So what happens when the greatest homebrew store on earth supports AHA Big Brew in Beer City USA? Well let's see, it start's with Greg Johnson greeting you at the entrance with a smile and a cart to load your equipment. Next Steve Siciliano is shaking your hand and pointing you to the free malt and hops that he has donated. A little bit later the Mayor George Heartwell stops by to chat and see how the brewing is going.

What a great day. This was the most relaxed and friendly beer event I have been to yet. Which is saying a lot considering most craft beer events are not exactly cold, harsh, and unbearable.

I was really amazed. The time, money and effort put into this event by Steve, his crew, his family and the many supporting persons is something most of us probably will never really appreciate. I think the city of Grand Rapids and Mayor Heartwell deserve a ton of credit for not only permitting this event, but really supporting it. I told Mayor Heatwell that while I know politicians are all supposed to be 'evil,' I really had to commend him and the city for supporting this event. His words about how events like this benefit the economy and community really echoed my own feelings. He also admitted that he just likes beer. So I'm glad to live just outside of a city that has a Mayor who likes beer, and a homebrew store owner to loves his customers and community.

I have often raved about how craft brewing is good for culture, community, and the economy but this event really showed it. Doug Dorda was on hand to bring a smile to everyone's face with his upbeat character and friendliness. That's the thing about Siciliano's that I love - the people - well that and the massive beer selection, competitively priced fresh homebrewing ingredients, wine, cigars, but mostly it's the people. It seemed that every member of the Siciliano family was there today helping out. Homebrewer's were all sharing their ware's, some of which were downright amazing. Then there was the smell, there is nothing like the smell of fresh mash wafting in the wind. Talk about downright heavenly.

Day's like today are really something to be thankful for. Manny and Jay, two of my best friends, who are both amazing homebrewers, were there to lend a hand, table, chairs, brewpot, burner, homebrew, well pretty much everything. I just bumbled around having fun spending the day being with my son, my friends, and doing what I love, brewing beer.

So this week a number of new brews hit the shelves including a couple of new breweries starting distribution in the state. First on the list, Founders Doom. Doom is a barrel aged version of double trouble and the sixth beer to appear in Founders Backstage Series.

More importantly Dark Horse Crooked Tree variety-pack hit the stores. I have been a huge fan of crooked tree for well over a decade. So when I heard rumor of the variety-pack I was pretty excited. It includes FF DEKOORC EERT, a single hop variety of Crooked Tree using Falconers Flight hops, ARTIC DEKOORC EERT, with Citra hops (of course), EDACSAC DEKOORC EERT, and regular Crooked Tree. Released on 4/20, it was any hops heads dream come true. Normally I am quick to share this news with the world and send them a bottle. But this ones for me. Good luck prying a bottle from my wet cellar - yes there was a bit of an aquatic element to the beer cellar this week - I was just trying to get in the spirit with the rest of Grand Rapids.

Tonight I am drinking the Falconers Flight. On top of my list was to check for sediment in the bottle. This is the one evil nemesis of their ales, sludge a mile deep. Minimal sludge, first good sign. It pours a beautiful light amber, the bouquet is awesome and it's just freaking amazing. First class. Wow. So Good. Given the impressive distribution of Dark Horse around the world, there is a decent chance you will get an opportunity to pick up this variety-pack. Do it.

Oh yes and the other new brews to hit shelves? Who really cares - I am drinking Crooked Tree.

This semester I took a metal working class. I had to make four broaches. I decided to put 6/32 threaded studs on the back and use them as tap handle badges. For the background I etched a barley dudes negative in bronze and rolled it into the background for the badges. You can see the original circle before it's rolled in the photo. I decided to make two tap handles, one round and one triangular. I spent a fair amount of time doing the math for the triangular layout. I have decided not to make the round one and do something more creative instead. For the handles I got brass stock, drilled, threaded, and silver soldered it into the bottom of the handles. Well so far only the triangular one. I also soldered a 6/32 brass backer inside to thread the badges into the handle. In the end I didn't like the way they looked and decided to just go with the center beer glass shape instead of the entire badge. The concept was that you can change out the badges to match the style of beer on tap.


