Handing Out Beer for Halloween

Day #691 Rubaeus / Founders Brewing Company, Grand Rapid, MI
Previously from this brewery:  All the beers

Happy Halloween, everyone!  Tonight I'll likely be hiding in the dark as parents bus in kids from other neighborhoods to beg for candy.  Maybe because I grew up in a house filled with candy (Mom worked for Hershey), or maybe because my parents didn't parade me around to strangers' houses each year, or maybe something else I'm not even thinking of, but mostly I don't get into trick or treating.  I just don't get why hundreds of kids hit my neighborhood each year, when clearly NONE of them live anywhere near here.  All for a miniature Kit-Kat bar.  Doesn't make sense.

This being said, I do in fact love Halloween.  It's a night to be creative, to put on a costume and become something you're not, even if it's only for a night (pro tip: I dress up like a pimp every time a costume is needed).  Plus, it comes in the middle of fall, my favorite season of the year.  Really, I love everything about Halloween... except teenagers ringing the doorbell at 9pm and making the dogs freak out, so that they can get some high fructose corn syrup.

Rant over, on to the beer, which is a bottle of Rubaeus, a raspberry ale from Founders.  In the glass, it looks like cranberry juice with a lingering white head.  There are aromas of (wait for it...) raspberry, and when you take a sip you get (wait for it.... wait for it... ) sweet and tart raspberry.  You also get some malt, but mostly pure, summery raspberry.  It's sweet, but has a good natural flavor, and would best be enjoyed on a warm summer day.  Not on par with a legendary beer like the raspberry from New Glarus, but good just the same.

Raspberry all day

This is a seasonal release beer, so you likely may have missed your chance to find this on the shelves.

Thing to Think About Today:
How about a guy who looks like he's dressed up in a Halloween costumes and then you realize that no, he's just wearing a yellow suit with the ass cut out because that's how he rolls.  Yep, I'm thinking about Prince, and with the beer in mind I'm thinking about some Raspberry Beret. However, apparently the Purple One doesn't like Youtube, so there are no Prince clips.  However, I can fix that.  How about the Somerville Ukulele Club and their (wait for it) ukulele-centric cover?  Not good enough?  I also provide John Mayer covering this song, because that's how I roll.  Take that, Prince.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHyVxLOd0lY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIlwMFy-8vg

(There are other JM versions with the full song, but they're all really awful videos)

"If I had the chance to do it all again / I wouldn't change a stroke
Cause baby I'm the most / With a girl as fine as she was then"

Day 690: Goose Island Pere Jacques

My advice to you: If you see a problem developing, do not ignore it for months on end. It will not go away. And it may result in a missing toe nail. That is all.

That beer up there is the Pere Jacques 2012 from Goose Island.  It is a Belgian style ale and this particular one was bottled on October 18, 2012. This one managed to age for just over a year in my house and supposedly it ages beautifully for five years. Beer never lasts that long in my house.

It poured a hazy medium-tone amber sort of brown color with a thin off white head. It wasn't nearly as rosy as it looks in this photo. It smells of Belgian candi sugar, bread dough and apricot preserves. It has a full mouthfeel. The flavor is lots of creamy fruit sweetness with a dry finish. There's a little cracker flavor in there as well. 

Beer stats

Style: Belgian style ale

ABV: 8.7%

IBUs: Unknown

Rating: Great

Previously reviewed from Goose Island

A review of Matilda from what feels like a million years ago

Mr.'s review of Honkers

Y me?

Day #689 HopBack Amber / Troegs Brewing Company, Hershey, PA
Previously from this brewery: many beers

If there are an glaring typos today, it's because the 'y' key on my keyboard isn't working.  I mean, it's somewhat working, but I need to pound on it a bit to register a letter.  This laptop may not be long for this world, I fear.  Sigh.

The beer for today is a bottle of HopBack Amber from Troegs, which pours with a clear, bright amber color.  One thing about beers from Troegs - they're all attractive in the glass.  Hard to explain, but they are. Your nose finds aromas of caramel and some citrus, and when you drink it down there are flavors of caramel malt, lemon, bread, and some very mellow pine bitterness.  A well balanced beer, and at 6% ABV, very easy drinking.  Definitely a favorite of mine, particularly on days where I want some hop flavor, but don't want to be overwhelmed by bitterness.

Pretty, no?

