Christmas Eve NY (Evil Twin)

Sometimes I go into the total wines in northern Virginia and wonder how does a brewery go about standing out in this sea of 12oz brown beauties. The label is my first thought. You can choose some outlandish imagery on it, or perhaps some clever name that intimates something naughty. IPA's are classic for using marijuana imagery or stereotypes, often referred to as dank. Against the grain brewery, already with the brewery name, has one of my favorite names for a brown ale, brown note. They depict a guy on the label that, you guessed it, has apparently shit his tightey whiteys.

I love the Scandinavian type attitude of design that comes from Evil Twin brewing company.  Visit their website at http://eviltwin.dk/ and tell me that it doesn't inspire thoughts of Ikea's clean and simple design. The first page of the site is all of the current bottle and label designs. They even use mosaic style tiling to disguise the identity of certain individuals on their packaging. 

A co-worker of mine had Christmas Eve at a New York city hotel room last year, and I was hooked on that ridiculous name. For the same of time I will refer to it as Christmas Eve, which is a dark black stout. It is a stout that reminds me of what is at the core of the style, toasted malt. Not all the malt they use in this beer is as dark as the liquid but they blend different malts to build the body and convey the roast. Subtle hints of chocolate or coffee, but none added. All the flavor comes from the malt. It was a touch smokey which was nice. I may even go as far as to say maybe that is what fits in with the name? 

Hianus, due to technical difficulties

Well I have been gone for a while for several reasons.
1. Baby boy leaves me with less time for other things. (adjustment period, I'll figure out)
2. Beer money shortage.
3. It seems the beers that have interested me recently have gotten more expensive.
4. My love for tinkering with mechanical things is a more productive use of my free time and money.
5. Iphone 4 would not allow me to take pictures to upload to blog. (got day 6 now)

It is scooter rally season. Pictured in the middle is my friend Robert who recently got his vespa road worthy. We are at the Indian Summer scooter rally with the gang. That is me holding a bunch of rally tickets for a chance to win a vespa. I will be back to beer blogging but in a way more conservative manor. I have three in the bag I need to type up. Sorry for the delay. If you are interested in the 2 wheel therapy blog that is over at garagetherapy.wordpress.com.

Killsner (Cigar City Brewing)

For the second year in a row, Cigar City has brewed a beer for an annual metal barbecue at hadad's lake in Richmond, Va. It would be a somber event this year, due to the passing of Gwar lead singer, Oderus Urungus (Dave Brockie). Fans gathered to rock harder than ever before and to lean on each other in the wake of the loss. The viking funeral for the Oderus suit was quite the sight that would have made Dave proud. The smoke was so black it blocked out the sun, so metal.

I am a fan of what gwar means to Richmond, and when brockie past away, a friend of mine made me 2 cds. I did not go to this event, although it seems like my crowd. I did however get bombarded with pictures and messages on social media about the event. It seemed that beer sales were at an all time high. The beer that was made last year for the event was not well received. It did however trade well. Metal heads from across the United States reached out in search for it. It worked out well for me as a trading beer. The beer was a lot more bitter, which probably appealed to a narrow audience. This year, I found out the name was Killsner well before I tasted the beer. I even originally thought it was going to be a pilsner. To my surprise it was a fresh bright session IPA. It was actually very good. No wonder I had such a hard time getting my hands on some. I only had 2 kegs and 2 cases to sell. The can is definitely one that I will keep. It marks a little piece of RVA brewing history, although brewed in FLA.  

Yin & Yang (Evil Twin Brewing)

The Yin and Yang had been released earlier this year but I only saw it on draft. It is a reaction to dig through whatever evil twin cases I see in stores. Nick, the buyer at Arrowine had already out these beauties on the shelf. The 4 pack cost almost $16, so double that for the experience. I paid it forward to my beer partner in crime and gave him a pair, the other two I took to Lake Monticello to drink with a friend.

Bought these at Arrowine in Arlington Va. the beer manager was kind enough to do mixed 4pks. 

I highly advise against taking beer that cost this much to a destination that was sold as relaxing but became quite a bit of work. Although the sleepy gated community would have been the ideal place in the fall to sit and sip these two, I chose to work and sweat. This IPA pictured below was huge malt and high in ABV. We started with that in goblets, an homage to our beer beginnings. Instantly my pores exploded with piney and grape fruit residue. My teeth were instantly coated with sugary sweet yang.

The yin was as opposite as you could get, except for the high ABV. The stout was thick black, and not penetrated by light. I believe I poured that beer in the master bathroom as we assembled night stands and laid carpet. No picture was taken. We saved half of each to do the most cloying black and tan ever to exist. Every variation of this experience was phenomenal, and I will keep an eye out for these on draft. Stouts are something that evil twin has down. They also make even more Jesus, some variants of Jesus, and I heart you with all my stout. The session beer theory kicked my ass on this particular day. I am ready for cold weather and campfires.    

Beer Camp (A Sierra Nevada Experience)

In the event you have been living under a rock Sierra Nevada embarked on a very ambitious and genius project this year. The fact that this many breweries participated and this program was done nationwide is a beer miracle. Beer camp last year was a flop of a variety pack, but this year with 12 different collaborations the hype was fierce with this one. The beer pictured about is the invitation, a 24oz double IPA, that is one of the best of that style I have ever had from Sierra. The invitation was sent out through distributors to invite beer drinkers to attend beer camp events across the Nation. The beer camp events have over 700 breweries participating that will pouring their own beers at the events. 