To make the triangular handle I scored it, and bent it in a sheet metal brake. I still needed to work it around a bit so I make a steel stake that would fit inside the handle. I also created a small jig to hold the brass slug for the handle. It worked out well. I used it to hold the slug while I filed it down. I used it to hold the handle while soldering and I used it to simulate the facet so that it would thread on correctly. I went with a hammered finish because I like the look. Unfortunately it's so dang shiny you can't really take a decent photo of it. 

When I get the next one done I will post some photos.

So three of us decided to go in on a bottle of 10th anniversary Utopias. I don't think any of us were disappointed. Very reminiscent of Sam Adams Triple Bock- haven't had it in years but the character is distinct and comes to mind the moment you taste Utopias. The rich amber color is reminiscent of a brandy or liquor, as is the flavor. Sweet of candied sugars and caramel, with no head to speak of. According to David, it has "the longest finish of any beer ever". Comments were that it reminded many of a port or brandy. The aroma is rich and sweet with just a hint of funky sulfur. When you age something that is not distilled so long, it gets just this tiny funk, much like the 30 year old mead I sampled. Definite notes of honey, caramel, and malt sweetness dominate. With just a tang in the finish. Overall very impressive. Minimal ethanol burn for such a high abv. We saved a tiny bit till next year.

Since we were sampling we cracked open a couple other brews. Night Stalker from Goose Island. In the past this was a favorite of mine. This year it is unfortunately pine needles with a touch of infection. Not good, not finished. We had a Oskar Blues Ten Fidy, now there is a nice brew. Dark, nice head, slight tannin bite, something worthy of a full future review. We cracked open a Fifty Fifty Old Fitz. It was good, a little light bodied, nice bourbon character. A bit over priced and over rated, but a great brew over all. We enjoyed a few other brews and finished off with a 2011, 2012 vertical of Bourbon Barrel Plead the 5th from Dark Horse. The 2012 was more coffee, and the 2011 had more bourbon aroma and was a bit more mellow, and yes it is still the worlds greatest stout. 

This is good, very good. Maybe even Breakfast stout, Wake n' Bake good. Dark, rich, chocolate, coffee, no tannin bite. I am starting to regret only buying one can. I want some of this in my cellar. Some coffee beers are pretty lame, weak, watery, liquid coffee. Not this brew. This is the full bodied stout from heaven. In general good coffee stouts are not necessarily complex, but they are balanced, silky, smooth. Let's put it this way I just paused for five minutes last sentence to call Siciliano's to see how much they have left. I hate to cut it short but Winter Brew Fest is tomorrow and if I miss out on getting more of this I am not going to be happy. Gotta run..

I have been a fan of barrel aged stouts since my first sampling of Kentucky Breakfast Stout, back when it was really amazing. Lately I had got the inkling, that I wanted to try a few of the overly popular ones that I had not tried yet, such as FW Parabola, Avery Mephistopheles, and to a lesser extent, Bell's Black Note. I was very pleased with Parabola, Mephistopheles was not really what I had expected, and Black Note greatly exceeded my expectations. I also picked up some Abyss to age, and discovered that Dark Horse Barrel Aged Plead the 5th was bottled.

Back in the early 2000's when I moved to Michigan, Arcadia was a very questionable brewery. Their ales varied from mediocre, to just plain crap in my opinion. I had placed them on my black list until I tried Barrel Aged Shipwreck Porter, just an amazing barrel aged selection. I had been considering striking them off my blacklist due to their massive improvement over the last decade.