Thing to Think About Today:
With HopBack in mind, I'm dropping some Baby Got Back in this space.  However, because I adore acoustic covers of rap songs, I present singer-songwriter Jonathon Coulton's version.  It's obviously awesome.  I seriously can not believe that I've never used this song in the space before; it's truly an all time great.  Hope you're all doing well and feeling good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCZYGJx76Lo

"Oh baby, I wanna get wit'cha / And take your picture
My homeboys tried to warn me / But that butt you got makes me so horny"

Day 688: Rogue Voodoo Doughnut

Several weeks ago I found out that my local Whole Foods got in a shipment of the Rogue Voodoo Doughnut Chocolate Banana  Peanut Butter stout. I like Rogue's beer. I really like Voodoo Doughnuts. And despite having heard from many people that the first iteration of the Rogue/Voodoo beer was a terrible, smoky mess, I could not resist the siren song of a stout with flavors of chocolate and peanut butter. (See evidence here, here and here.)

Can someone come over and rake all those leaves?
Mr. Blog and I are too busy drinking beer.

It poured an almost black brown color with a deep tan, full head. It smelled strongly of bananas that faded nicely into strong dark chocolate aromas. As it sat on the table next to me, I could easily smell the chocolate scent wafting over to me. I took a sip and my first thought is that it is kind of watery. Another sip. Yup, watery. There's some chocolate in the flavor but it's light compared to the smell. There is a lot of coffee, which I wasn't expecting. There was also something perfumey in there and I can't describe it any better than that. Sadly I'm not getting any peanut butter and I had to work hard to get any banana. I wavered between rating this one average, but the more I tried to drink it and then sleeping on it overnight, I decided that it was getting a poor rating. 

Beer stats

Style: Stout

ABV: 5.3%

IBUs: Unknown

Rating: Poor

Previously reviewed from Rogue

Beard beer, more Beard Beer, Eugene City Brewery Honey Orange Wheat Ale, Juniper ale, the sampler 

Harvest Time

Day #687 Northern Hemisphere Harvest Wet Hop Ale / Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Chico, CA
Previously from this brewery: Southern Hemisphere and Summerfest

Another Sunday of realizing that Penn State football isn't very good.  They aren't supposed to be, and they don't need to be, but still.... losing sucks always and forever.

Beer review for the day is a Northern Hemisphere from Sierra Nevada.  It has a clear light amber color, with a lingering white head.  There's ample bitterness, but not as much citrus as I was expecting.  Good bit of piney, earthy flavors.  In all, a solid beer, but there are others with more welcoming balances of flavors out there.  Worth a try, though.  The interesting story about this beer is that the hops used go from the fields to the brew kettles in less than 24 hours.

I have no picture, as this one is lost in my phone somewhere, and that's just the way it goes some days.

Thing to Think About Today:
On a fall day with Northern Harvest beer, I give you Neil Young and Harvest Moon.  Good day, folks....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2MtEsrcTTs

"When we were strangers, I watched you from afar / When we were lovers, I loved you with all my heart."

Brazilian, Breaking, and Bohemian

Day #686 Bohemia / Companhia Brasileira De Bebidas, Sao Paolo, Brazil
Previously from this brewery: this beer is the first out the limo

Been working since 8am, so I'm getting right down to business.  Okay, so "work" means volunteering, but I was still up and out of bed early, so it was like work.  Today's beer is a gift from a friend who ventured to Brazil for spring break this year.  Let's just say that I went NOWHERE near as interesting as Brazil when I was in college, and I'm more than jealous of the guys who managed to pull off this trip.

Anyway, the beer is a bottle of Bohemia, a lager that pours a clear straw color with a wispy white head.  It has aromas of grain and grass, flavors of the same, and is an easy drinking lighter beer.  I wrote "El Bud Light", but then I realized the language of Brazil is Portuguese, not Spanish, so I guess that makes it "A Leve Bud."  Or not, I really don't speak Portugese and have no clue if that's right.  I've had this one in the fridge since the spring, but only recently found it hiding in there.

Brazilian

This beer traces it's roots back to 1853, and is now owned by beer colossus InBev.  So, there's that.

Thing to Think About Today:
I've been on a Queen kick lately, so Bohemian Rhapsody would be a good fit here.  However, I'm not a huge fan of the song - the movie Wayne's World ruined it a small bit for me.  Instead, on a fall Saturday better suited to a fall festival or Halloween party than reading about beer, I give you the Dandy Warhols and Bohemian Like You.  Good luck today, friends!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU3mc0yvRNk

"It's you that I want, so please...."

Day 685: Bullfrog Gouden Ezel

Today is my Mom's birthday. If I did my math correctly, she would have been 65 years old this year. But that fucker cancer got her early. I'll be toasting her this evening...just like Gary and I have done for the past two years on this date. I wish I was toasting with her instead.

