PepperKRONS and El Rancho Buttstorm Farmbrew!

Finally sampling my Cambridge Brewing Companys Sgt. Pepper I've been excited about.   It's a saison brewed with peppercorns.  Blazingly neat?! I've definitely been on a farmhouse kick recently and I'm turbo digging Hennepin and Ovila Saison (made by Sierra Nevada).  So how does the P-man measure up?!

Well, I love it!  It's got that nice dry/tart saison aftertaste but is punctuated with a little lingering peppercorn earthiness and heat.  It's a bit light than most of the same style at 6% abv but that's great on a super hawt bootyful day like today.  This is one I will stock up on next I go to Boston, I believe.  WHY NOT TRY IT KEVIN?!?!

In other olds, I've made a decision.  Homebrewing will commence ONCE AGAIN.  Soon?  This time, after much thought, I've decided I'm going to break away from the world of APA and IPA and into the world of Deutsch-style sessions beers.  WHY YOU ASK?!  Because I LOVE the IPAs I get at the store and in bars, why mess with a good thing? Also, they're expensive to make.  I figure a good light German ale will be the right beer #2 when I'm in the mood. So, German-style ales here I come!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Babe!

Ryan: most birthday wishes from friends today will surely come in the form of Facebook posts.  Maybe some phone calls.  Heck, a few people might even actually get to see you!  But you deserve something...different.

So here it is: your honorary birthday beer review.  I'm going with Anchor Brewing's Porter, for a few reasons.

1) It's dark, like your chest hair.
2) Anchors are found on ships.  I think I could come up with a six degrees of separation here connecting you to ships, but for national security reasons, I'll leave it at that.

Okay, so maybe that's not a few reasons.  More like a couple.  Anyway!  Underneath a fairly lush light tan head lies a smooth beverage just begging to be consumed.  I'm all too happy to oblige, and it strikes me immediately that this is unlike any porter I'm used to.  Much in the way that I'm sure you probably have skin underneath your massive veil of chest hair, I can only imagine that there's some sort of roasty toasty maltiness trying to make its way through a surprisingly sweet body.  It's weird, I tell ya.

More than weird...it's kind of disappointing.  Like you.  And by you, I mean us.  And how little of each other we see (I don't mean it like that - put your pants back on).  Maybe this summer I'll get a shed tour and play in Canandaigua, and I can see your face again.  Maybe.  In the meantime...

Cheers, Birthday Babe!

Yes, that is a neon pink mug.  Prosit!

Thursday! Friday!

Thursday, I learned something.

Bell's Two Hearted + discounted meat + Power of the Dragonflame = the perfect Thursday evening.

Friday, I learned something.

I have a new favorite pale ale, but I can't get it.  In the far away land of cheese and the Discount Double Check lies New Glarus Brewing Company.  Despite having a devoted following and stellar reviews, they have no intention to distribute outside of Mother Wisconsin.  Which is a bigger disappointment than Brett Favre's post-Packers career, because Moon Man Pale Ale is outstanding.

In a thrift store-bought, lobster-clad Sam Adams Perfect Pint glass, it pours a beautiful deep amber with nary a cloudy characteristic, save for the fluffy not white/not tan head.  It smells mostly of grapefruit, or maybe pineapple.  I can't quite make up my mind here.  But the taste is like an entire citrus-heavy fruit salad, only with that wonderful hop bitterness following it up clearly - but not overpoweringly - at the end of each sip. Unlike Double Trouble (not the same style, but another favorite), I could drink bottle after bottle of this stuff.  If I could keep a stock of it on hand.

Seriously, this beer just leapfrogged right into my Top Five.  Maybe it's because I was sweaty and gross and stress-relieved after a short run, and there was a storm slowly making its way in, and I had tasty pizza waiting inside.  Maybe I was just too happy about everything else the night had in store to be an unbiased judge of this beer's merits.  All I know for sure is that I have five more bottles left, and I intend to enjoy the crap out of them.  And then beg our Wisconsin native at work to buy me several cases of it if he ever drives home.

New Row Beers and More!

The newest notably delicious row beer experience: Weyerbacher Merry Monks followed by Flower Power.  The malty Belgian sweetness and strength of the Monks followed by the grapefruity bitter yummminess of the IPA is GREAT.  Drink while listening to Primus.   Try songs in this order:  Bob's Party Time Lounge, Golden Boy, Last Salmon Man, Tragedy's a Comin', and finish it off with HOINFODAMAN ("Gimme wunna dem foot long sanwiches").

Today I found out I work with one of the guys who writes the beer article for the D&C.  I teach Spanitch to his 6th graders.   Hopefully more to come regarding this happenstance.

My grass is exceptionally green these days.