Day 476: Spring (Evolution) Sprung Somewhere

Spring, you fickle creature. Taunting me with thousands of crocus in my yard. Daring me to wear a single layer on my ride this morning with your glorious sun. But no, you vixen, you rebuff my advances with that still too cold wind. You hide your daffodil buds in the most coy of manners. Alas I'll wait. Perhaps we'll meet next weekend.

Evolution Brewery's Sprung doesn't mess around. It's a hibiscus, chamomile, and honey ale.

It poured a copper color with very little head and what was there quickly disappeared. The aroma was nondescript, but the flavor was really good. Lots of tea. Very malty. A little floral thing happening. Not sure if that's the honey or the hibiscus. It's generally a pretty mild beer. Easy to drink and didn't disappoint on the flavors.

Beer stats

Style: Golden ale
ABV: 4.9%
IBUs: 14
Rating: Great

Previously reviewed from Evolution
His and her reviews of Menagerie #7 (Belgian strong dark ale)

Beer 299: Iron Fist Uprising

Reasons why I belong in a loosey-goosey, nerdy, liberal museum environment: 

Coworker: "How was your meeting?"

Me: "(name redacted) brought her boobs to the meeting." 

Tonight's beer is the Uprising imperial IPA from Iron Fist Brewing Company. It packs a wallop at 12% ABV and is brewed in California.  

It poured a red-tinged amber with a thin white head. The ale was bright and clear. It smelled of hops and honey.  The taste reminded me of fall spices...cinnamon, orange zest. The high alcohol content hid beneath some butterscotch flavor.  It had a bit of a hop kick but had a great balance overall.

This is a good beer.  Cheers!

Beer 281: Crispin Hard Cider

What a weekend. Great tailgate. Great Penn State football game. Great weather. The mornings feel like football weather and that makes me so very happy.


What doesn't make me happy? I am an old woman and absolutely EXHAUSTED by the tomfoolery of the weekend. As in the kids in the yard next door didn't wake me up even with all their ridiculous screaming. Why must kids scream on the top of their lungs over everything? Shut up.

You know what would be perfect on a day like today? Crispin Cider Company's Artisanal Reserve Honey Crisp hard cider. It's described on the label as smooth and crisp with organic honey (6.5% ABV). It poured the palest of yellows with a medium carbonation. It smells of fresh green earth and, obviously, apples.

The flavor is light, tart apple with hints of honey. It finishes semidry with a nice tartness. This is one of the better ciders I've had -- decidedly not sugary sweet with a good amount of tartness. Perfect for the early fall weather.

Now I'm going to go yell at kids to get off my lawn. Cheers!

Beer 216: (insert Price is Right loser sound here) Buffalo Bill's Brewing

In my defense, the label is quite fetching. Too bad this beer sucked ass. The Buffalo Bill Brewing's orange cream ale was not good.


First sip made me think it tastes like hairspray. I know because I have very recently sprayed myself in the face with hairspray.

It didn't improve much beyond that assessment. It poured a hazy straw color with a thin white head. It looked nice in the glass...very effervescent. Its aroma was muted citrus. Several sips later, it still tasted bad. But there was a very grainy thing happening. There was also no honey flavor despite being promised that on the label.

I tried to finish it. I really did. Instead it went straight down the drain. Blech.

Beer 69: Brouwerij Kerkom Blossom Bink or TGIF

Yet another extremely long week is in the books and the weekend is beckoning bright and early tomorrow morning.  I have located my great white whale and hope to have it on the hook by 10am tomorrow.  I’m not risking jinxing the mission and will hopefully be telling you all about it at some point this weekend.

Today was random.  I dumped the entire contents of a filing cabinet into either a shred bin or recycling bin and then shoved said filing cabinet out into the hall for someone to haul away.  My office feels huge and I actually feel lighter.  I’m now on the hunt for an inexpensive but comfortable chair to tuck into that corner.  It will be my editing chair or my editing/napping chair depending on the document.

I also started the day getting passed by Snoop from The Wire.  Gary asked if I saw her coming out of Home Depot.  I think she was on the way to help Chris disappear some bodies in the vacants.  

Sidebar:  If you’re not watching The Wire, please, for the love of god, do yourself a favor and get on that.  You are missing out on amazing television program and some fantastic cultural references.  

