San Diego Visit (A Work Trip)

Never in my wildest dreams would I ever thought working for a beer wholesaler would have landed me a trip to San Diego. The trip was non stop, tons of fun, and was a great opportunity for me to bond with some of my coworkers. I will try my best to walk you through this with me but . . Beers, so many beers.

I left out of Richmond Saturday morning with two of my co-workers, and another two would meet is in CA, flying from Charlottesville. We had a layover in Atlanta, then onto San Diego, where we should have been united with fellow employees. Their plane had been delayed, and we were on our own to hit the town. I was already blown away by this point. We had left a seasonably chilly VA, and were now on the west coast. It was warm and the resort was full of the sound of children playing in the pool. We had plans on heading to Ballast Point in little Italy already so we just headed out early for that. It was packed, they had like 40 beers on tap, nearly half of which don't see distribution. I  would have been happy to sit there all night, we went on a failure of a walk about instead. 

The next morning we met Nick Flood (No shit his real name), our Green Flash tour guide, and our other two co-workers at the hotel bar to kick off the day of festivities. We headed off to Green Flash Cellar 3 first. It was quite the hike to get out there but it was nice to see some of the So-Cal landscape. We only see the occasional big bottle from cellar three in Virginia. This place had everything and lots of variants. It was super clean and not very busy. 

Pictured above is Nick Flood, in his backwards Green Flash hat. I appreciate that Green Flash didn't put their faithful through what the Bruery did with their wild fermentation program. This barrel house is dedicated souly to sour aging. The whiskey barrel aged beers like silva stout are still maintained at Green Flash. We went to Green Flash shortly after being here but didn't stay long, the talks of lunch got the crew plotting and scheming about how to break away and take advantage of being here.

I got very vocal about wanting to go to Pizza Port, so we did that for lunch. This place was amazing. They are a brew pub with five locations, and look at the beer selection. Their pizza is off the chain. Having lunch here also let the guys catch up on the status of their fantasy teams. I feel like we pretty much lost our escort at this point in the trip for saturday. We got back to the hotel, hung out for a bit. Then we went back to Ballast Point little Italy with the guys that just landed. Turnt up from there on out for events that included teaching craft beer in the hotel hot tub and walking around ocean beach.

Monday morning breakfast, and no one could drink their beer. I may or may not have ordered an Almanac Gose on the Green Flash tab. Food was great, but we were dragging ass. The original Alpine is pictured below is only a place to buy growlers and merchandise, so they built the pub, where we had lunch. The OG location was bad ass, and a testament to Alpine handle on all things hoppy. People flock to this dump for libations, barely leaving room to get down the street for the lack of parking. I was touched by the free hoodie I received that day. I have been to the holy land, and I got a gift better than a t-shirt.

So we had to be at the stadium pretty early. We got to go on the field and attempt to drink more beer. Tony Rawls managed to sneak of an get a selfie with Kendra Wilkenson!! I was so jealous, and elevated Rawls to a whole other level in my book. The game was cool. It's sad for San Diego that the chargers will probably be moving but the stadium was ancient. The steelers walked all over them, and the steelers fans were in attendance. 

Back in the streets afterwards naturally. Pretty crazy being from the east coast and thinking about us doing something after a monday night football game but we did. First we got some late night California tacos, pictured below. Then we went back to mission beach to drink with the Breckenridge rep on the beach. The beach was amazing. I can see how a man could get used to this. I wish I had thought to take an additional day off to stay a little longer. Andrew and I visited stone bright and early at the airport and back to the east coast we went, whomp whomp. I'll be back California, prepare yourself.

Marzen (Schlenkerla Brewery)

If you know me, you know that my favorite time of year is fall. The smell, the chill, the leaves changing, and the German drinking holidays. The St. Benedictine Octoberfest is an annual fund raiser at the school that happens every year. I have not been the past couple of year but will mark it on the calendar. 

When I worked at Brown, I could name every import that we carried. Now that I am at Specialty it isn't that easy. We distribute for B. United that has an import portfolio bigger than our core portfolio. It has been a real challenge to learn all of these brands, and some have a bit of seasonality to them. Schlenkerla is a B. United brand that we carry four or five SKU's from year round.

