Day 632: Perennial and Half Acre Make a Beer Baby

I'm just going to borrow what's already been written about this collaboration between Perennial Brewing and Half Acre Brewing from the Beer Street Journal (obviously correcting for typos because typos! Seriously?): One of St. Louis, Missouri’s newest breweries Perennial is collaborating with Half Acre Beer Company (Chicago). The beer is dubbed Plan B and is the first collaboration by Perennial. Plan B is a sour mash Belgian dark ale brewed with black currants. Currants are perennial berries with a sweet taste.

I found my Plan B at TJ's--my go to beer bar. It poured a deep, dark brown color ale with a tan head. It smells like wet wood and light smoke. The flavor is mild with just a hint of sour. The currants were very understated and I'm not sure I would have noticed them if I didn't already know they were in there.

Beer stats
Style: Belgian dark ale
ABV: 8%
IBUs: Unknown
Rating: Good

Previously reviewed from Half Acre
My review of Daisy Cutter with a warning on the dangers of string cheese
Mr. Blog's review of Daisy Cutter and some excellent breakfast recommendations in Chicago (mine has a far greater entertainment value!)

Previously reviewed from Perennial
First one!

Beer 363: Half Acre Daisy Cutter and The String Cheese Incident

The highlight -- or lowlight depending on how you look at it -- of my day was what I'm affectionately now referring to as "The String Cheese Incident."  Oddly it's the name of a band as well. I wonder if they've had the same misfortunes as me.

I couldn't get my string cheese open for my afternoon snack. The little "peel here" tab was mangled and that really is the key to accessing your string cheese.  Who knew? So after a ridiculous amount of time struggling with a vacuum sealed tube of cheese, I finally took the scissors to it and freed about 80%. That's when I broke my string cheese. I thought it would be easy to just pop that last little bit out of the packaging and in doing so, managed to launch it straight into the air and directly into my eyeball. 

Lessons learned:

1. String cheese chunks are dangerous projectiles.

2. Eyeballs are very sensitive.

3. Cheese burns when applied to one's eyeball.

I also think I still have cheese fragments lodged in there. 

You know what goes well with cheese? An American pale ale.  So let's go with the Daisy Cutter pale ale from Half Acre Beer Company. It's brewed in Chicago (5.2% ABV) and I definitely need to check them out next time I'm in the Windy City. They appear to have quite a variety of brews in their portfolio.

The color is somewhere between a bright apricot and copper.  The head was slightly off white, thick and fluffy and disappeared into chunky flotsam. This beer also left significant lacing as it disappeared.  It smells of bitter grass and grapefruit.  

The flavor is citrus hops, pith, pine and very light hints of orange. Overall I find this to be a great beer. Cheers!

More food. But better this time!

Beer #25 Daisy Cutter Pale Ale / Half Acre Beer Company, Chicago IL
I apparently still have food on my mind.  After yesterday's banner meal of mac & cheese, we're stepping our game up considerably this evening.  Trying out a new recipe for carrot soup with miso and sesame.  Don't make that face - it's good.  In fact, it's great and on the verge of awesome, but that last compliment is just because Marci made it for me.  I typically do all of the cooking, but Marci holds it down in the kitchen.

Also on my mind: I was thinking about Chicago earlier this week, and apparently I'm still focused on Chicago.  Now, after a trip to TJ's in Paoli, I'm also drinking Chicago.  Second day in a row I've found a beer from a brewery I wasn't familiar with: this time, it's Half Acre.  Their Daisy Cutter has a clean, floral, hop flavor with just a hint of an earthy taste to the finish.  Trust me on the earthy taste... after taking a sip, Marci commented that it, "tastes like dirt."  I wouldn't listen to her, she doesn't like hoppy beers.  Daisy Cutter checks in at 5.2% ABV, which feels about right for a good tasting, easy drinking pale ale.  Looking forward to trying some other offerings, hopefully when I can swing by in person!

Half Acre appears to have a fairly limited distribution, as they mostly sell around Chicago with the exception of a small batch they ship back east, where the brewers grew up.  I have a feeling that might change in the future as they get more well known.

Things to Think About Today:
Okay, so if I knew I was going to drink this beer, I would have saved my Wishbone brunch recommendation - this brewery is about a mile away from Wishbone's Northside location.  Live and learn, live and learn.  We'll keep the same food theme, though.  When you visit this brewery (or anywhere else on the north side of Chicago), first stop off at Ann Sather for breakfast.  Any of the locations will do; they're all close to Half Acre. Order whatever you like, but save room - A LOT of room - for a side of their famous cinnamon buns.  They're easily a delicious, sugary, giant, awesome meal on their own.  Think about sharing them. 

Okay, so this is a pic of Cinnamon Bun French Toast.  Still delicious

Or not.  Your call.  I won't judge you....