Tallgrass IPA

Beer Log: Right now
State: Chillaxing

Tallgrass IPA
Got this in my Saint Arnold half liter beer mug, picked this up from in Indianapolis. Can smell it from here two feet away, malt and some maybe cascade hops. Beer has a nice bitterness to it, with some light malt in there. Beer may have peaked a bit here as I had this in my cabinet for a long time. Either this is an English IPA or a regular American IPA. I can certainly get a light bread going on in the back before the grassy hops take back over. It tastes pretty good though, they keep it simple. 3 stars.

Some Time out for Matilda

Beer Log: Right now
State: A little upset, sitting outside on the porch with a bowful of grapes, an unlit champagne cigar, and my Good Morning Heartache Pandora channel.

So it was an ok day today, and I'm looking forward to a long unplugged vacation. To chillax, I'm going to enjoy a bottle of the Matilda I smuggled back from Chicago.

Matilda
Light hazy tinged amber color with a low head. I get a bouquet of flowers, lillies, lilacs, and so forth in the nose. Some great sourness as well, like jolly ranchers. Beer has a nice set up in the taste, a moderate sourness but not overpowering, followed by a light candy sweetness, some passion fruit thing, and then a mild yet noticeable hop tinge. A perfect medley of flavors that are not quite put together yet. Kinda like a fresh wine before they aged it for 30 years. And actually, I love that sometimes more than the fully aged version. Beer finishes nice and crisp and dry, leaving memories of it's goodness on your tongue well after you drink it. 4 stars for the Goose Island 2011 Vintage.

Beerbrotha Unposted Reviews: St. Louis

First things first

Beer Log: Right now
State: Eating homemade tacos, listening to the Brewing Network

Squatters Hop Rising
First had this puppy at the Texas Beer Fest (not the Houston Beer Fest), and I enjoyed it. Now let's see if this thing can taste just as good when I'm not in a rodeo arena in Humble on my 14th 2-ounce beer. Aw that nose is awesome. Big piney hops with a huge caramel malt. Perfect pour in my Circle Brewing pint glass, with a huge white head. Beer is unbelievable at the beginning with a huge caramel malt and massive piney/lemon hops. The middle of the slug has something like a slight metallic, and there is a big ick hop flavor on the aftertaste. A pinch more cloying than I would want, but hey, that's Double IPA for ya. Need some food.

Ok. After downing some tacos and contemplating polishing off the rest of the ground meat (no homo), this beer serves as a great foil. Huge flavor all the way around that is very drinkable. I'll give it a high 3 star.

So anyway it turns out that I've been doing some SERIOUS beering and some great travelling this year, and it's not slowing down. If you count Indianapolis in November, I got St. Louis, Chicago, Western suburbs of Chicago, Mobile, New York City, Tampa, Mexico, and downed a ton of great beer at the Philadelphia airport all this year. Now that I actually type all that out, that does look like a lot. Doesn't help that I'm hitting San Antonio this weekend, some travel to the DC area in a couple weeks, and may squeeze in a guys trip to Oktoberfest or Malaysia this fall. After that, I'm going to be eating Top Ramen boiled in Pabst Blue Ribbon. And yes, I did have my beer book.

So let's see what's tappenin in St. Louis. Despite how late I'm getting it done and how much beer I was downing I can actually remember this very well.

Beer Log: March 24, 2011
State: Chilly outside, little did I know it was about to snow like a sonofabitch the rest of the weekend.

To get my Schlafly post, please see this one. So the next day after I got going I managed to make my way down the hill and across the bridge from the Americas Convention center to Morgan Street Brewery , but some time before that I managed to find some Honker's Ale from Goose Island.

Honker's Ale

Amber color with some chill haze. Nice english muffin and grit flavor. Kinda tastes like cream of wheat. I must have forgotten I've had this beer, as I also had this beer at Wrigley stadium a couple weeks ago. Oh well.

So Morgan Street was down in this little area with a block or two of restaurants. I like the historic district feel to it. It was one of those places where you can feel the history of a place. Like a place where they signed some treaty or something. Anyway, it was lunch time, so here we go.

Golden Pilsner: Perfect straw color. Lacy head. Taste has a great combination of something like German hops and maybe American hops. This puppy has a great bitter hoppy aftertaste and is just a great great well made pilsner. Simple, yet effective. 4 Stars.

Honey Wheat: Not much honey in the nose or esteriness. Kinda the two things you would expect in a honey wheat. Strong honey sweetness and wheat in the flavor, soft yet crisp and estery. How my nose missed this I don't know, or care. Very light but tasty. 3 Stars

Alt-Bier: Dammit I love a good alt, especially when it gets all chilly and whatnot. Great malt and color of the alt. A pinch sour as well. So hard to knock it out like ze Germans, but not as bold as the Bud Am Ale or the Boston Ale. Great for mass consumption. No rating.