The beer in the photo is the Bullfrog Gouden Ezel, an American wild ale. It poured a hazy dark gold color ale with a thin white head. It has a tart aroma reminiscent of vinegar. The flavor has unripe melon, a soft tartness and some crackers to it. It is a very easy to drink sour beer. 

Beer stats

Style: Wild ale

ABV: 7%

IBUs: Unknown

Rating: Good

Previously reviewed from Bullfrog

First one!

Getting Fresh.

Day #684 Fresh Hop Pale Ale/ Great Divide Brewing Company, Denver, CO
Previously from this brewery: My look at Titan IPA and a Colette 

The best part thing about TJ's in Paoli, PA?  Sure, the beer list is outstanding and the food is great, but most importantly: I can convince my co-workers to go there and complain about work.  Win-win for everyone. People get to vent, I get delicious beer on my way home from work.  Can't argue with that.

The beer for today is a Fresh Hop Pale Ale from Great Divide in Colorado.  It pours with a bright copper color, and a light aroma of pine and citrus, with some bready malt as well.  The taste is a mellow mixture of resinous pine, lemon peel, and biscuits with a dash of tea in there as well.  Good bit of bitterness on the finish to close things out.  Really nice beer, particularly for when you want some hops but don't want to be beaten over the head by them.

Death from above

This is a seasonal release, so if you see it, drink one.

Thing to Think About Today:
Something quiet for the evening shift.  AC Newman and the slow and serious Come Crash.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIavuCySFTw

"That's true, she said, we should dead / I should be sleeping in your bed"

Day 683: Speakeasy Betrayal

I've been jones-ing for a good book to read for a few weeks now. I'm not quite sure when I'm going to read this "good book", but I'm starting to feel desperate. Then I came across this on my friend Arielle's tumblr and it stopped me dead in my tracks.

I don't follow the Night Vale podcasts (maybe I should?), but I can't stop revisiting this statement. Does anyone else feel this way at the end of a good book? There's nothing worse than finishing a book and not caring about it or the characters.

Also you all should check our Arielle's tumblr page. She's brilliant and funny and really good at yoga. I kind of want to be like her when I grow up!

Now for the beer.

This is the Speakeasy Ales & Lagers' Betrayal--an imperial red ale. Sidebar: Speakeasy's website notes, "With a love for the sinister and the underground, Speakeasy operates out of a corner of this city once known as Butchertown." This city is San Francisco. I'm pretty sure I'm not going anywhere once or currently known as Butchertown. I imagine clowns aplenty lurking under sewer grates in the streets patiently waiting to cause chaos and terror. So there's that.

Good thing the beer wasn't terrifying. It poured a dark mahogany color with a thick cream color head. The smell and flavor went hand-in-hand. Black tea, hops with a nice bitterness, caramel malt, a little bit of grass.

Beer stats
Style: Imperial red ale
ABV: 8.2%
IBUs: Unknown
Rating: Great

Previously reviewed from Speakeasy
I totally thought this was going to be first out the limo, but Mr. Blog Named Brew beat me to it with his review of the Big Daddy IPA

Black and White

Beer #682 Plum Noir / Southern Tier Brewing Company, Lakewood, NY
Previously from this brewery: All of them.

My phone started doing something interesting; it now tells me the weather (without opening an app) and how far away I am from home in terms of driving time.  Both helpful, but I do have to stop and ask: how does it know where I live?  I never told my phone my address, although I guess it might be smart enough to either know where I go after work every day or what address is tied to my phone number.  Either way, I'm slightly taken aback by this. On the other hand, when I'm having a tough day at work, knowing that I can come home and play with the dogs in 14 minutes is a welcome and encouraging fact.  On the other hand, Big Brother is scary.  In case you were wondering (you were), when I am home, it tells me restaurant recommendations in my neighborhood, in addition to the weather and driving time to other local points of interest.

That being said, on to the beer.  Tonight I'm giving you some Plum Noir from Southern Tier, a brewery I really enjoy.  My small glass of this beer showed off a black color, with tons of chocolate, toasted malt, and a sweet plum taste.  Hints of coffee, which means that this is definitely not my cup of tea (pun intended), but you could tell that this is a complex, well made brew.

There you have it.

There are apparently between 19 and 40 varieties of plums, depending on who you ask.  Now you know.

Thing to Think About Today:
If the beer is a Noir, then your music will be the opposite - white.  Been listening to a good bit of Jack White lately; both his solo work and his White Stripes days. Interesting guy, good music, good lyrics, hails from Detroit, brings a great fusion of rock, blues, and a dash of country. Tonight I close with Love Interruption. Night, all - hope you enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iErNRBTPbEc

"I want love to walk right up and bite me / grab a hold of me and fight me / leave me dying on the ground"