I will not attempt to sit down and drink all 13 beers in one day. I have to come up with a good drinking order. Due to the time it may take, possibly three weekends or better, I have elected to drink the hoppy beers first. I will narrate my journey as if it was a week at camp, like the one I worked at an enjoyed so much. I am very excited about this twelve pack because there are several breweries represented that do not make it to Virginia. 

Camp: Day One

Much like Charlie Bucket, I feel as if I got the golden ticket. As this series was released in Virginia it hit Northern Virginia and Richmond at about the same time. Retailers in northern Virginia looked at me like I was crazy, knowing very little about beer camp. Then I started to see pictures of the liquid invitation in Richmond, but nothing in northern Virginia. This beer was due out before the twelve packs!?

Much like the first day of camp, I was a hyper mess. I didn't know which way to look, or what I wanted to do first. I needed to talk with my fellow campers, beer drinkers, to help map my course through this exciting series. I opened the box, like unpacking, sorted through the ten bottles and two cans. I saw names like Ninkasi, Three Floyds, and Russian River, oh boy! What was going to be the stand out this summer? Well I have to say the liquid invitation was phenomenal, please if you are into this series find these bottles while they are still sort of fresh. 

Camp: Day Two

As before mentioned, I felt the need to drink these in order of hoppy to malty due to the nature of hops to loose flavor over time. I was so excited to get into this series I arranged them on my desk and began with the electric ray imperial pale lager. See the thing about camp is it is seven days and you should spread your energy out over the entire week. These snap judgements often lead to getting hurt or in this case drinking one beer that vastly over shadows the next.

Electric Ray is the imperial pale lager that was done with ballast point, out of San Diego. I should have known that these two breweries, know for having a firm handle of west coast style IPA's, would not going to deliver another flop known as pale lager. As a style, pale lager, is usually just the scent of a pale and the disappointing mouth feel of a lager. This ray of light was intensely hoppy, and maintained a good malt feel. The finish was the only thing lager like, and washed clean away. I could drink a ton of this beer. 

Torpedo Pilsner is the hoppy pilsner that was done with Firestone Walker, out of Paso Robles. I am unsure if I have had any other example of this style other than Victory prima pils. My experience with hoppy pilsner is that they are mostly aromatic and bitter on the very front of the tasting experience. On the heels of the electric ray, this beer had no chance of being received by my tongue. It came across extremely light. I made my first mistake in this tasting. If you have not yet drank these beers, start with this pilsner. Firestone Walker can do no wrong in my book. 

Camp: Day Three

This pairing was much like the first. One beer was phenomenal and the other was invisible in comparison. I wish I had drink the chico king after the electric ray on day two, and had the myrons walk as the third with torpedo pilsner. 

Chico King is the collaboration with Indiana based 3 Floyd's brewing company. I have the honor and privilege of knowing someone who has sent me beers from this brewery from time to time. I have to say they make beers that are exactly what I want. I would say that gumball head even gave me an experience that I didn't know I wanted. Sierra nevada, some would say the pale ale OG, wants to pair up with the creator of arctic panzer wolf, and zombie dust and brew a pale ale? ? Can I just have a twelve pack of that? This is one of the collaborations that makes this 12 pack totally work the price of admission. This beer was spot on pale, with out being extreme. It was so enjoyable with the piney citrus flavors. This is definitely one that people will be talking about from this pack. 

Myron's Walk is the think pair share of sierra nevada and allagash brewing. Very boring choice for them to make a belgian pale ale, but it is the obvious choice. I do not have a great appreciation for american style belgian craft style. It is usually all up in my nose with flowers and lacks the complexity in the middle and back of the experience. Allagash is praised often for some of their barrel projects and things they do with belgian yeast, but I have yet to give them the respect. Someone please tell me which one of their beers is going to blow my hair back? I assure you it does not come in a four pack carrier. It was very hot outside the day I drank these beers, and the glass was sweating like crazy. It should have been perfect weather for this beer. Keep walking dude, I ain't buying.

Camp: Day Four

Almost half way through, we are out of the bines and into the fields of grain. This place has gotten very comfortable. There is a beer I am really looking forward to just over the horizon. First we must take the alt route to get there and back. 

There and back is the collaboration effort with new glarius brewing. New glarius is not available in the state of Virginia. I am familiar with the lambics and sours they produce as being highly acclaimed. This English style bitter was very smooth, and the flavors are very delicate. The bitterness in this beer is more dull than hoppy. I am not quite sure how new glarius and sierra Nevada agreed to brew this beer. The time constraint would not have allowed for the beer styles that put new glarius on the map. This is an old style English special bitter that is very mild compared to the current trendy beers in craft.

