A lively little discussion over at Beer and Whiskey Bros was the fodder that fed the idea behind this weeks Sip With Us Saturday beer.  Don thought Boulevard's Collaboration 1 to be over valued, and I thought the opposite.  Head over there and give us your two cents. Here's the deal... A little disagreement doesn't hurt so long as the individuals involved in the discussion maintain mutual respect and avoid personal attacks.  In fact, I cannot stand politically correct, "I don't want to say I disagree with you even though I do because I don't want to come off as offensive," discussions.  To me, the lack of honesty is disrespectful.  On an old blog I used to maintain, I wrote a brief article on the perks of honesty in dialogue. Anyway, as per the beer bout on Beer and Whiskey Bros, this week's brew is style-centric and is zoomed in on the Pilsner. The poor Pilsner. Because of the corn supplemented atrocities that flow from the likes of companies like InBev, this historical and once beloved style gets a bad wrap and is overlooked more often than not.  Here in craft-beer-geek world, our senses of taste are shifting towards BIG, BOLD, MALTY, HOPPY, etc.  There's ...

This Friday Mike and I are leaving our respective dwelling places and travel to the sunny paradise of Munster, Indiana.  We are not making the trek for the sand, surf, and sun.  It is the call of Dark Lord. We would love to make the actual Dark Lord brew the Sip With Us Saturday for this coming Saturday, but that would just be unfair.  So to include as many participants as possible, we are throwing the gates wide open and choosing ANY beer brewed in the Hoosier state. Cheers!

For Sip with us Saturday, I said I was going to drink something by Stone...sort of true.  My chosen tipple was a collaborative brew by Stone, Firestone Walker, and 21st Amendment.  The beer itself was an interesting collaboration, and Stone used a version of Firestone's Union system for the brew.  Cool stuff.  The beer is simply classified as a Black Ale—and a strong one at that.  At 9.5%, it's not a small beer.  The price tag was $3.99 for a 12 ounce bottle.  On to the brew. The Pour: Black would be an accurate description for the color of El Camino.  In fact, stout-like in color is maybe the best descriptor.  The creamy, light brown, and very stable head added to the stout perception.  At any rate, I thought the beer was very nice looking.  A small amount of lacing occurred as I sipped it down. The Nose: Given the El Camino was 9.5% ABV, it wasn't a surprise to catch some of the alcohol notes on the nose.  Citrusy hops also dominated.  In this way, the beer certainly had Stone's signature on it.  However, the hops were not simply the piney/grapefruity hops that I'm used to; they had a very nice orange ...

This week's Sip With Us Saturday led me to the corner of the beer aisle with Stone offerings.  Upon looking at the selection, I realized that I had tasted every offering available to me, from the Bashah, to the 09 09 09, to the California Belgique EXCEPT for the Ruination IPA. Heresy, I know. The bottom line is, while I enjoy a nice hoppy beer ocasionally, the "American Double IPA," just isn't my thing.  Sometimes when I am drinking one, I think to myself, "How many ways can my palate describe bitter, citrusy, hoppy, etc."  While they all taste good, rarely do they taste great to me, and rarely do I find one even mildly unique.  When I do, I go out of my way to tell any and every one about it.  Also, when a beer's bio emphasizes bone crushing hop content, it fetches a yawning reaction from so. So that's why I avoided the Ruination IPA till now, but have sought out many of Stone's other brews that I have found delightful. The Pour: Ruination is an orangish golden color.  The brew looks a tad thinner than what I expect for a DIPA, but it leaves behind the tell tale sticky lacing from ...

Sip with us Saturday is becoming a ritual among a few elite...okay, so it's less than even a few and none of us are very elite.  However, that doesn't mean we can't sip something from the Brewing elite.  What I'm suggesting for this week is that you sip on something that's Stone. If you choose to review it and send it to us, then we'll get the review up.  For my part, I just bought the collaborative brew between Stone, Firestone Walker, and 21st Amendment.  It's El Camino that I'll be drinking.  If you can find it, I suggest you drink it.  If not, pick up another Stone brew.  Hope to sip with you on Saturday.  This week went by very quickly!