Rauch beers, or smoked beers are the German way of adding flavor to beers and keep with in the purity laws. Water is added to grain to encourage it to sprout, and once it has sprouted they dry or smoke the grain to stop at this point of growth. One practice was to layer the grain between moss, thus imparting some flavor. Schlenkerla does a bit of blending to express many degrees of smokiness. These beers are often described as a meal in a glass. It's like drinking a slab of bacon or rack of ribs. I have yet to try to Oak Smoke yet, this could be a long learning process.  

There Gose the Neighborhood (Against the Grain Brewing)

My friend Josh and I went out to a neighborhood that has a great little place for beer last week. Saison Market in Jackson Ward has been getting so pretty big whale beers for sometime now. I have purchased the coffee jesus from evil twin, and I've even seen them receive a case of Bo & Luke from against the grain.

Saison Market is right behind Saison restaurant in historic Jackson Ward. Jackson Ward is a National Historic Landmark, known for being a predominant african american neighborhood. The machine that is VCU has brought so many new people to the area, the neighborhood is getting invaded by business and residential to support the influx. Saison Market resides in one of these repurposed buildings and retains the rustic charm of the ward. It was damn hot that night and this was not the right beer for the time.

There Gose the Neighborhood, by Against the Grain, is a salty wheat beer with roasted red peppers, cilantro, calmansi limes, and is fermented with brett. It was created by some culinary types that were shooting for a fancy cocktail type beer. The roasted peppers took over this beer. I didn't not taste any brett and didn't get any salty gose flavors. I wouldn't suggest this beer unless you are following on instagram #gimmeallthegose. 

I love that label art doe.

Gravity Check (Kern River Brewing)

Please consider this post a retraction to my previous stance about session IPA's. Over the past three years starting immediately after stout season, a new session IPA was released. I felt assaulted, cheated and even went as far as to boycott them. This is about the time I began my hunt to drink every gose I could get my hands on. I'm really assuming that my taste in IPA's has changed, and I have had quite a few IPA's from breweries this year that are better than the regular IPA. Exhibit A, 21st Amendment Down to Earth, much preferred over Brew Free or Die. Less malty, good hop aroma and flavor, more drinkable. I know this might be sacrilege but I also prefer Easy Jack over Union Jack, and on that note I'll move on.

So I had a request for some beers from some old and new trading partners. Despite my desire to spend that money one something like shipping, I figured what the hell it's been a long time since I have sent beer mail. I went for the gusto and sent my west coast compadres a 15 pack of All Day IPA. At the time of purchase, the beer was only 4 days old, and still brilliant. Stuart was quick to fire back a care package and I have to be honest my old habit of thinking of session as the lesser of the IPA's took over. I was pleasantly surprised by this beer. Gravity Check is a bright and lively IPA, and taste like any other fantastic IPA. I kept having to check the label in disbelief that it was a session IPA. Stuart I apologize for doubting your taste. This beer was fantastic.

BCTC (Ommegang Brewery)

The beards were packed tight in the sprinter. Three coolers, cooling and the mighty unicorn was taking us the Brewery Ommegang for a festival like I have never seen before. Three former brown distributing employees gone separate ways reunited for weekend of dig swinging drunkenness. 

This was the second weekend this month I have been on the road headed to New York. I have to admit the weather was a fantastic break from the humid VA. The brewery experience around Kueka Lake was a bit underwhelming but this festival promised to hurt. My only expectation was there would be a fantastic formal dinner with the perfect beer pairings. I anticipated a lot of bottle sharing going around the camp site, but I was under selling the magnitude of the event completely.

The 90's theme smacked you currently in the face at the front gate. The Jurassic park gate, the goosebumps themed programs, and the nickelodeon themed volunteer shirts are still hilarious. We got in just in time to jump into the cocktail hour and dinner. We dropped our shit and headed to food. 