Alt route was made with Victory brewing out of Pennsylvania. Victory has been been brewing in 1996, and has been one of the strongest brands in Pa since. They were one of the early craft brands that I tried everything from. When I say early, we inherited the rights to this brand when brown purchased legendary distributing. Before that our craft portfolio consisted on magic hat, red hook and widmer brothers. Alt beer can be a sweet malty treat, with the occasionally smokey or hoppy bitter finish. It is another very subtle style. These beers have been like the days at camp that drag on a bit. I see something at the end of the week that I am very excited to try but I have to get through this first. When it is all said and done I will miss everyone of these beers as a stepping stone in the experience that is, Beer Camp! 

Camp: Day Five

Double Latte brewed with Ninkasi brewing out of Oregon was one of the beers I was really looking forward to trying. I have never had any Ninkasi beers, and this name made the package exciting for me. The words stout and latte are going to grab my attention every time. Milk stout or lactose not necessarily as dear to my heart but the sweetness of this beer worked very well with the coffee notes. Like a iced coffee, or iced latte. Lactose sugar is refined from milk, and is added to beer to give sweet and creamy characteristics to beer, usually stouts. Sugar is normally the fuel for fermentation that makes alcohol, but lactose sugars are more complex and do not ferment. I had to share this beer with my wife. I am guilty of creating some of the most fierce dark beer snobs in the greater Va area. 

Yvan the Great brewed with Russian River brewing out of California was another highly desirable titan in this twelve pack. This Belgian style blond ale provides flavors to satisfy the wheat beer lover and Belgian beer aficionado. I have had damnation, pliney the elder, and blind pig but this beer is nothing like what most people look for from Russian River. I wanted more bold flavor. This beer was very clean and distinct in flavor. I might even say it was refreshing. This one would be great on a hot day. 

Camp: Day Six

Canfusion a horrible pun of a beer brewed with Oskar Blues out of Colorado was one of the two odd cans in the twelve pack. This beer was a bock style beer that enhanced the flavors of aluminum, the perfect fusion of old world flavors. No there wasn't any aluminum in this beer but the rye is a component in brewing that has a definite impact of flavor. Most of the time rye is used to dry out the finish on a beer, or help ease the sweetness of a beer. Bock style beers are known for a sweet malty, big back bone assault. I love that these two breweries chose to can their beer. I think of taking beers camping and I think of cans, or Dales pale ale. This beer was what I want in an everyday beer. It has some body and multi note flavor, and is something I could drink lots of in one day.

Yonder Bock is a tropical miabock was brewed with Cigar City, from Tampa Fl. I am coming down from a recent tap take over featuring cigar city beers that Mekong had a week ago. I hope that those of you who only know cigar city through this beer don't cast them aside. Please understand the coordination it took to collaborate can and distribute these beers. I felt like this beer was a little glimpse of what Cigar City can do to create tropical flavors that make you think Tampa, or even Cuba. There was a bright tropical fruit flavor in this beer. It seemed to burst, but was not so intense that this beer came across bitter or overly sweet. Once again this can is session-able on the flavor scale. 

Camp: Day Seven

It has been a long week of camp. This proved to be a difficult task, writing seven blog posts about this huge collaboration project. I chose these two to be my last beers, predicting that I would love them both. The Tater Ridge beer, done with the Ashville Brewers Alliance, was dead on what I expected.  It had backbone, way thicker than most of the other beers in this box. I would like to have this again to see if the sweet potato flavor was all in my head. The sweetness was spot on with that of a really good sweet potato during a holiday dinner. This beer could have been teeth crushingly sweet but it exercised great self control. Some of you that are off the deep end with German marzen or pumpkin beers at the moment should reach for some scotch ale as soon as it starts to get cold. I think seasonally this beer deserves more action. 

Maillard's Odyssey was my top beer in camp, brewed with Bell's brewing out of Michigan. I should have gotten more into the names of these beers from the start but Maillards reaction is the flavor explosions that occur when you caramelize sugars. This porter has that amber highlight that makes me think of burnt sugar, or like the burnt edges of a marshmallow. It is no secret that I am a sucker for dark beers. I often crave barrel aged stouts out of nowhere, my palette just craves it.  It was the sentimental end to a long journey the last few sips of this beer. I wish there was more of a few of these and I am sure I could find another twelve pack, but it has been a great week. There is more excitement for next year, and I trust that will build year after year. If you felt taken advantage of having to pay $26 for this experience, you need to get out to your local brewery. Meet the people that make the product, and learn something about the headaches of this kind of coordinating effort. This project and collaborations perfectly illustrated what craft beer means. I shall remain loyal to the efforts of brewers, thank you for the experience. 

Batchelors Delight (Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery)

Normally in this crowd, you saw pirate party and we say fuck yes! Well it didn't work out for us to go in a huge group, dressed up as planned. I am still trying to figure out how the schedule to get the baby and life squared away so we can still do things. You know coordinate with other adults and enjoy each others company. Well between feedings, the wife and I ran out to Goochland for the festivities. We each had a beer, and I bought two bottles. If you want to get your hands on one I'm sure we can work out a trade. If you are going to the cabin weekend in October, this will be a part of the barrel aged extravaganza that weekend. 