Pay attention, because I'm "coming out of the closet" in a beer fanatic sort of way.  I'm not talking about my sexuality, but my brewality.  I just might be an anomaly in the world of beer geeks:  I am not a huge fan of bourbon aged beers.   I like bourbon.  I like beer.  But mixed, I often find the flavor unpalatable.  Kentucky Bourbon Barrel ale was a sink worthy beer for me.  That being said, I so enjoy trying different varieties and take on this style, even if the style isn't my favorite because 1) not all bourbon aged brews are the same, and 2) taste and preference is far from a static quality. So this weeks Sip With Us Saturday brew(s)--any bourbon aged beers--were up against one harsh critic since I wasn't drooling over the bottle before the cork was popped, unlike other styles.   I decided to sample two varieties.  The first was Old Rasputin XII by North Coast Brewing Company and the second was Kentucky Breakfast Stout by Founders Brewing Company.  I chose these two bourbon aged imperial stouts because they are both 11.2% ABV, and thought that would make for an interesting comparison. The Pours: In how many different ...

As I've mentioned on other posts, this brew is a reincarnation of Stone's 11th anniversary Ale.  From what I understand, people clamored until Stone starting making this beer on a regular basis (I guess the squeaky wheel does get the grease after all; the black grease beer, that is).  Other sites defer by calling this an American Strong Ale, which seems to be a catch-pan category for the "what the hell should we call this?" sentiment.  Maybe I'm a simpleton, but I'd call it a stout.  Of course, Stone calls the 11th anniversary a black IPA, so it would stand to reason that they would designate this beer with the same nomenclature. The Pour: As I hinted, this beer is fairly dark in complexion.  Maybe it's not quite grease, but it was black/very dark brown in it color.  The head was a very stable, off-white cloud.  The body, being semi-active, helped to prop it up for the duration of drinking.  Additionally, some decent lacing appeared as I sipped the brew. The Nose: It's almost a foregone conclusion that citrusy, piney hop aspects will make it into most of Stone's products.  I'm not saying this negatively, but it is a predictable aspect of their ...

Sip With Us Saturday was started to reinforce the bonds that exist between like minded beer drinkers.  Whether out with friends on a Saturday night, or alone at home, it is nice to know that the beer in your hand is at the same moment being enjoyed by a friend who very well be at the other end of your state, country, or planet.  How could this not enhance the experience that is beer? Since Beer and Whiskey Bros and Thank Heaven for Beer found themselves regularly participating in Sip With Us Saturday, they found it fitting to promote it together and choose Satuday Beers together as well, in the hopes of fostering more interest on their respective sites.  The door is always open for more beer websites to join. So without further ado, this week's Sip With Us Saturday beer being, theme based and not product specific, is any bourbon aged beer: quite appropriate due to the nature of the Beer and Whiskey Bros as well as Jim's first homebrew. There choices aplenty when it comes to bourbon aged beer, and if you've never experienced a bourbon aged beer, you really need to try one out this week.  If you don't like ...

Here it is.  Easter is fast approaching, which is a time of reflection for many.  Perhaps it's even a time of humbling for many of us.  We become more conscious of what we have and what gifts we've experienced throughout the year...and it sometimes even humbles us.  So, I thought we'd sip something that was antithetical to this season of the year.  It seemed to me to be an interesting choice because of shear contrast of humility and hubris.  Anyway, find some Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale from Stone and Sip with us Saturday. For those of you who haven't had it, I should note that it's a re-incarnation of Stone's 11th Anniversary Ale (maybe you've had that).  Be sure to join us.

I got this Angel's Share at Whole Foods, and a friend picked up the Tomme at the Whole Foods in Glendale.  My buddy David found the latter and called to see if I wanted to go halfsies.  I think my response was something like %*&# yeah!  Anyway, I'm excited to post my reviews of these great brews.  Let's just jump into it. Angel's Share: I don't think that Lost Abbey makes anything for the faint of heart, and this is certainly one of their heartiest brews.  I think I paid about $15.99 for the 375 ml  bottle of beer (minus my 20% discount).  For such a rare beer and opportunity, I just had to do it.  At any rate, I'm very glad that  I did get the beer, which is their Judgement Day beer aged, in this case, in brandy barrels. The Pour: Angel's Share was a murky brown ale reminscent of a barley-wine, a feature that was actually prescient for the remainder of the brew.  Like much of Lost Abbey's brews, this one didn't have a ton of head retention (also like many a barley-wine).  The forboding murkiness kept calling me forward, so I decided to dive into the nose part of ...