Duvel big bottles everywhere, the first circus tent for dinner must have had a thousand people ready to get down. The lines for all of the appetizers were so long we chose to quickly flock to the pig table. The first course came rather quickly, and was fish. I chose not to risk my allergy, but it looked really tasty.

The meat stick, aka Scottish egg was a welcome sight and provides a fantastic greasy base for a weekend of drinking. We also had a meat pie that was a touch dry, pictured below. Everything for the dinner flowed so well, the service was perfect and the vibe was very positive. The moment a bottle was empty it was replaced, danger danger!

I was very tired, so I retreated to the camping area, set up my tent, and I went to bed. There were two different camping areas, one for industry folk, and one for the public. The tents were piled on top of one another. The next day I walked around to get the full magnitude of the festival. Jockey boxes as far as the eye could see. The picture below was right across from our general tent area. Dogfish just out of the frame to the left, left hand straight ahead, six point and harpoon to the right. The VIP tasting sessions started at 1:00 and ran until 9? The main tent dinner in was transformed into a giant pouring tent, and there was another one parallel right next to it. There must have been nearly 70 breweries trying to woo everyone. It didn't take long before my tongue was so dead from tasting. That final night the Meat Puppets played some of my favorite cuts from the 90's. 

This event is the standard for beer get together and well worth the cost of admission, although I paid nothing. I really enjoyed the camaraderie of hanging with beer business peers. We have swirled around in employment for a while, as you do, and can still get together and truly appreciate this drank's ability to unite.  

Desert beers (Terrapin Brewing Company)

Sometimes, in craft beer exploring, I just feel like trying something that is out of left field. Swirling and sipping different malt creations and combinations of hops can get taxing. I don't want really care if the proportion of hops are more mosaic or more cascade. These beers both hit our market at relatively the same time, and both are completely unique. When I posted pictures of each on Instagram, I had instant interest from trading people across the nation.

Please excuse the Michelob glass in the picture. I shared this with a friend at his lake house that is stocked with old glassware from our former employment at an AB wholesaler. Maggie's Blackberry Cobbler, is an imperial farmhouse ale with graham cracker and blackberry. The idea of a cobbler beer from the people that make wake and bake seems awesome but the choice of imperial farmhouse? That was completely lost on me. People asked me what I thought or how was it? I think it came out exactly as intended. Is there are larger production need for this beer? Probably not but I am grateful to occasionally enjoy the experimental labors of brewers like Terrapin. 

So you have made a peanut butter beer, and so have a few other people? Is it time to step up the little kid sandwich beer game? Absolutely. My opinion and answers to peoples questions about this beer is similar to that of the previous beer. The peanut butter flavor is familiar, tasting just like liquid bliss. The choice to use raspberry as the jelly was a brilliant brewing choice. It gives the finish a tartness that creates a fun complexity. I hope this beer pops up again when it is colder outside. I think the tart raspberry flavor actually helped make this dark beer more palatable for the summer season. Did I mention that both of these beers barely broke the $10 mark in the retail market? Keep it up Terrapin, and if all goes well I will be visiting for the hop harvest this fall. 

Spank (Smuttynose Brewing)

Happy 21st birthday to Smuttynose Brewery, from New Hampshire. This beer was a complete label buy. After read a little about the brewery, it's good they have a sense of humor. If you remember the setting of the good son with Macaulay Culkin, the shard cliffs of shear dreary rocks. That sounds exactly like where this brewery is in New England. In the 1870's Smuttynose island was even the setting for a gruesome double axe murder. I have to admit that my Smuttynose experience is limited to old brown dog, and finest kind IPA. I have been making efforts to try more of their beers, and this seemed like something there were proud of.

I have become more tolerate of Saisons as of recent. I try to stay away from the ones that seem very peppery. I have several that become almost undrinkable once the spice warms up. I grabbed this spank fresh and I am glad I did. The hops seemed very alive in this beer and showed up in the very beginning of the final act on my palette but faded cleanly. The malt in this beer was hearty yet light enough to allow the hops to shine. It has been over a month since I have drank this beer, but I believe the price point was fair at about $9 for the 22oz bottle. 