I have taken the picture below or a very similar picture every time I have a beer at this place that I really enjoy. The third barrel release from Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery, Batchelors Delight, was a delicious rum barrel aged quad. It was another home run, on the heels of despot and the barrel aged tripel. I am so happy for Lickinghole to be getting some beers bottled that people swarm to try and buy. The trading value of these bottles has quickly gone through the roof, good job boys and Lisa. If you have come to town and gone to all of the breweries right around the city limits, please take the time to get out to this beautiful property. I am a little tired of the drive at the moment, but I was prepared to head out there tomorrow to assist in the disc golf course construction. The plans for that have been temporarily put on hold. The county of Goochland or more likely some of the miserable citizens have shut it down.  

I guess a few tasting notes or opinions would be appropriate. It had a suede like mouth feel, that expressed slight heat, or alcohol burn. It was few easy to drink, and the flavor was balanced between the dark fruit of a Belgian quad and the spiced rum. Who ever taste tested this beer while aging nailed it. It was too hot in the field to really drink this all in, but by fall this beer is going to be perfect. Please do this beer and event again.

Gose (Westbrook Brewing Company)

You can always depend on, the kindness of strangers . . . . Or at least I was able to be cordial enough with a co-worker to receive the bad ass gift of this beer. If you aren't aware, I am not a big fan of the session IPA. I feel cheated by session IPAs. They are not as full in flavor and they are just as expensive as their full blown counter part. I racked my brain for what to drink this summer. I heard a podcast that reviewed Leipzig gose, the original from Germany. It just clicked, light, sour, salty and delicious at a extremely low serving temperature. I will hunt for the gose and try them all this summer. My next step was to figure out what was available in our market, so I did a search in total wine. Leipzig showed up, and Anderson Valley. No one had seen or taken delivery of these in years. . . . Shit!

After my revelation and disappointment, I returned to the warehouse determined to get a gose in my mouth. I cornered the unicorn and prodded him for information. I even suggested that maybe Strangeways or The Answer Brewpub make one. I found troublesome from pretty little things, then Anderson Valley released theirs, and a wine shop turned up some Leipzig bottles. Things were looking up, the pics of the Westbrook Gose began to assault my social media feeds. Then David Hetzel blessed me with a 6 pack which I shared. Shortly there after Stillwater released gose gone wild and Strangeways announced the release of wake me up before you gose. Westbrook was still my favorite, the fullest mouth feel, and flavor. I am still on the hunt for gose, if you have any not listed here send them on. 

To help with some of the dribble you may hear in regards to this beer.

Gueze = French word, Belgian beer, very tart and sour. Pronounced Gooooo-z

Gose = German word and beer, sour and salty. Pronounced Goes-A

It is an old German style brewed with salt water. It is a wheat beer with some lactic souring, and is spiced with coriander and hops. 

http://www.germanbeerinstitute.com/Gose.html

HA$H (Sweetwater Brewing Company)

I am not trying to deny the fact that IPA's and any beer that gets the majority of its flavor profile from hops should be consumed immediately. I had heard about this beer but the distributor to the north that handles Sweet Water had a hard time getting this into the market in a timely fashion. I finally found it though. I had seen reviews about how dank and hoppy this beer was and I was drooling at the opportunity.  Sweet Water beers have not been on my radar since the first time I had one, but I was curious to try this project. It was definitely an east coast IPA, but it pushed the limits of taste and time. 

East Coast IPA: An India Pale Ale that reflects the taste of beer drinkers on the east coast. Nose is normally piny, citrus or floral yet the malt finish of the beer is usually sweet. West Coast IPA's are generally dry in finish, not as sweet. Why does the style differ coast to coast? You got me jack  . .

I have a friend with family ties in the brewery that knew more about what was going on with this series. Hash is a play on words, here it represents the hop shake and its similar appearance to the shake left in a bag of weed. Well maybe not directly that but they had to be smooth with the name for label approval. Apparently someone at Sweet Water went to the hop supplier and noticed the cast aside tiny particles of hops. These tiny bits are usually discarded as not being worth the trouble. The sprinklings are any number of hops in unknown amounts which potentially could create unrepeatable greatness. Sounds like a bunch of shit to me from a consumer end, but for the business of making profits and marketing beer, genius. Look out for the next rendition http://sweetwaterbrew.com/

Beer Geek Breakfast (Mikkeller)

When you used untapped like I do, you are constantly on a search for unique beers to try. I have logged more beers than I care to share in this public forum, but surprisingly I have never had this beer. My recent fling with gypsy brewery evil twin led me to this beer. This is the original breakfast stout, this beer has fairly basic tasting notes. There are no dominant notes of coffee, chocolate, or vanilla. This beer is dark, and achieves this with lots of dark roasted malt. Take that tiny seed and heat it to the point of combustion, then stop and make a beer, the darkest beer. When I close my eyes and sip this beer I can taste that malt. I can feel it in my mouth. Those candy flavors that breweries amp up in current breakfast stouts are subtle. This beer is hopped, to the point if you drank it in line with black IPA's you might even think it was one. On it's own I think the hops play well with the bitterness from the malts, and takes the flavor to a grassy place. This is the most in depth tasting notes I have ever typed, sorry. I love this beer

These gypsy brewers have a different way of distributing which can make it difficult to get these beers at times. I have been told that these beers have to be pre-ordered sometimes as far out as six months before the release. One retailer joked that often the case shows up and he completely forgot he ordered it. I was told this beer was coming by three separate accounts, and none of them wound up getting a case. My hidden gem of a bottle shop, Grape and Bean Rosemont, in Alexandria had half a case waiting for me. So if you see it buy it, and if you consider yourself a beer geek and haven't had it? Shame on you. Check out the other Mikkeller products at http://mikkeller.dk/. Yes they appear to sell their beers online, the 50/50 eclipse BA series 12 bottles is $445.55! beware the conversion. Birthday March 2nd by the way. 