In addition to trying a few new barrel aged stouts in December I have to admit that I had boarded the barrel aged stout hype train, and I was trading for the likes of Black Tuesday, Darkness, 50/50 Eclipse, and Speedway Stout. So when I saw that Arcadia had released barrel aged versions of their barley wine Cereal Killer, and their Imperial Stout all dressed up in red wax at $8.00 dollars a bottle, it seemed like a steal. It should be noted at this point that when you find yourself buying and trading for 12oz bottles of bourbon aged beer that exceeds the price of a fifth of bourbon, you have just jumped the tracks aboard the nutty beer hype train.

Anyhow.. I had only one bottle and was desperately interested in getting my hands on another, which I did today. Two in fact. Apparently some guy from Chicago had bought an entire case of it. Well guy from Chicago, I hope you learned your lesson about buying an entire case of beer before you try it. I am now stuck with two bottles of this stuff and that is embarrassing enough. So on to the review.

It pours a dark caramel with minimal head. The aroma is coffee, oak, and barbeque. Somewhat unique in the barrel aged stout world with the strong barbeque aroma. The first word that came to mind was disappointing. It has a light body for an Imperial Stout, a sweet syrupy barbequed oak flavor, and chocolate notes. No dark fruits to speak of, no viscous body, no head retention. I really feel that Arcadia pulled a fast one here. Using the reputation of their great barrel aged porter they dressed up their mediocre barrel aged stout and sold it for the price of a Sierra Nevada six pack. This stout is decent, not great, but decent. It improves as it warms and never becomes remotely impressive. For a dollar or two a bottle this would be a truly awesome beer. But when it is 1/3 more than Bell's Black Note or Dark Horse Plead the 5th it simply serves to ensure that Arcadia stays on my black list for at least ten more years. Good job Arcadia.

In the end perhaps I should thank Arcadia for just announcing 'next stop sanity' for this hype train rider. It was fun while it lasted but by wallet and palate just decided this is the end of the line for this rider.

The appearance of Bell's Black Note is a rich dark ruby mahogany. No light penetrates it's depths. It is perhaps the darkest stout I have seen to date. It pours with a minimal head and delicate lace that clings to the circumference of the glass. It presents a very pleasant bourbon nose. However unlike many bourbon barrel stouts, this one is not overpowering. Black Note still allows the rich malty notes and dark fruits to come through in the aroma. Overall a decently complex aroma for a bourbon stout.

Its taste is balanced just like the nose. Smooth and sweet, it coats the tongue giving a tiny alcohol burn in the finish, it is incredibly balanced for an 11.8% stout. This is the most balanced and drinkable bourbon stout I have had. The thing I really like about this ale is that unlike Brooklyn Black Ops where the Bourbon is almost undetectable, this bourbon is present. You don't need to go looking for the bourbon by any means, however it still allows the complexities of the base ales to come through. It is not so dominated by the bourbon that it's overwhelming.

My first impression that I had was that this was the best bourbon barrel stout I have ever had. But I have already said that about Founders CBS and Dark Horse Bourbon Barrel Plead the 5th. So to be honest, I guess it is in the top two or three barrel aged stouts of all time. More balanced than Bourbon County Stout for sure, and even more balanced that BA Plead the 5th I think. It has everything that a huge bad barrel aged stout has, tannin bite, alcohol burn, bourbon, but all in it's place. The tannin bite and alcohol burn are just a passing glance. The real show here is the Imperial Stouts and their malt complexities.

Let's just say that jetting out of work at lunch to drive to Kalamazoo was worth every moment. I was so excited when I picked mine up I was shaking. I think that means you're a true blue beer geek - or something like that. 

Redemption pours golden, slightly hazy, with a quickly dissipating head. Its nose yields Belgian yeast, banana, coriander, lemon, and various spices. Very clean tasting for a Belgian with very detectable hops in the finish. Medium bodied, very aromatic, and lightly carbonated. The hoppiness and sweetness set this one apart from the run of the mill Belgian. So far this was my least favorite of all the Russian River ales I have sampled. This is no doubt due, at least in part to the fact that this is simply not my favorite style of beer. Overall an excellent ale, I enjoyed the additional hop presence. While I would not seek it out again, definitely one I would recommend trying.