Lots of other interesting offerings have been popping up from Smuttlabs, including a brett beer. I will be tasting plenty more from these folks. You should check them out as well https://smuttynose.com/

Hard Root Beer (Mission Brewing)

I was quite excited when this little jewel landed in my in box last Friday. The category of hard root beer has been flooding my social media but remained out of the Richmond market thus far. I thought it had been out of our market, but it seems Sprecher has been in market for some time. This company has been making non alcoholic soda and released a hard root beer some time in 2014 I am guessing by the BA notes. This beer has been in market and is riding the coat tales of the Not Your Fathers Root beer for the past few weeks in Richmond. If you look at the history, packaging and price point you have something to be suspicious about. This offering maybe 5% ABV, but what sort of balance has been stuck between flavor and sweetness. The thing I have heard about the not your fathers is how uncanny it is to just regular old barq's or A&W beer of root. If this thing snow balls it is going to make for a very interesting next year in the business. I have already heard that the big boys like Sam Adams are working on their own recipe. 

So Mission Brewery exists in the heart of San Diego. In my opinion this is the biggest dick swinging town in the US. The brewery success in this part of California doesn't come cheap. Mission claims to have started in 1913, and has gone though some changes. Being close to the Padre baseball park, Mission answered the call to provide something different to patrons. This hard root beer smells dead on, it pours flat, and the flavor is really good. I could not taste the 7.5% ABV at all. The spice assaults the tongue and hides the alcohol great. It really is not beer. It is more like a wine cooler, and will possibly be the more manly answer for the sissies that don't like beer. I can see big mixology coming out of these dranks.  

Indra kunindra (Ballast point brewing)

Like I mentioned previously, Ballast Point is very on point and have several world class brews. Indra Kunindra is one that I passed on buying the first time around. The original bottles to hit distribution disappeared so quickly, I had to snag one second go round.

I went searching for the origin date of this beer, and came up empty handed. I am guessing by the ancient ballast point label on beer advocate that this beer is not new to market. That being said, was ballast point ahead of it's time with regards to this trend of beer transcending stylistic guidelines? Stouts have been done over and again, with coffee, chocolate, mint, and all sorts of additives. The pepper beers have been coming on more and more recently. We have even had two different breweries release Sriracha beers in the past year. The most recent beer that I think is going after a flavor so out of the box is Or Xata from Bruery. These beers are so easy to drink, they feel more like a malt that beer. The curry spice was not just hot, it added a nice flavor to leave you wanting more.

The reviews on this beer are not very good, and I think that is unfair. People this beer is what brewers are capable of if you give them a chance. You have to open your palette up and forget style guidelines. This is a clean beer with no horrible off flavors, that hides ABV like an old pro. Do not sit down and drink this with huge coffee stouts, or big IPAs and expect to fully appreciate the subtle flavors here. I promise I will step off my ballast point soap box now. 

Fin

Grunion (Ballast point brewing)

I will attempt to get back on the blogging train. The motivation to post these is due to the pictures sitting in my phone. I clean them out once I right the post, but more often than not more time passes and I can't think of anything to say about featured beer. Ballast Point Grunion is one amazing beers from a very strong and hot portfolio at my disposal. Why have you not seen this pale ale from ballast point? The words pale ale, have been over shadowed by the mighty IPA. Grunion is a beer that will make people a believer, make you question all you've been told about "good" beers.

For those that don't know, Ballast Point was born out of a dorm room at UCLA. College friends home brewing, became a supply shop, and eventually a brewery that opened in 1992. This brewery has grown out of San Diego to be one of the biggest west coast breweries around. They have lots of highly held beers in their portfolio, Victory at Sea, Sea Monster, Indra Kinundra, Wahoo Wheat, Grunion, and Sculpin with all it's variants. Beer aficionados in Richmond have been shelling out $16 - $18 for six packs for the past six months and there is little sign of slowing. 

So Grunion is a pale ale, which has become the smaller less interesting brother of IPAs, double IPAs and triple IPAs. The trend of session IPAs have also taken the steam out of pale ale's sails. This beer is a perfect blend of flavor and bitterness. Two new hop varieties blend to create a flavor that has great herbal flavor, with a back bone of caramel sweetness. This is listed as a limited release, so grab your if you see them. 

