Last Weekend

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 decided to try a six pack each of Goose Island India Pale Ale and Bell's Kalamazoo Stout and grabbed a four pack of Surly Coffee Bender (why is that stuff so expensive these days?). Official ratings to come but after 2 of the IPA's and a Stout I could safely say I chose wisely.

Saturday morning I rolled out of bed for to relax for awhile before golf and had myself a Coffee Bender.

Decided not to have any while golfing but did have another Goose Island at the house before James and I took off at the bar.

While there I asked what they had for darker beers on tap and when I heard that they had Oktoberfests from both Schell's and Leinie's, I decided to start with a Schell's to support my hometown brewery. I'm not real familiar with Oktoberfests but James and I both thought it looked pretty pale and yellow to be one. No worries though, it tasted good and went down nicely. Found out when I ordered my next round that the first waitress was mistaken and the Schell's that I drank was actually Zommerfest and that my next beer would indeed be an Oktoberfest from Leinie's. That made a lot more sense after we found that out. Both beers were pretty solid and I had a second Leinie's which went down slow since a good dinner and the first two tall glasses filled my belly. Looking forward to my exploration of more Oktoberfests (including Schell's which should be out around now).

Sunday was quite eventful, just had one of the 32 oz mugs filled with Honeyweiss after our very successful volleyball match. Another good weekend with beer in the books.

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.

Weekend Recap

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 didn't like about it was that it went down too smoothly for me and at 294 calories a beer, this isn't one to be drinking all night. It was a fantastic brew. My RateBeer rundown (4.1 rating, maybe should be higher):
Golden brown in color with a quickly dissipating head. Prominent citrus hops aroma with a hint of malt. Thick, malty mouthfeel with a subtle but very good fruity hop flavor.

Had a Miller Genuine Draft with my pizza later on to try and purge the fridge of some older stock. Didn't want to rate it because it was probably past its prime but still tasted great with the pizza.

Saturday I shared an Oaked Arrogant Bastard with Paul because I wanted him to try it and give it another chance as well. I definitely enjoyed it more than the first one I had, I'm thinking this one will grow on me. To continue the fridge purge I had a Hopslam for a night cap.

Sunday saw me give the 90 Minute IPA another whirl to see how good it was the next time around. Yep, this one's a keeper. Also had a few Michelob Golden Draft Lights during sand volleyball. Yellow fizzy beers do have their place in the world & a volleyball court is one of them.

Officially Rating an Old Favorite

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 last time I had it so it's getting another try. was reading about the Imperial Line from Sam Adams and bought a four pack of the Imperial Stout. Looking forward to trying this one day soon.


I swung by Buffalo Wild Wings to try their new flavors and when I got home I decided to pair them with a Two-Hearted Ale. Draft Magazine was right, it was a fantastic pairing.

After that I went to Mainstreet and instead of my normal Furious fest I decided to do official tastings and ratings of a couple beers that should have been rated long ago.

We'll start with the second beer I rated, Newcastle. I hate to say it but it really fell flat. I expected it to be a lot richer with more flavor and since I came around last year and started liking it, I was really disappointed. It didn't hold up at all to the stuff I've been drinking lately. It had no aroma at all and the taste was just not really there. I gave it a 2.2 on RateBeer:
Pours deep brownish red color, little to no aroma. Very small flavor, a slight malt note and a bit sweet. Overall not a very flavorful beer.

The other beer I rated was Guinness Draught. As you can see I had one at home just the other night but decided not to rate it because it has been in my fridge for a few months and I wanted to go with it on tap to get a better feel for it.

This beer held up much more than I anticipated. It has been my favorite beer to pour ever since I poured one with the widget and getting it on tap doesn't disappoint. Easily the best looking beer out there and the aroma, while not too strong is very nice. The thick creamy head gives it great mouthfeel and while the flavor itself is a bit weak, it's still money. Very low ABV (4.1%) and its ability to fill you makes it a great beer if you want to have a few but still need to drive home as well. Guinness belongs in the Beer Hall of Fame. I gave it a very solid 4.0 on RateBeer.com:
Guinness is the beer that I wish I could give a 20 for appearance. When they put that cascading beauty in front of me I could watch it for hours if I didn’t want to drink it so badly. It pours a deep brown color and cascades like a waterfall. Thick creamy head with coffee and chocolate in both the aroma and taste. Very smooth mouthfeel and goes down without effort. My only knock is that it could use a bit deeper flavor to it but overall this is a classic beer.

Cheers and happy Friday!
Mike

Some Hometown Love & Something Stoopid

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 RateBeer.com with the following comments:
Golden in color, slightly cloudy. Fresh aroma with a yeast element and a hint of lemon. Clean and very smooth mouthfeel. Tangy flavor, citrus notes. Very good beer.

Next up was Lagunita's Hop Stoopid. Dude at the Four Firkins recommended this when I told him I was a Furious and Un*Earthly Fan. It smelled wonderful and ranks closely to Un*Earthly but the finish is a bit too harsh to catch the top IPA's for me.

I gave it a 4.2 on RateBeer.com with the following comments:
Deep golden color, wonderful fruit & floral hops aroma. Thick and sweet mouthfeel with a bitter citrus flavor. Lingering bitter finish on the tongue. A little bit harsh on the finish but overall a great beer.

That's about it for the night, two excellent choices one off another Firkins suggestion and one from my own gut feeling. Looking forward to some 2-for-1's at Mainstreet tomorrow, it might be time for me to give an official rating to Newcastle.

Getting my goose on...

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 on RateBeer.com (4.3 rating):
Black thick pour into the snifter with a thing brown head that dissipates quickly. Aroma is charred, smokey with the strong ABV coming through. Thick, chewy, syrupy mouthfeel. Definitely can taste the charred oak, bourbon element to this and some molasses. Great sipping beer.

This IS the ultimate sipping beer. It has been years since I've tried the Sam Adams Triple Bock and I only vaguely remember it but the smell of this conjured up some of those vague memories. It has so much going on that it's tough to pull out specifics but I did go back for more bottles.

Unfortunately the Four Firkins didn't get their shipment in but I did get the two bottles they did have along with four more of the Rasputin, a Samuel Smith Imperial Stout, a Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti from Great Divide and a six pack of Hoegaarden. Another $48.65 goes into my hobby.

They were also sampling the new Summit, their German Style Kolsch. I wasn't too fond of it. It was OK but the aroma was a bit on the skunky side and the taste was nothing to write home about. It was the first tasting at the Firkins that didn't lead me to buying some of the product. Oh well, their batting average is still better than Tony Gwynn's back in the day. Makes me look forward to cracking that Triple Bock again one day.

My rating for it was a 2.2:
Tried some of this at a Four Firkins tasting. I love Summit and most of their beers but this one didn’t do it for me. The aroma was a bit skunky to me and the flavor was better but still not one I’d buy.

Had a Two-Hearted Ale to finish off the night. It was a productive day for the beer blog

Guest Blogger

My Flip video camera takes over tonight's blogging duties.



Guinness is by far my favorite beer to pour, long live the widget!