December 24th - Nøgne Ø/Jolly Pumpkin/Stone Special Holiday Ale

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 nod to a great holiday. The beer was about what I expected, nothing special but a solid and very drinkable example of the style.

The next beer was one I've had for a long time and was a bit nervous to try because I wasn't sure how it would hold up. Luckily, not only did it really seem to hold up well but unless I'm not remembering the last time I had this accurately, I think the flavors and aromas really came out more after sitting for awhile. This version of the Special Holiday Ale was the one that was brewed at Nøgne Ø.

This is a super unique beer that I grabbed a few bottles of because not only did it sound good but I really loved the label artwork. After sipping on this one again I'm happy to say that the beer inside definitely matched the spirit of the holiday because this stuff just tasted like Christmas. The spices really worked well, specifically the juniper.  I'm not sure if they'll ever make this one again but put it on my Christmas list if they do.

December 10th - Stone 15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial Black IPA

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 buy another bottle to do just that sometime.  Cheers!

December 3rd - Stone Cali-Belgique IPA

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 after I opened the bottle and it paired very nicely with the Cali-Belgique. Not sure I'll buy it again but I'm glad I tried it at least once and even more glad that I stumbled across a nice pairing with it.

A Brush with Brewing Immortality

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 the night before about being at Town Hall that night.

Now I'm not in the business in any way, shape or form and didn't really have much to say to him but I've been wanting to go back to Town Hall for awhile now and this was as good of a reason as any. At least I could say I met the founders of two of my top breweries (Omar being the first) and maybe get a quick pic.

It was also cool to meet Shawn and Leslie, Allison and I sat at a table with them and had a few beers before and while Greg was at Town Hall. I tried their Festivus (fantastic, especially if you like coffee beers), their Angel's Abbey and their Masala Mama IPA (from a cask even!).

As expected, I didn't have much to say to Greg but it was cool as hell when he walked up to me, introduced himself and said he liked my shirt. Always good to have an Arrogant Bastard shirt when you need to represent.

He was cool enough to get everyone together for a group shot and he even took a pic of the two of us. He had a few samples of some Stone brews for us which I gladly tried and then I thanked him and called it a night. All in all, I'd say it was well worth the trip. Thanks again to Greg for a memorable night!

2 of my 3 idols down, is a meeting with Sam Calagione next?

Catching up, starting with last Thursday

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, the first bottle I tried back in June did not go over well with me. Not the citrusy hops that I expected but a malty chewy beer that I wasn't too crazy about. The second one I tried was one of the best beers I ever had and the third one was right there too. But the one I tried this time was close to the first one I had. I know Alvey told me that the hoppy profile is the first thing to go with these kinds of beers but this one really surprises me.

I finished the night off with a couple Furious pints at Mainstreet while we watched Kenny, Josh and Tucker play.

Speaking of Surly, let's rewind a little bit and go over the first beer of the night. I called the Liquor Barrel in Golden Valley to see if they got any of the Surly Hell in and sure enough, they did so Allison picked up a couple four packs for me (the limit). After reading about the beer, I tempered my expectations because I too thought that something named Hell would be a more aggressive beer. But like all things, going into it with a bit of skepticism usually ends up giving you a pleasant surprise.

I figured this would be somewhere along the lines of Heineken or Rolling Rock and being that I hate these beers, it took Surly's name for me to even want to try this German style lager. I could taste that it was in the style of the above-mentioned skunky beers but without the stuff that I hate in those beers. Maybe there's hope for this style in my beer world yet. More to come on this when I officially rate it.