Siracha Stout (Rogue Brewing)

In the spirit of my southern roots, I have grown into a fondness for spicy treats. I have become a fan of chicken wings, wasabi on sushi, and horse radish sauce. My first experience of Siracha was at a Cuban restaurant in my home town, Kuba Kuba, and I have been sort of intrigued ever since. Siracha is a delicate burn, but with very bland Cuban food it works great. If anyone would like to go to Kuba Kuba with me send me a message, my wife doesn't like it. 

Lays has produced a Siracha potato chip, and I feel like I have seen Siracha pajama pants at Wal-Mart. The idea of beers with heat has run the full range of experience, from the heat of a Twisted Pine ghost face killah to the sweet chipotle stouts. There is even a chili beer from cave creek that has actual habanero peppers in the bottle. Ballast point habanero sculpin has hit Richmond, and I am a huge fan. The beer is more than hot, it has green chili pepper flavor. 

Rogue Brewing is out of Oregon, and started off as a brew pub in 1987. They have since grown into a brewery that has a flagship line of beers, a organic rogue farm series, liquor distilleries, and they even make their own soda. The recent Voodoo doughnut beer series raised a lot of eye brows and left many wondering if they could pull of such wild flavors. I was a little concerned about what would shine through, but as you can tell by the head, this stout was full bodied. The mouth feel reminded me a little of Siracha. I didn't think the beer was hot, and my wife agreed. The packaging is amazing right down to the green crown. If you see some still around, and I know it still is. Pick one of these up and give it a try. You might like it.

La Chouffe (Shuck and Chug)

This is my first post as a new employee of Specialty Beverage Virginia. Specialty is a craft beer house based out of Rockville Va. which is about 20 minute commute for me. I don't have to go to the warehouse daily, although my route goes from boulevard to Goochland Va. right past the warehouse. Specialty is a craft beer distributor, no budweiser, no heineken, no energy drinks, and no seagrams wine coolers. I will be selling such exciting national brands as Ballast Point, Green Flash, New Belgium, Terrapin, Six Point, Schlafly, and 21st Amendment to name a few. 

Whole Foods short pump is on my new route, and the growler king, Greg Self, has a reputation for being a leader in the Richmond craft beer scene. He has an appreciation for great brands that are commonly over looked. My first event at his account was a shuck and chug featuring La Chouffe. Shuck and chug is a Thursday event where they have dollar oysters, and beer specials. It also worked out that La Chouffe is property of Duvel USA, thus Stephen Tuzeneu's new passion. Stephen is also an Ex-Brown Distributing employee and long time acquaintance of Greg and Myself. See what I did there? La Chouffe was started in 1982, and set out to bring new beers to the world from Belgium. The stories of La Couffe, based around Gnomes making beer in the mountains of Belgium help create the same sort of mystic romance as say, a monk in a monastery? The three beers are La Chouffe, belgian blond, Houblon Chouffe, a triple IPA, and N'Ice Chouffe, the winter warmer. The Houblon is amazing, the hop notes are so clean. If you see this on draft get one!

So this is my new Ipad and my desk that afternoon. I have to admit my first beer was a habanero sculpin. I love that beer. Please excuse my finger in the picture. Later the rest of the team was there, and I began working on making connections with the guys that will be working with me. This event was a good time, and everyone left laughing and smiling. I think it was the La Chouffe song played on repeat, and people shopping in gnome hats. 

These oysters are soooo good. I like the salty ones. I look forward to this monthly happening.

Sump (Perennial Artisan Ales)

So the day to day all the time beers that most breweries make money to pay the bills with occasionally need a little brand reminder. They produce a beer that is curl your toes, knock your socks off, call out of work, and spend your rent money on good? Depending on when you ask me, I may agree. The thing about the business that makes me giggle occasionally is the beers that go "behind the counter" due to limited availability. Sometimes a smaller distributor will get a beer that they are convinced is the tits that no one knows about. I have been guilty about having plead the 5th put behind the counter at a total wine and it takes 3 weeks for it to sell out, or even ends up on the shelf. Market hype is just not there for some of these beers, although in this case I feel hype is deserved.

