Day 667: Yards Brewing Company Pynk

I have mixed feelings on all the pink-hued products that get shoved down our throats this month, but nothing I wrote didn't make me sound like an uptight, self-righteous prick so I'm letting it go. I just ask that you think twice about purchasing that pink product to help fight breast cancer. What organization is getting the money? Are they directly doing research, education or patient outreach? Wouldn't you be better off writing a check to a well established research group rather than overpaying for a pink water bottle? Be smart.

One pink product that I didn't mind pouring down my throat was the Pynk tart berry ale, which is brewed by Yards Brewing Company. Yards is donating $1 from each case of Pynk sold to the Tyanna Foundation, which supports local organizations throughout mid-Atlantic region to treat and care for breast cancer patients.

It poured a rosy brown ale with a pale cream color head. It had a strong berry aroma and the flavor was nutty and full of berry notes. Pynk is brewed with tons of fresh raspberries and sweet and sour cherries. I think the addition of the cherries definitely helps give it a tart, crisp refreshing quality rather than letting it get overly sweet. I also noticed that it has more malt flavor than many other fruit beers that I've tried.

Beer stats

Style: Fruit beer

ABV: 5.5%

IBUs: Unknown

Rating: Good

Previously reviewed from Yards
Some gratitude and a Brawler
Ignore the caloric information and just read about the Philadelphia Pale Ale

Beer 344: Things Peculiar and Peculier

Peculiar: adj.

1. Unusual or eccentric; odd.
2. Distinct from all others. See Synonyms at strange.
3. Belonging distinctively or primarily to one person, group, or kind; special or unique: rights peculiar to the rich; a species peculiar to this area.

i.e. Yesterday's tailgate.

It lasted 13 hours only to be interrupted for a few hours by a football game. And what a game it was! Penn State destroyed Indiana to the tune of 45-22 and left a number of PSU football records in tatters. But from that high came a very, very low. It looks like senior Michael Mauti is out for the season with a knee injury. This wasn't the way his season was supposed to end. Not for one of the most passionate leaders of this team, who managed to keep it mostly intact as the world tried to tear it apart.

The team rallied around their fallen leader and played some inspired football yesterday afternoon. What did we do? We rallied and tailgated like it was our last days on earth.

We were among the first in the lot at 7:23 a.m. and we were definitely among the last as we put a fork in it as the clock neared 9:00 p.m. We ate taco dip like it was our last meal. We plotted a gangnam style flash mob. We worked out our MC Hammer dance. There was a dance off with a neighboring tailgater -- the poor thing had no idea what hit her! I finally figured out how to do the running man, which by the way has given me Mike-Mauti-sympathy-knee-pain.

There were six tailgaters at the start and six eggs. There were six tailgaters at the end and no eggs. That's dance cooking style.




Now for the Peculier...the Old Peculier from T&R Theakston Ltd. . Theakston is one of Britain's few remaining family brewing companies and Old Peculier is the beer for which they are renowned.

It pours a deep, dark brown with a light tan head. It smells like molasses and rich malts. It tastes like a mash-up of tea, malt, fruit, molasses and bits of raisin with a bracing hop finish. I couldn't quite place the fruit until I read the official description. It's black cherry. The ABV is 5.6% and it's quite drinkable. This is a great beer.

Cheers!

Beer 337: Erie Brewing Derailed

This photo of Picasso pretty much sums up how I felt post PSU Nebraska game.




I'm not sure why the dog was moping around. He just had dinner and some outside time. Maybe he just sensed some sadness in the air.
I've been a loyal Penn State fan for years now. Too many to want to do the math, in fact. But my passion for this school and this football team has reached epic proportions this season. I'm so proud of this team. They are playing amazing football despite being punished for something they had nothing to do with. Coach O'Brien is inspirational. How one could willingly walk into this situation and do what he's done is amazing. I often find myself thinking about the coach and the team when I'm feeling put upon by work or life.
I think we can all find a little inspiration in the Nittany Lions this year. Let's all start playing with a little more passion...with a little more dedication...with a little more us against the world attitude. Imagine what an awesome place we could make it if we did.




And now for the beer -- the Derailed ale from the Erie Brewing Company. it pours a bright amber color with a soft white head. It smells of malt and ripe fruit. The Derailed ale is a cream ale with an ABV of 5%. So far it looks and sounds good.
The flavor is very natural tasting black cherry over a nice balanced ale. There isn't anything notable about the beer. It's just good. Nice mouthfeel. Good carbonation. Definitely has a creaminess to it. I like a good fruit beer and I'll be honest...I didn't think much of this cherry ale when I picked it up. But the very natural flavor has won me over. Cheers!

Beer 224: Wandering Aengus Cider

It's happy hour somewhere, isn't it? After hauling my sorry ass out of bed at 6:30 a.m. on a Saturday to put in 24 miles on my bike and then running errands for the rest of the morning, think I deserve a mid afternoon beer...or cider.

The Anthem Cherry cider from Wandering Aengus Ciderworks is a magnificent cider.


It poured a bright and clear ruby color without any head. It smells like white wine, which is throwing me for a loop. Nothing about that color or the fact that it's made from apples would ever hint at such a dominant wine aroma. But there it is. Anthem is a traditional cider fermented on northwest cherries. It is tart -- very tart -- with just enough sweetness to make it delicious and quite easy to drink. There's underlying apple flavor with hints of cherry in the taste. It's super crisp. I love it.

Into the top 35 it goes! Cheers!

Beer 153: Boon Kriek, Boom Goes the Laptop

Posting to the blog from my iPad is a giant pain in the ass. Sadly tonight is going to be short and sweet. I'll be mourning the possible demise of our laptop shortly while I fight with the iPad to get my post out. I have an awesome pic for tonight...photobombed by Picasso.
Sad Marci will be sad if I can't figure out an app to upload to Blogger soon.



Anyway I've been saving this bottle of Boon Kriek for weeks. I'm impatient. It felt like ages. After launching the cork across the room, it poured a garnet color liquid with a fizzy pink head. It smells mildly of cherry. The carbonation is very apparent - it's very bubbly when drinking it. The flavor is mostly cherry with hints of vinegar. Quite tasty!

I'll be back to add links later. Cheers!

Saturday Afternoon Beers!

For Beer #7, I'm sampling from the selection at TJ's Everyday in Paoli (Pennsylvania). They have 36 beers on draft and much of it won't be found at your average bar.

I went with Kasteel Rouge. It reminds me of New Glarus Belgian Red, which is good because you can't get that one outside of Wisconsin.

The Kasteel is a brown ale infused with cherries. I'm not going to drink a lot of this one - it's pretty sweet. It's quite nice to look at in the glass...the color is awesome! Dark brown with hints of maroon when the light hits it right. It entices with cherry in the nose and is very, very smooth.

I would definitely recommend this one!