Barrel Aging (3 Brothers Brewing)

It is with much embarrassment that I have to say that when I often think of the greatest Virginia breweries I forget about these guys. When we launched this brand in Richmond, there was a pin crawl at four bars in the fan area, of which I attended. I met the owners but I have not yet been to the brewery. I sent some Hoptimization to California in a trade a while back, as an example of a powerful east coast IPA. Three brother has also received much acclaim for their barrel aged stout, resolute, which I was late to the party for.

I was excited to see this other barrel aged selection from three brothers available about a month after I got my hands on my first resolute. I picked this beer up in Northern Virginia. It is just easier for me to get these things while at work. This beer was a medal winner at GABF, and although I do not typically have much patience for the Belgian esters, I was sure the rum barrels would dead'n that flavor. The sweetness in the rum paired well with the spice of the dubbel. I would even go as far as to say it highlighted the fruit undertones, and rounded out the flavor. There was very little alcohol heat in my opinion. I would not age this one. I don't think it would add anything. 

Now for this big bastard. I was very excited to finally experience this beer and it didn't disappoint. This has become a style of beer that I have a hard time passing up. Three brothers was not afraid to build this up as a huge offering. After the initial release and chatter about this beer, people gobbled them up quickly. These beers are squirreled away into cellars far and near. It was brought to three brothers attention and they market their barrel aged beers to the fans of collecting and cellaring. So get on over to the website, http://threebrosbrew.com/ or better yet, lets make plans to get out to the brewery. 

I had recently listened to a podcast called the beerist. I rather enjoy the humor and production value of this show, but when the sampled 6 free three brothers beers. I got a little defensive especially when two of the beers were said to be infected. One of the little turds even scored resolute as his least favorite beer, due to the lack of body? You really should do a little research into the brewers intent before you bash a man on his rendition of a style. I have a hard time believing that all of those in the havoc of resolute are wrong in their opinion of this great beer. Due to the 9 months of heat it Texas, pilsner is one of the most popularized styles. Maybe that lack of body leaves a narrow opinion of these darker ales. 

Triple Cross Brewing (Brewery opening)

Pictured above is the sweet stout, element 79, single hop saison, and the falcon smash. 

Well I shit the bed on this post. I would hope that one day I could write a post with in a week of the experience. This brewery opened mid April and was the first of the breweries in Richmond to venture into the city since the closing of Richbrau. I went there opening weekend by myself and had a follow up visit with my in laws. The location of this brewery probably frustrates the hell out of people who have no comfort parking in or around the fan and city. There is very little on site parking available which instantly makes me want to ride a motorcycle here. The building itself, although appears small, seems to be thoughtfully planned to create a comfortable experience for the traffic expected. There is nothing hidden, the open floor plan exposes the public to all aspects of what a brewery does. There is also a nice deck that puts you outside but there isn't much too look at. I like the feeling of the cold brick inside, puts my mind at ease against the backdrop of the college and highway. 

I have been to the brewery three times so far. The most recent trip was for the Nectar and Knife IPA, which was everything I wanted. The beers of opening day included the sweet stout, element 79, single hop saison, and the falcon smash which crosses the board as far as offering something for all tastes. I liked the falcon smash the most, and am developing a waining relationship with sweet stouts. Overall I very much enjoyed myself and like the different feel that this brewery provides. I still need to get a 64oz growler from there. I hope this place keeps it simple and becomes a hidden gem amongst the insanity of the VCU machine. Check them out at http://triplecrossingbeer.com/

Even More Jesus (Evil Twin Brewing)

Like with wine, buying beer buy the label is normally a bad idea. I have been going back and forth about evil twin beers for quite some time. The price point is a little high for me, especially the bikini beer and hipster beers that I see in the market. I believe that the liquid is very good, but I am just not willing to pay 10-13 dollars for a 6 pack of a style designed to be pound able.  I had a friend on Untapped who had recently posted his Even More Jesus experience. I love stouts, and this was a beer that I was willing to spend a little more to get, even possibly have to trade for. I expected to have to trade for it, but then I found it at Dominion Wine and Beer in Falls Church, Va.

It was one of the more expensive weeks in beer in a long time.

Evil Twin is a brewery from Denmark that flies just below the radar. Most serious beer nerds have heard of them and maybe had some of their canned options, like bikini beer or hipster ale. The gypsy brewery has a completely different take on brewing recipes and normally abandons them after a production of beer. With one off beers, the success is either hit or miss. If you ask me the longer they try changing over and over, chances are pretty good the success rate will be high. Constant innovation causes brewer Jarnit-Bjergso to be inspired at the most random times in life. He once brewed another stout called soft dookie, the recipe idea came to him while changing diapers. I'm not sure I have the nose that can smell vanilla in do do. Eviltwin is what is known as a gypsy brewery, meaning they travel around and brew one off beers on other breweries equipment. Between 2006 and 2010 Mikkel Bjergso travels around the world brewing nearly 200 different one off beers.