Tonight we’re drinking Brouwerij Kerkom Blossom Bink.  Hailing from Belgium, it is a fruit beer made with pear syrup and honey.  The story on the label mentions the brewery is nearby renowned cherry orchards so I’m really unsure why this one features pear but whatever.  Those crazy Belgians!  It poured hazy mahogany in my glass.  

Sidebar 2:  One day Gary and I were driving home on Route 422 and I’m checking out the scenery and say, “What the hell is mah-hoag-gany and more?”  Silence envelopes the car.  I repeat, “What’s mah-hoag-gany?”  Gary nearly wrecks the car laughing at me.  Evidently despite 30-odd years on earth, I forgot how to pronounce mahogany.  Now every time we drive past the Mahogany and More store, it get mispronounced very loudly in fits of giggles.  

Back to the task at hand…it poured with a thin head that quickly left an off-white ring around the glass.  It definitely smelled of pears in beer.  Definitely different but appealing.  The taste was sweet and hoppy…like an alcoholic pear.  I’d describe the flavor as bracing with a good roundness from the malt with a kick in the tongue from the hops.  It was pretty good.  

Tomorrow’s adventure continues with day-drinking with friends from West Chester.  Follow me on Twitter (@TailgateNinja) if you’re interested in where I’ll be and perhaps want to join in the festivities.  

Cheers!

Beer #28: Guido Regenboog Ale

Tonight we dined at Sagami, a Japanese restaurant in Collingswood, New Jersey that has fantastic sushi.  If you are anywhere nearby, you should definitely make an effort to get there.  It's no Blue Fin because Blue Fin is the greatest sushi restaurant ever, but it holds its own.

BOB (for reference) had his introductory press conference today.  He seems ok, said all the right things and was generally all right.  Still merely reading quotes from PSU President Rod Erickson or Dave Joyner makes my blood boil but that overwhelming urge to smash things or cry is subsiding.  I'm going to have to give some serious reconsideration to attending the Blue White game this year.

***

Today's beer is Guido Regenboog Ale.  It is a Belgian Strong Dark ale that is brewed with honey and raisins.  It's a very slightly hazy mahogany color in my glass.  A good swirl releases an abundance of raisin scent.  I taste caramel and hops.  There's an aftertaste that is slightly honey and bitter - very different.  It makes me want vanilla ice cream and I don't even like vanilla ice cream.  Weird.

If the Internet is to be trusted, the brewery where Guido comes from - Smisje Brewery - is the smallest craft brewery in Belgium.  It began in 1995 and was originally called De Regenboog, which is Dutch for rainbow.  I was wondering what Regenboog ale meant and now I know.  The brewer is also a bee keeper and honey factors into a number of his beers.  Honey is a great addition to beer -- I need to look for more offerings from Smisje.  But the minuscule size of the brewery really makes me wonder how this beer managed to get all the way to the suburbs of Philadelphia.  It was like me and Guido were meant to meet!

Until tomorrow when Week 5 commences...cheers!

The Bee's Knees

I had no idea that phrase was British in origin until I Googled it to determine whether the said bee was plural or possessive. Yes, I am a nerd like that. (Sidebar: I also got in a *HEATED* debate first thing this morning about the possibility that at one point in time, two snowflakes were in fact identical. After quoting many facts about size and shape of dust particles, exponential possibilities of cloud height and formation, temperature and humidity variables and the gazillion possible combinations of these factors, I gave in by ceding it could be possible. I also mentioned that monkeys could fly out of my butt.) But I digress...

Tonight's beer is an ale brought to us by Fuller's Griffin Brewery. The organic Honey Dew is brewed with honey and it is delicious. It's a full-bodied ale with a strong but not overpowering scent of honey. The honey flavor is light and gives this ale an interesting twist. I wouldn't call myself a huge fan of ales, but this is one I never pass up.

Bees have had a tough run lately (read about it here). Let's hope those bees make it because Fuller's needs them.

I'm off to watch Horrible Bosses and enjoy the rest of this bottle.

p.s. Big shout out to Wegman's tonight. We just restocked our beer shelf for the next few nights and I still feel like a fat kid in the candy store every time I visit the beer section! Sheer happiness!