From here on out I am going to start at least one sentence a day with - as a lover of
super super super hoppy beer. This is the funniest thing I have seen in
sometime. Just last Thursday I asked the Bartender at Founders about the
Syrup De La Noche, and how that differed from the Bourbon De La Noche.
The Syrup was of course in the Maple Syrup Bourbon Barrels. It seems to me that we have gone a little too far with our Quintuple-Double-Trouble-BFKick-Mother... well just check out the video.
April 2011 Archives
I am not a huge fan of old ales, but I really enjoyed this one. Deep amber with with hints of caramelized sugars transforming into toffee notes, this is a high gravity brew worth trying. Be careful - Kuhnhenn clearly has no quality control and cannot cap a bottle if their life depended on it. I have heard of folks getting flat ones. Mine was fine, even though it looked like it was capped by someone who had kicked back a few pints beforehand.
Thanks to Aaron over at Reddit/r/beertrade I was able to trade for a Brooklyn Black Ops. I was excited to try Black Ops since Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout is my favorite Russian Imperial Stout. This vicious and dark brew had a unique taste on the palate and an arouma similar to Black Chocolate Stout, with the hops slightly detectable as it warms up. It left with just a little roasted malt aftertaste. The bourbon taste was minimal, closer to a KBS than a Bourbon County Stout. I had pretty high expectations, and they really weren't met. Between Brooklyn making a big deal out of Black Ops and me making a big deal out of it in my own mind, the thought exceeded the reality. In the end I am still very grateful to try it, and it was a great stout, but I would just as soon stick with regular Black Chocolate Stout.
The best part of homebrewing is the sampling. Jay brought over his Stout and Lemon Wheat. His stout is perhaps the best homebrew I have ever had. It has no off flavors what so ever, and the roasted malts are perfectly balanced. I want him to covert it to all grain so we can brew it up at our brewery someday. We also sampled the Strawberry Cream Ale, and the two different versions of the Summer Ale, each fermented with different yeasts. 
The Strawberry Cream Ale came out excellent; golden with a tint of pink, it was a crisp refreshing ale, just right to have a couple before embarking on a bike ride, run, or workout. The the hops and malts were just barley detectable, and the strawberries gave it a nice character. The sweetness disappears and you are left with just a little strawberry body and flavor. I am going to brew this one again next year for sure. The neighbors and bud drinkers liked it as did the real beer drinkers. Bald Monk gave me permission to use his photo for the label. For those unable to read the miniature font in the photo, the label declares:If you are dumb enough to need your government to warn you not to drink beer and drive, operate machinery, or when you are pregnant, given enough time you will probably naturally eliminate yourself from
the gene pool anyhow.
Be Smart, Drink Good Beer.
The pint in the photo was the last one out the of keg so it was about half CO2 and you can see a little cloud of sediment from the bottom of the keg settling in the glass.
I have had a couple of friends say they were going to serve their own homebrew at their wedding. One did, and it turned out very well. Here is Chris for Austin Texas, blog tracking his days leading up to the wedding and getting the homebrew ready. The Vanilla Bourbon Porter sounds great. Too bad he lives in Texas, I'd crash the wedding just for the homebrew.
Via brookstonbeerbulletin.com, Mr. Pierre Celis passed away Saturday at the age of 86. He was the man who brought us the revival of Witbier, he started Hoegaarden, Celis Brewery in Texas, and assisted Michigan Brewing Company to establish the Celis line in Michigan.
When I first read about InBev buying Goose Island, I thought it was an April fools joke. But then I read this today in the Chicago Tribune. I understand that InBev has a lot of cash, and in the end some of that cash can end up making Goose Island bigger. But I have a firm belief that no matter how great the Devil's deals are, they are still best avoided. I think there is a very old term for this, it's called being a whore. Nice job Goose Island, enjoy your new pimp.