Sump however is not a common, put it in the seasonal section beer. What the hell are you thinking? You have to leverage this shit however you can! I had been so good at not being an impulse buyer and only buying things I cannot live with out. I had even more recently passed on a chance to buy an abyss. I didn't pass on it a second time when my eyes caught that sump on a shelf. Total wine, what are you doing? I had to tease the local snobs on social media that didn't even know this beer was going to be so widely released in the market. I gotta admit I expected to have to fight for it.

So a moment of weakness I splurged on both of the dark dank beers that perked my interest last week. As I ticker I had to secure these for my OCD desire to drink all the beers, or at least all of the dark beers.

So like a real ambassador, self proclaimed, I broke this huge coffee stout out this past Sunday with my wife and family. The .45 caliber bottle opener was a gift from the family from young veterans brewing company in Virginia beach. This beer has the perfect coffee flavor. There was good bitterness, balanced with sweetness that wasn't overwhelming. I probably can not pull it off but I bet this barrel aged would give coffee bourbon county a run for it's money. This is a real beer nerds beer, well worth the hunt and price tag. The label is awesome and this brewery is top notch based on my experience with this beer, 17 mint stout, and the abraxas. They also do sours which is bold. 

The Mayan (The Ilkley Brewery)

I find myself tired of looking at the same beer from store to store when I am out shopping. I go to Food Lion locally and often breeze down the beer aisle hoping that something new has invaded the shelves. I am frequently disappointed. Even when I go to total wine or other chain stores it is normally a bunch of the same large craft beer names. Bells, Founders, Sierra Nevada, and the list goes on and on. When working I often talk to bottles shop folks and occasionally a silent sleeper is revealed to me. This beer was pointed out to me and was even reviewed as being better than prairie bomb, which I was doubtful of. I was interested in giving this a try though. I know nothing about it other than the style, chocolate chipotle stout (Mexican stout), which I am a huge fan of. Rate beer gives this beer high marks, and beer advocate, average. The odd 600ml size was a bit odd, and the near seven dollar price tag is not too taxing on the wallet. I was excited to try this recommendation and was hopeful it could stand up to the high praise it was given.

The store I was told about this beer carried this and one other beer from Ilkley brewing. The labels both looked very similar and I have been looking at this beer for quite some time before I purchased it. I had convinced myself this was a Mexican or south American offering but when I was met with the union jack on the bottle cap I was surprised. A English brewed Mexican inspired beer? This will be interesting. I split the bottle with my wife who doesn't like spicy, and she really enjoyed this beer. It is no prairie bomb but it is good, and available without postage year round. The spice note was not a lot of heat. It was more earthy pepper flavors. The body of the beer I wish was a bit thicker, and the syrupish chocolate was a let down. When I went to the Ilkley website it appears that they make a fair bit of cask ales, which makes sense after having this. It had a very similar mouth feel to a beer from cask. So yes it was fun, I would get this beer again. 

Japanese Green Tea IPA (Stone Brewing)

Dear Stone Brewing Company, As we hurdle towards the day that you fully invade my small city, big town with your beer garden, I am undecided. Do I like you or not? Does it really matter? I seemingly keep spending my hard, I mean hard earned cash on your goods. I often tire of the hoppy assault that you reign down on the beer market. You even came at me with an unapologetic IPA, which I could not support. Feel some sense of remorse for becoming too big for ones britches? Even your brewing brethren, ole Jim Koch, occasionally boasts of how many styles and beers he can produce. I really enjoy when he makes press for sharing his passion for how great he is in a public drinking establishment. The flood of your products in the northern Virginia market have began to dam up the aisles, giving me no choice but compare you to the big beer you so much despise. The more SKU's you make, despite the quality, have traction based solely on that five letter word. Damn it, you make good IPA's, and your stouts are very good as well. How will I feel about this Japanese twisted on hoppy perfection? Well keep reading my dribble below the attached image.

