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 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

Day 664: Founders Rubaeus

To say that there's been too many dark hours lately is a great understatement.

You know what else is bright? This Founders Brewing Company's Rubaeus, that's what. I've dubbed the Rubaeus my tailgate beer this season and have been drinking it straight from the bottle, which has deprived me of this burst of color. It's not quite so vibrant in person, but there is definitely a bright pinky-red thing happening in what otherwise is a brown colored ale. It also has a minimal white head. The smell is very ripe raspberries and the flavor is malty and fruity with lots of raspberry and general berry notes. It's sweet but tart although I'll admit that the sweet tends to overpower the tart. 

Beer stats

Style: Fruit beer

ABV: 5.7%

IBUs: 15

Rating: Great

Previously reviewed from Founders

My review of Blushing Monk (framboise ale)

A great post by Gary on Joe Paterno's memorial, friendship and Centennial IPA

Day 549: The National, Weyerbacher Riserva. What Are Things I Really Like?

Friday night we hit the Mann Music Center for the National show. The band is touring in support of their new album Trouble Will Find Me. While it hasn't been winning acclaim like some of their past albums have, I do highly recommend it.

I like music that stirs emotion and the National does just that. Matt Berninger (lead singer) has a voice that rattles my soul. It's deep, pensive and flows like honey--except when he's given to a bit of screaming. Then it's just raw emotion and I feel like I shouldn't be looking at him/listening to him. Watching him perform is mesmerizing. Where the music seems to flow out of the other members of the National, it's like it's battling with Berninger to get out. Or to stay in...I'm not sure which really.

Mr. Blog Named Brew and I debated whether this was one of the best shows we've seen and I was decidedly on the "YES!" side of that argument. Each song felt weighty...building to a point where it exploded in a fit of joy, anger, mind bending  lyrics and finished leaving me wanting more...waiting excitedly for the next song to start. Sweet release. Over and over. Song after song. 

That desire for more was repeated when I opened up this bottle of Weyerbacher Riserva (2012)--recently named the best new beer at The Philadelphia Inquirer's 2013 Brew-vitational, an annual competition for local beers.

Riserva is an American wild ale with raspberry purée added and aged in oak barrels. As soon as the cork came out of the bottle, I knew I was in for a treat. I believe the first words out of my mouth after the first sip were, "Holy hell this is good!"

It poured a hazy ruby-tinted brown ale with a small pale tan head. It has a fresh fruit smell that isn't sweet..more organic. There's definitely raspberry in the nose and a little wood too. The flavor is tart fruit and tart raspberry specifically. It has lots of prickly carbonation up front, then a little sharpness but it quickly mellows out and gets very smooth. It's fruity and woody and seriously one of the better beers I've had in recent memory. It's going in the top 25!

It also weighs in at a whopping 11.4% ABV. Amazingly you don't notice the booziness at all.

Beer stats
Style: American wild ale
ABV: 11.4%
IBUs: Unknown
Rating: Excellent

Previously reviewed from Weyerbacher
His review of Riserva, Double Simcoe IPA
My review of Merry Monks

Can't We All Just Get Along?

Beer #332 Oregon Trail Raspberry Wheat / High Noon Saloon and Brewery, Leavenworth, KS

Earlier this year, I spent some time on the actual Oregon Trail, tracing the steps that Lewis and Clark took on their voyage westward.  I also previously shared the wonder that was is the Oregon Trail video game, which taught countless kids the 8-bit dangers of not having extra wagon wheels and the fact that dysentery can kill.  So imagine my surprise when I picked up a can of the Oregon Trail Raspberry Wheat from the High Noon Saloon and Brewery..... and found that it was brewed in Kansas.  More on that later.

This beer has a cloudy gold color with no head, and you find a light aroma of raspberry.  The taste is light too, with some raspberry flavor and notes of grain and barley.  This beer is an easy drinking 4.5%, and would certainly wash away some of the dust from a hard day on the Oregon Trail.  However, it's probably not one you're adding to your regular rotation, despite the sassy blonde cowgirl who adorns the can.

Yee-haw!

This brewpub is housed in a building that previously manufactured cast iron stoves.  Now you know.  You should also know that the Lewis and Clark expedition officially shoved off from St. Charles, MO, and traveled west along the Missouri River, which runs right past the town of Leavenworth.  Now you know more than you did previously.

Thing to Think About Today:
Clearly, this seemingly never ending election has everyone a bit on edge.  I hate politics, but love you guys, so let's go ahead and drop something about peace and love on everyone.  Why?  Because half of America is going to be furious tomorrow, and I prefer harmony.  Let it ride, Elvis Costello, with some (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUGmwDB49Tc

Beer 322: High Noon Saloon and Brewery

Game day, bitches! By the time you all read this, I'll be two hours into the best tailgate ever! Don't worry about me...I have deep fried peanut butter and jelly.

Today's beer of choice? The High Noon Saloon and Brewery Oregon Trail raspberry wheat ale. It's brewed in Leavenworth, Kansas, which is the start of the Oregon trail.


It poured a hazy golden color with a thin white head. It smells strongly of fresh raspberries. The ABV is 5.5%. It has lots of very nice raspberry flavor but is generally watery. It's as if someone left a bunch of ice in my glass and it melted and left this behind. It has potential but didn't quite make it. I'll call it average at best. Cheers.