It is a must to quickly photograph all cool purchases and send to friends.

As more and more people pursue their brewing dreams, innovation will continue with gypsy brewers who push the limits of brewing. It is a case of not feeling trapped by the business and getting tied down by a regular portfolio. These beers are usually sold before they are brewed, the owner and the shop I bought this from had committed to buying 6 months ago. He had forgotten he even ordered it, I asked him about it the week prior to it coming in. Check these guys and this movement out for yourself.  http://eviltwin.dk/

Black Note (Bells Brewing Company)

 Picture me sharing my 2 bottle score then giving
 you one.

Once upon a time in a far away place a small collection of drunks attempted to drink themselves into legendary stout status. Yeah, well I fell apart and did not survive when this beer was drank. Last year when this was released I had spent too much money on other already so I passed. I was getting stout burnt, what an amateur I was. The insanity was calm compared to the shit we went through for founders KBS. What if black note had come out first? I believe the same reaction. This stout is whiskey hot, thin sipper with a dense finish. Love it. 

#caferacer

I had a bunch of stuff to do Friday and would not be home in time to enjoy this per usual. So little Friday it was, with a fresh motorcycle mag I checked in with this heat. It taste like a stout with a whiskey float on top, which I enjoy. The float is so hot, boozy that is takes all the attention away from the thickness of the roasted malt finish. I hate your hopslam bells, but two hearted is a great utility IPA. This brewery from michigan has a very palatable image and only makes a few extreme beers. My mind is divided as to how I feel about these guys. I love me some Michigan breweries, Dark Horse brewing company. OK, Bells does make Kalamazoo stout, Expedition stout, and Espresso stout. I'm not a fan of Oberon, or the best brown (legend has that). Feel free to go check them out at www.bellsbeer.com. 

KBS (Founders Brewing)

The release of several limited beers has been a bit backed up thus far in 2014 which threw everything out of whack. We have received no reserve series beers from firestone walker since the start of 2014. It seemed like KBS was a late release, but I guess the April first release date for this was right on time. Why did they choose that date? I haven't a clue or care to look further into it. This dark treat is my personal #2 stout in the world, and once I find someone to write my beer app it will be official. You will find a 2013 and 2014 in my beer cellar. I quickly became worried this year that I would not be able to get any, but who am I kidding? 

There must have been buzz prior to April first. It was evident that the public knew ahead of time that this beer was coming in far more limited quantities this year. Why is that? Well, I don't work for founders but I do work for Brown Distributing and the Florida branch just began selling founders in the second half of 2013. I caught an interview from the owner of founders on you tube, and listened contently. The complete operation at founders stops to brew this beer. They make as much as they can in that week, but given the capacity for liquid in tanks and barrels, it is what it is. This year, what it was, was insane. Craft beer creepers waiting in parking lots, asking me as I walk into total wine if I worked there. People so concerned that this beer was being sold internally before being offered to the general public. I swear the old man had that crack head sweat going. Delightfully skipping with my single bottle back to the truck, I came across a scene that felt like something out of a after school special. First thing I saw was a women clutching her purse in front of her, her gaze directed to a man. A man trying to quietly attempting to give this women ten dollars to get him another bottle from this total wine. I wish he had really startled her and she had maced him. What a loser. I kick myself for not saying anything.

Founders KBS was the brain child of Engbers and Stevens, owners of founders brewing. The creation story begins in 2001, while working part time as a bartender. The earth, sun and the moon, or the chocolate covered espresso bean washed down with a bit of porter, and later a relationship with jack daniels snow balled into this. It is reported that KBS was not always an easy sell, and it was expensive to make. The extreme beer festival in Boston in 2005 was really the turning point for the legend and 100 point perfect KBS. Head over to www.foundersbrewing.com to check out the well rounded portfolio these guys provide. 

Southern Slice (Cigar City/Terrapin Collaboration)

If you could zoom out on this picture you could see a glorious family scene. Looking at this picture as I type makes me a bit sad. Sad that this back yard and the two people who are paying to own it will be gone soon. They will be shipped to the land of the rising sun, where my motorcycle came from. Sad that I paid thirty four dollars for this beer. I do feel some solace in saying that I don't buy beer with my phone out. I was guilty of impulse buying by the label tho. 

My general feelings about Terrapin has never been complimentary. The best beer I have had from them to date is wake and bake, none of the fancy ones, just regular wake and bake. I get a huge mouth of syrup with most beers from the turtle brewery. I want to enjoy their beers. I have a lot of family in Georgia and consider it to be the heartland. I have not completely closed the door on them yet, but it's getting close. I personally blame them for the syrup and sweetness of this beer, denying the fact that Cigar City could make a bad beer. The beer did have a nutty flavor with a hint of vanilla, the mouth feel just wasn't like what you expect from beer. The bottle is property of Cigar City, which I guess makes them more the guilty party. 

Falling in love with a collaboration is always a bad idea, a wise man once plead to me. So what you love it? It will probably never happen again, or the next joint project will be completely different. If you did happen to really dig it would you chase down every last bottle out of every cellar in existence? This too shall pass my son . . . We hunt for the next whale.