Decades: Creamy white head (no homo) with a deep amber/copper color. Maybe some caramel malt and still crisp. Big hops and bready. Nice! High 3 stars.

Pumpkin Vienna: Copper with Big pumpking and caramel, with low malt. May be better as an ale so it won't be so crisp and copper ale-y. It goes go great with the smoked mozzarella. 3 Stars.

Oh and by the way, get the damn fried ravioli. Awesomeness

True Blood Beering: Brooklyn Black Ops

Beer Log: Right now

State: Watching the new True Blood. Finally got the baby to sleep.

Very fired up for another round of True Blood. Here's to hoping they don't jump the shark with this one.

Brooklyn Black Ops

The wife picked this up some time ago and we had it in our cellar for quite some time. Looking forward to this. Pours velvety smooth with a rich dark look and texture. The nose is excellent with dried cherries, plum, and bourbon. Huge tan head that eventually calms down. The taste is a huge sweet sherry, bourbon, and some light dark cherries. The second sip and I can pick out the big oak flavor as well, as that is what dominates the aftertaste. Just an excellent drink that is aged enough to the point where get some moderate noticeable hot alcohol to it. The hops are probably rather strong just to cut the velvet sweetness of it all. It gets pretty strong as it warms with the alcohol. Apparently not aged enough. Damn those ferries are throwing psych bombs at each other. There's suspending belief, and there's suspending belief. High 3 stars.

A little Uncommon Common

Beer Log: Right now

State: Eating some baked beans with broccoli and steak, watching Bellator on DVR

Sierra Nevada California Common

Only had one take on the Cal Common ever, of course Anchor Steam. Anyway the wife picked this up in a party pack of Sierra Nevada Camp Beers. Copper color with high mist and white head. Nose is something between a malty vegetable. Kinda like the food I'm eating now. I still don't really like veggies, but I just mix them in with something so I can scarf them down. Hence the sweet baked beans and broccoli. Taste has a nice cookie malt thing going on that wasn't there with my first few sips. Nice amount of carbonation to cut the caramel and pecan sweetness with a moderate hops (very uncharacteristic of SN). I never quite got into the Cal Common style as I felt it never took you one way or the other, kinda like the Alt Bier in bizarro world. I'm even getting a little chalkiness coming through on the mouthfeel residue. Low 3 stars.

Beer Camp: Sierra Nevada

So the wife picked up the party pack of the Sierra Nevada Beer Camp beers. I understand these beers were brewed by some big time beer enthusiasts who send in videos. The beers are usually then sold off on the market, probably for charity. Typically I'm not a weizenbock fan, but I'll give it a try.


Beer Log: Right now
State: Mouth a little dry, hot as ballz outside

Sierra Nevada Weizenbock
Orangish straw color with long lasting low head. Nose has banana ester and veggie nose. Beer has a nice moderate syrup sweet flavor, something akin to plum, and a nice amount of crystal malt. I'm getting a nice softness that is obviously attributed to the wheat. I would even give the kudos for the high carbonation, which works for both bocks and weissebiers. I absolutely loved the 4 star Glissade this year (not so much last year's), and love a good german wiesse bier. You know what. 4 stars for this one. Nice and simple, yet very good and very refreshing. A welcome change from SN's typical cascade hop glory beers.

Speaking of hop glory
Sierra Nevada Double IPA
Clear and straw. Big white poofy head. Oh yes lord. Huge piney/citrus/grassy hops. Very fresh and a DRINK NOW IPA. The beer is just barely balanced with the malt, and has the right crispness to keep from being cloying on the palate. Has that steely malt feel to it. Yes sir yes sir. It is extremely strong, a pinch acidic, and yet jumps right off. I just need some spicy crawfish from Hanks or some chicken from Fainmous BBQ with the hot BBQ sauce and I'm in there. High 4 stars.

Sure could use some beering

Beer Log: Right now

State: A little wired from a funny day

Mikeller Coffee IPA

Huge tinged red head with a slightly cloudy copper colored. Would've thought this one would be black. The brothas can't have NOTHIN, not even coffee beers. Beer has lots of hops on the nose. Seems like a regular potpourri of hops, lemony, grassy, citrusy. Beer is rather smooth and thick yet thin on the body. The hops don't come out as strong as I'd thought, and I'm really digging for that coffee bean flavor. Just a basic IPA without enough carbo but a nice hops when I eat the some rice and steak. Growing on me now. Still not telling where the Guji coffee is. But it is cool that it's Swedish and all. 3 stars