Simply the idea of green tea and beer was not something I was looking for someone to brew. Both beer and tea are brewed tho, so that's kind of a fun idea. As you can see by the picture, I got maps, and this beer was very cold when I poured it. The first few sips I really enjoyed, the tea note was playing well with the hops in the finish. I have to say as this beer warmed, or as my tongue got more coated with sweetness this beer became more like Arizona southern style. The hops began over running the tea flavor which I was thankful for. Over all, I am glad I tried this beer but wouldn't buy it again. 

I really believe that Stone coming to Richmond will be a good thing for the overall beer culture. The problem currently with the culture is that everyone is on top of each other racing to get to the next big beer release. I am hoping that this brewery and beer garden will draw attention of those new to craft beer to a experienced place for a proper education. Leave all this dope ass local shit to meee!

Enlightenmint (Twisted Manzanita Brewing)

Enlightenmint is a mint chocolate stout from twisted manzanita brewery out of San Diego, California. The brewery has been open since 2010 and is aggressively expanding into distilling liquor.

I've have been very curious about this beer since we started selling it in Northern Virginia last week. Stouts are currently my favorite style almost to a fault. I have only had one mint stout, 17 from perennial artisanal, which was very good. I was cautious about purchasing this beer because there is little information about it and this style could go horribly wrong. I had concerns that it would be too candy like for my palette. The 17 that I had was borderline candy, and very sweet. One upside to taking a chance on Enlightenmint is the price is very affordable at $9.99 vs. the $18plus for the other.

I buy quite a number of warm large format bottles from the local bottle shop. I often bring them home and speed chill them in this watering bucket with a combination of ice, water, and salt. I spin the bottle in the bucket frequently and it chills a stout in about 20 minutes. I have seen a device that clamps to the bottle and spins it for you, but I have not been gifted nor tried that device.

Well, the beer was a nice change of pace. At first glance the head was a nice color, indicative of chocolate. The aroma was mint chocolate. The flavor and alcohol were well balanced, and the finish was like fresh mint. I could even feel the herb on my breath between sips. It even passed the wife test, who enjoyed a tiny glass. She would have loved to have more but had plans for an early bedtime. This is definitely a beer that if embraced and sampled would do very well as a seasonal release. I have no clue the plans for future releases of this product. I noticed on untapped there are less than 500 total check ins for this beer. I suppose this beer could have not gone over well with the west coast home town crowd, but I sure am on board. We sold through the few cases we go pretty quickly. If it comes back look for it again next winter. I may try to get this label off. It's so steam punk with the Edison bulb.

New Years (2014 Round Up)

Well 2014 has been a year of dramatic change for me. Professionally, it was the second full year in the distribution expansion to Northern Va. We more than doubled out portfolio and have been getting Hardywood in the hands of a brand new audience. We are at our limit as far as what we can do and I look for more big change next year. Personally, I became a father in May, which has presented a new set of challenges. I have had to evaluate the extra money and have decided that my passion for working on scooters and motorcycles is a healthier option. I will still be blogging but as mentioned previous, I am not sure how often. This year in beer I pursued Gose against the grain of the session IPA trend. I was glad to see Boulevard, Strangeways, Widmer, Anderson Valley and Off Color brewing answer the call. I stand by my belief that this style can be very refreshing ice cold on a hot day. My last two beers of the year are flash back to the stout obsession that has been well watered this year. Three big stout bottle shares, and I think I have had too many world class stouts. 

Coronado Brewing is out of California near San Diego. I have been pushing Coronado Stupid Stout for weeks based on the perceived merit of how hard it seemed for us to get the brewery to send us some. Also it was well received on the advocate and ratebeer. The price was very forgiving and this beer was exactly what I was looking for. It was a silky beer, with good mouth feel. I got really nice roasted, coffee, and chocolate notes. I even took a picture of the lacing on the head (top right) to illustrate what a good stout does to the edge of your class. It was a fine stout to kick off new years eve festivities. 