Despot Day! (Lickinghole Creek Brewing)

It was my birthday weekend and damn it, I was going to a brewery. I know I sound like a broken record, but it has occurred to me the older I get the less likely I am to have adventure buddies. No one can ever do an over night camping trip, or a quick day trip to a brewery in Virginia. My good pal, and craft beer distributor rival, James Rohr stepped up to the plate. We first had to make the drive all the way to the brewery in Goochland to buy bottles. Then we had to stop at Dover Hall on the way back into Richmond. The despot is a barrel aged Russian Imperial Stout, those barrels came from pappy van winkle distillery. Pappy barrels have become very sough after for this process of aging. Rarity of barrel hopefully won't translate into expense with time.

The deer can't let go.

Lickinghole Creek craft brewery was a long anticipated brewery, that finally opened their doors on October first 2013. I was unable to attend the opening (first local opening I have missed) because of my anniversary party. The brewery had a few hiccups in construction that delayed opening, then the matter of road use. It appears that despite all of the legal paper work and mumbo jumbo required to open a brewery, there was still a legal matter to be considered. Apparently, despite having 221 acres of environmentally conscious brewery, brewery traffic on the nearly 1 mile shared road was an issue. I was even told that the first contractor, whose house you can see from the brewery, now has lost all love for the brewery that he helped build? This matter has even gone so far that I am hearing the side of the resistance at the dentist office. My dental assistant, a local gooch, gave me her two sense on the issue at last cleaning.

Here is to new old looking brick mansions.

The weather was fantastic, the rain never came. Come to find out, the rain met with some cold and shit snow all over us that Monday but whatever. The venue of Dover Hall is a great place for an event like this. Naturally we were early, but the parking was adequate. The interior and exterior space had lots of areas for pouring, and was broken up so that you only felt crowded if you wanted to. We fell in love with the horse shoe bar in the upstairs west wing. I also really enjoyed the two story 8 car garage, but was quickly escorted out. The beer was big boozy treat, and the mouth feel was that of a good sipping whiskey. Need I say more? The french fries were also out of this work, see below. 

french fry credit to station 2

I wish the best of luck to Sean and his team. I like the more remote breweries, as they make for great destinations for moderatemotorcycle rides out of RVA. Please look them up on Facebook, or visit their website at www.lickingholecreek.com.

Grapefruit Slam Ipa (Koochenvagner's Brewing Company)

 I have never heard of this brewery before, and to be honest when you first pick up the bottle it is not completely obvious who this beer is by. I have seen pictures and heard mention of this beer around the hopslam buzz this week. If you are not familiar with this buzz, is it like a tiny fly, a nat in your ear. I am just ready for it to go away. Something about the word project and grapefruit drew me to this beer plus the $9.99 price tag is the high end of retail for this beer. Stochasticity comes from the greek word to aim, so the project is aiming to make obvious choices in regards to what would be obvious to add to styles of beer? It is obvious to add grapefruit peel to this IPA, which is based on hop varieties from the great northwest. These hops from this area, Centennial, Chinook, and Magnum often best described as being big citrus, like a grape fruit. I hope the first project is well received so we can see what other obvious choices the brewers choose to execute. 

This beer was bottled 1/23/14, so it was a little over a month old. The nose is all citrus, with little to no floral hop presence.  The taste is dead on successful, big grapefruit in the back of my cheeks I can feel it. The underlying sweetness is nice, but the malt backbone is a little light. The bottle lists Koochenvagner's Brewing Company, Escondido, San Diego California as home. I tried to find more information about the brewery, but all signs point to this being a stone brewing company side project. The google search results don't turn up much, and the www.stochasticity.com website is very vague. There is really no more information on the beer on the Internet than there is one the bottle. Koochenvagers? Greg Koch? the aim is to make obvious beers? Stone makes a lot of IPA's, what makes this one any different? The 22 ounce format and the screen printed bottle seem to familiar. Is this what the hiatus is for? This new project? Stone brewing marketing experts, they keep there brand fresh. This beer must have been months in the making, especially getting label approval for a phony brewery. It was a fun journey, and I cannot wait for what else is to come out of this project. 

Top BA stouts bottle share

Surly Darkness 100/100 on BA

It was a share that seemed like it had been years in the making. The other half of the NOVA experiment and I share a cold, or sometimes room temperature beer after work occasionally. It would happen more often except he lives in Midlothian, south side, or the dirty if you will. I live barely a mile from our center of operation, BDC, or Tha Villa Park. Nathan does send me pictures of his beer mail, and we are constantly texting at work about various whales in the market. Things started to get heavy, and he mentioned he was collecting these beers for the most epic tasting. His dedication to chasing down all of these dark beauties is beyond what I could ever do. He spent a year mailing and negotiating for these beers far and wide. I had to get a little sip. 

We had kicked around dates for a while and finally, February first it was going down. The super bowl is the next day you say? This was our super bowl, plus Nathan was off the following Monday. It's amazing how when you finally get weekends off you manage to commit them so quickly to this and that. Well we started off with this Imperial Stout Trooper from New England brewing company, just a little 8.5% Russian imperial stout. When I got to his house we elected the best way to go through these beers was by level of intensity. We started in regular stouts, went through the coffees and ended up in the barrel aged insanity. The flavor of the first beer was perfect, the mouth feel and intensity of roasted grains put a solid baseline down for all that was to come.

