Magic Hat #9. I’ve had this one in my fridge for awhile because I didn’t know much about it other than I bought it because the Four Firkins mentioned it in a tweet. It’s funny how my perception on beer has changed in the past few months because I was skeptical about the beer because it “only” cost around $3 for the 22 oz bomber. After buying most of them at

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-11034662271890786792009-08-25T20:29:00.001-07:002009-08-25T20:37:13.439-07:00

I originally wanted to rate a few beers tonight but sometimes things just get in the way. Luckily I got one out of the way before I started a movie and had a Honeyweiss with my pizza.I went to the Four Firkins for the Point tasting and their Belgian White was one of the big surprises for me. I was looking forward to having another but made sure it wouldn't be till I had time to do an official

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-37884119599348511592009-08-25T11:04:00.000-07:002009-08-25T13:47:49.559-07:00

Last night I decided to officially rate the Goose Island India Pale Ale. Had a few over the weekend and was surprised at how much I enjoyed this beer. It seemed to me on Friday night that the floral/citrus elements were much more present in the smell than they were last night. It was still very good though, it reminded me a lot of the IPA's that I drank back when I first discovered IPA's like

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-36133408094074413922009-08-25T10:25:00.000-07:002009-08-25T10:46:25.733-07:00

Went to Mankato for a nice relaxing guy's weekend of football watching, golf, Tarantino and of course beer.Mankato's MGM stores seem to have a great selection of microbrews for a big liquor store so I stopped by the North Mankato location to see what they had for me to drink during the Vikes game Friday night.It took awhile to get things narrowed down because of the selection but I eventually

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-2198403557618595802009-08-24T10:54:00.000-07:002009-08-24T11:40:35.836-07:00

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

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-9008614772713561042009-08-19T10:31:00.000-07:002009-08-19T11:00:14.613-07:00

I didn't have too much time spend on beer last weekend because I spent most of the time working in the room where we'll be doing most of the taste testing.But I did manage to sneak a few beers in. Friday night I tried my first Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA. After being underwhelmed by the 60 Minute, I didn't have too high of hopes for this one. I was very pleasantly surprised. The only thing I

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-55332450458298706012009-08-14T10:43:00.000-07:002009-08-14T11:03:37.564-07:00

Last night I stopped by the Liquor Barrel to pick up a bottle of the Rogue Somer Orange Honey Ale for LeeAnn and figured I'd pick up an extra couple for myself. I also noticed a Half-E-Weizen (MoM Hefeweizen) from Rogue so I grabbed a bottle of that to try.I saw they still had the Horizon Red Ale from Summit too so I bought a six of that since it's so popular and hard to find. It grew on me the

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-54238272760262335912009-08-12T20:52:00.000-07:002009-08-12T21:07:10.257-07:00

The first beer of tonight is from my hometown brewery, a Schell's Hefeweizen. I was never very crazy about most of Schell's beers but I'm guessing now it was because I never got into the kinds they are good at making. This was a very pleasant surprise, it's too bad we're at the end of the season for this brew. Makes me look forward to my first tour since their remodeling.I gave it a 3.9 on

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-24833192693507952532009-08-12T10:59:00.000-07:002009-08-12T11:19:59.991-07:00

Tried the Goose Island Bourbon County Stout last night. I've been looking forward to this one since I've read lots of good things about it. I bought one bottle during my "stock up on imperial stouts" trip and after reading what I read and realizing that this might not be easy to restock, I figured I'd give the bottle a try so I knew if I needed to go buy some to stash away.Here's what I wrote

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-16159545668181332722009-08-10T21:23:00.000-07:002009-08-11T06:21:48.070-07:00

My Flip video camera takes over tonight's blogging duties. Guinness is by far my favorite beer to pour, long live the widget!

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-5325621667906034882009-08-10T10:14:00.000-07:002009-08-11T06:20:46.759-07:00

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.

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-1310032150014205292009-08-06T10:31:00.000-07:002009-08-11T06:18:26.424-07:00

I decided that if I had to try to rate beers off memory whenever I made it to a computer that my full impression of a beer would suffer so I decided to turn this little black book into the official beer journal. Here's where it has taken me so far, beers listed with my RateBeer.com comments in italics.July 30th - Tonight's beer is Two-Hearted Ale by Bell (4.1 rating, bound to climb). Pours with

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-91125538537457172002009-08-05T20:55:00.000-07:002010-05-24T20:39:56.584-07:00

Now that most of the background information has been taken care of, let's get caught up on what beers I've tried so far this year that have been memorable.The first one that struck me (and eventually led to Furious) was Hopslam by Bell's. I rated it a very solid 4.4 (out of 5.0) on the www.ratebeer.com website.Of course Furious is the champ so far with a 4.8 rating by me. I'm not sure if I'll

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-66720534611045043782009-08-05T20:49:00.000-07:002009-08-10T10:42:27.022-07:00

Last Wednesday apparently saw another brick added to the foundation of this fun. Last month one of the guys at the Four Firkins told me about a place near the U called Stub & Herb's if I wanted a bar that served good microbrews on tap.Surly was debuting their beer trailer there and for $5 you could get a burger and Surly on tap. After starting off with a Bender I bellied up to the bar to see

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2469742653683275120.post-11981466687167981452009-08-04T08:53:00.000-07:002010-08-11T18:52:45.431-07:00

It's a shock that it has taken me all these years to document my great love of beers.Of course, our relationship didn't start off so well. It was more like one of those where the girl punches the boy to let him know that she likes him.In the beginning of my drinking career, I was a one alcohol kind of guy with Southern Comfort being my one and only. Sure, beer made plenty of appearances but

Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05936466644593637711noreply@blogger.com0