Off Color Brewing out of Chicago Illinois was a new to me this year. Nathan and I had their gose and farmhouse saison at Mekong earlier in the year, both are outstanding. I happened to catch the news of this beer, Dino Smores, hitting the market through social media. I consulted a friend who gave it the green light, and I caught the last bottle on the shelf at Norm's Wine and Beer in Vienna Va. It was expensive, but I needed to try it. I was not the biggest fan. It tasted a little oxidized and more powdered cocoa than I was feeling at the time. I am thinking this beer just didn't follow the stupid stout well. I am still a believer that Chicago is a sleeper of a beer town and I look forward to more excellent surprises from them in 2015. 

Hydra Cuvée (F.W. and Flying Dog collab)

There are several things that I enjoy about maintaining a beer blog. I enjoy the documentation process of my beer experience and the challenge of trying to write entries about beer that are more than judgmental ramblings. I imagine an audience of friends who are willing to click a link on Facebook and get a little insight into my beer experience. I feel like the majority of my audience is beer friends who read and think I am full of shit. I don't have much confidence in my voice or writing ability, so I am clearly too sensitive about this. 

James Rohr actually came through with this Hyrda Cuvee. This beer was a collaboration between Firestone Walker and Flying Dog for savor 2014 and was only available at the event. I am guessing this is an extra bottle which was given to the local distributor and the sales team. What is savor? It is a big food and beverage event held each year in DC. It is hosted by breweries and restaurants for customers and is a by invite only event. Food is served and paired with beers in a more formal setting than a typical festival. I have never been, and get a little annoyed each year at all the people asking me if I am going. 

My first reaction was that after all of the world class stouts I have drank recently this is a nice change of pace. I stopped myself mid sentence. Can one actually get palette fatigue from good beer? Having achieved this type of fatigue am I at the end, NO! This beer was awesome Belgian strong dark, not heavy and had loads of flavor. I kept thinking quad, but it was not. I agree with the reviews of this beer smelling boozy, but it was actually very smooth drinking. I think for me this beer was the case of right beer right time. That time was a week before Christmas in the garage on a cool afternoon with friends after an extended run of stouts. In another setting or set of circumstances this beer would have been a totally different experience. That's why I am not full of shit. The best beer experience has to do with the timing, so don't take others peoples word for it. Create your own moments.  

Reserve Series (Firestone Walker)

Well I sat down to type an entry about a limited beer of a different style I was fortunate to fall into and saw that I had this draft chilling in the Que. Firestone walker celebrated their 18th anniversary this year as well as fellow California breweries stone and Coronado. It must have been a booming era in California beer, and these folks have proven that they have the staying power to get it done.

I got trapped into collecting these beers for a special occasion and settled on breaking them out for my 1000 check in on untapped. Two dear beer friends of mine treat me to the spoils of their aggressive trading hobby, so south I went to share these. 

We had six participants at this particular bottle share and started with velvet merkin, a barrel aged oatmeal stout. This beer has a light flavor profile and is only 8%, most of the others we drank this night are well over 10%. I had to trade to get this beer, a 2013, and had been kind of let down when I got to try the 2014 on draft months ago. It was better out of the bottle.

We had sets of 2013 and 2014, sucaba, parabola, and double DBA. I wanted to end with Parabola, my favorite. I believe the order was Merkin, Double DBA, 17th Anniversary, Sucaba, Stickee Monkey, and last the huge BA stout. Luckily these were pretty cold so we tried to take our time and sip through all the beers to experience each as they warmed up. Anniversary and Sucaba really benefited from this tactic. The sticky monkey was a huge let down for me. It was too cloyingly sweet, and was damn near honey like. 

We blind taste tested all of the verticals, and Parabola was the only one that actually aged the way we expected. Most beers just lost the sharpness in flavor with age, parabola mellowed and gained a deeper complexity with only one year of cellar aging. I hate to do it but this year I have to thin out my hardywood collection. I am afraid that some of their early barrel series beers may have gone to far. I think my attitude about cellaring beers has changed in 2014. I will no longer age any coffee or flavored beers. Most signs say that aging coffee stouts deadens the coffee flavor. I love the coffee flavor!