The Abyss 100/96 on Beer Advocate

Then we got into beers I had only seen in pictures but never tried, the surley darkness, the speedway stout, and the abyss from deschutes. I had a chance to buy a speedway stout in New York but the price was insane and the dust was thick. I regret that decision to this day. Look at how dark the head on the abyss is compared to the previous beers. It was this intensity that spawned a little break for cigars. 

Black Tuesday 100/95 on Beer Advocate

I doubt I will have a chance to have most of these beers again, but the black Tuesday was probably one of the rarest we drank. The Bruery has a society, you pay dues, you get sick ass beer. This is one of those beers. Who gave it up for this tasting? I'm not sure but he was probably banished from California. I shouldn't make it sound like it was just two of us, there were four, thank god. I tried to call for back up once, and got denied. My mom dropped me off at said event. That is how serious I was about seeing this thing through and being safe.

BA plead the 5th 100/97 on Beer Advocate

Here is the money shot, the two OG's drunk as shit and still going. The picture doesn't show the true story. I had to tap out with in 30 minutes of this picture. These barrel aged plead the fifths rounds out my dark horse experience. We have been killing it selling their products for a little over a year, and I have drank nearly everything they make. I even have the aaron morse beard happening. My favorite stout remained bourbon county coffee but the abyss gave it a run for it's money. 

If I had stayed up and continued to drink the last beer it may have been fatal. 17 total stouts, and most of them at or above 10%. The last beer would have been my 700th check in on untapped. This was the aftermath the next morning. The marathon tasting went from 2P.M. to 2A.M. I don't think I will be going so hard if something like this pops up again. I have only had 3 beers since this sampling. I am getting to the point in my pursuit of beer where I need to take the cheap road. I really enjoy having beers with this guy, and he shares the same respect. The Biscotti Break share should be way easier, 4 beers?

Fullsteam Brewing (Durham, NC.)

Hello friends, as I get older I get less patient for trying to schedule outings with friends. I have probably blogged about it before but life is demanding and sometimes you just gotta go. That is exactly what I did 1/17/14, when I went to Durham for a 24 hour experience. Up at 2:30 AM Friday morning I worked through all the shit with my job and finally got on the road at 4:30 PM. I arrived at 7 and despite the hunger pushed through the party until crashing at 1 AM. There was supposed to be a midnight ride to this brewery, but then again breakfast was there the next morning. It felt like cheating, a get away with scooters and new breweries!

I am no brewery freshman, and am of the opinion that to be successful you have to create a destination for your patrons. It is very important to your local home that the mecca is a place they can spend some relaxing time and lots of money. Distribution is only a measurable piece of the business that reflects long term growth and worth. If you can stay small, keep your locals happy, and sell plenty of beer without distribution, it appears you can be profitable. The head aches one can avoid keeping business in house would be something I would go after. The entry way to this brewery is perfect reflection of that beer mecca that calls out to the local drunkards. Behind this door opens to a large welcoming space with lots of natural light, via sky lights, a small stage for bands, and a room with arcade games. The bar itself is a separate space and features not only fullsteam beers, but a plethora of other local beers. The customer service was great, and they offered half pints which I enjoy. Fruitcake . . . The beer, a piece of pride for the brewery was hot a confusing. I enjoyed all of the dark beers that I had, the smoked porter pictured below was great for the weather. 

Being as close as Durham is I would say I will definitely have to go back to this brewery again for a more even keeled review. I was so tired, and malnourished that I wasn't myself. I was a shell of a man having this experience, although I'm glad I went. It's a place that is far enough away you feel like you went somewhere, but it is farther than the beach! I was able to unplug from work, other than going to a brewery, and relax for 20 minutes or so. 

http://www.fullsteam.ag/beer/

http://freezeyourballsoff.wordpress.com/

Rose De Gambrinus (Cantillon)

The bottle looks unassuming, and the general style of sours do not sound appealing to most people. It is a style similar to IPAs, in that if you have a shitty one first you may not come back to the style. This is the third style of Cantillon that I have had, and my favorite so far. This beer is like a quiet conversation in the corner of a cafe somewhere in Europe. The flavor is a woven tapestry of fruit, bitterness, and funk. The mouth feel is robust, falling right in the middle. You'd probably expect it to be lighter.

Most brewers spend years working on cleanliness and sanitation, just a touch of unwanted bacteria can ruin the flavor that was the goal.  Lactobacillus and Brettanomyces are types of these bacteria that enjoy the high sugar of a fermenting mash. These bacteria create unwanted acids that give off flavors like band aids, metal, and even unwanted herbal aromas. The brewers who have been playing with this funk for years have the experience to kill the bacteria once the desired amount of funk is present. The people at Cantillon have been playing with fire for hundreds of years. It is obvious that these sours are above and beyond many of their American counter parts. I love getting to try these, and if you ever travel to Belgium or see these beers around, don't second guess yourself. This is the Whale of Whales!

http://www.cantillon.be/br/3_1