Out on a limb

The girlfriend was out of town again, and what's a boy to do? I finally broke down and purchased Widmer Brothers Hefeweizen. Prior to last night, I had avoided the drink as a craft beer because Anheuser-Busch owns a minority stake in the company. To me, a craft brew should also be an independent brew. The sovereignty of the brewer matters almost as much as the flavor of the beer... almost.

However, I was able to gallantly put my prejudice aside and pick up a six-pack. I felt a bit odd the whole way to the check-out. Old men with sixers of Left Hand staring at me with accusing eyes. They know. I paid in cash to avoid a paper trail and let the girl put the six-pack in the bag (before you freak out, I use those reusable bags compulsively). Luckily, my parking spot was rock star so I was in the car and on my way home quickly.

When I got home, I shut the blinds to hide what I was doing. My neighbors shouldn't have to see this... As always, pasta was for dinner, and what's the best thing to do when waiting for pasta to cook? Drink a beer. Very good! I grabbed one out of the fridge and looked at it. It looked like a craft beer. I poured it into my favorite tasting glass and analyzed it.

It has a nice hazy appearance, good sign for a wheat. It didn't quite have the color I would have liked. There was no sense that it was unfiltered by looking at it, and this is in basic comparison to brewers like Boulevard and Goose Island. Usually a hefe will have a nice aroma, faint bits of coriander and orange peel. This one did, but it was fainter than most. There was no body to the aroma. At this point, I am a bit concerned with my decision. I should have just got a mixed pack and grabbed ONE of these... I braced myself and took a drink. To be honest, it was good. By no means was it one of the best hefes I have ever had, but it does the trick just fine. As it rolled around my flavor receptors, I could pick out most of the characteristics of a good hefe, albeit in smaller amounts and a little unbalanced than normal. It had a nice crisp finish and didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth. It's light enough to be a good session beer.

So, I can honestly say that if this beer were a bit cheaper to reflect its heritage, I might recommend it. If it's all you can get, go for it. Widmer Brothers created a beer that would be best consumed at a bar, when there aren't many options. But, I did it, I overcame my prejudice. Will I be drinking Shock Top or Winter Bourbon Cask any time soon? No. To be honest, those are just icky lies. If I want to drink a craft beer from an Anheuser-Busch brewer, I'll get something from Michelob. At least their beer is inexpensive, easy to find and doesn't carry a lot of pretense. This could be an entirely separate post though.

Stay tuned for that one..

Hittin' Rock Bottom

The other night my brother, sister-in-law and myself went to check out Rock Bottom Brewery here in Des Moines. It's about five minutes from my apartment and my girlfriend was going to watch the new High School Musical movie. What better to do than check out the brewery?

As I had already eaten, I skipped the menu and began to examine the beer list. The variety of beers they offer there was about what I expected. Most of the microbrewers have the same samples: brown, red, pale, lager and wheat. They all of these and a couple of more. So, I decided to get the sampler, just to give 'em all a go. My brother followed suit, but my sister-in-law ordered a hefeweizen. They ordered their food and I got a bowl of chili.

The server brought us a complimentary sample of their Pumpkin Ale. In itself, it was not a bad little ale. The only problem was, well, they treated it like a margarita. The rim was laced with cinnamon-sugar, and that completely drowned out the flavor of the beer. Luckily, another sample came with our sampler pack, this time sugar-free. The beer had a nice pumpkin and cinnamon balance. It worked well for the rainy day atmo.

The rest of the beers came out and the servers lined them up and explained them to us. Despite mispronouncing Marzen, it was a decent explanation. I usually don't project an air of wisdom when it comes to beer, mainly because I look ten years old.

The first one I tried was their brown ale, because I really like brown ales. The aroma of this beer was faint. It had almost no smell, which turns out to be a characteristic for many of the beers they serve. The liquid itself was rather watery, but the flavor was still ok. It tasted much like a watered-down version of a good brown ale, like a Goose Island or something. I enjoyed it, but not as much as most browns.

I moved onto their red next. I always like to see how a brewer perceives what a red should be. To me, it has more play to it then a lot of beers. The red followed suit with the brown in that it was watery and lacked aroma. However, it tasted pretty good. Not very hoppy or malty, it went down smooth. The rest of the beers kept up the trend. Their dark beer wasn't nearly heavy enough.

All in all, it was a very fun time. A great place to hang out and have a few brews for gameday. The lightness of the beer makes it good for sessions. The servers were friendly, and the bar was overall very pleasing. Notwithstanding the "napkin incident" of course, it was a normal night out.

Still very excited about my Slow Elk and looking forward to finding more seasonals on hand at the local grocer.

...my only sunshine...

So, I had a bad day yesterday and decided to make it better by having a really good beer. I do this from time to time. My first thought was to pick up a reliable IPA and just relax on the couch. When I left work, at five, like everyone else in the neighborhood, I made the decision to go the grocery store with better selection. This led to me being in traffic for about an extra forty-five minutes. During this period my girlfriend called to say that she was starting dinner and to inform me that we were having steaks. My mood brightened.

When I got to the store, I walked straight to the craft section of beers. I grabbed a sixer of Fort Collins Rocky Mountain IPA, because it's a helluva beer. But I lingered. My gaze was caught by an unusual site. Something new in the Big Sky slot. But what was it...?

Not Trout Slayer... Not Moose Drool... Not the IPA... what the hell kind of picture is that...? Is that a cow... with antlers? By George it is! Something new from Big Sky Brewing!! A limited release of an oatmeal stout no less!!!


I might have let out a yelp at this point, you'd have to ask the cashier. It was the Slow Elk Oatmeal Stout Limited Release from Big Sky. The concept of experiencing a new brew brought me out of my funk and I grabbed a sixer of that too, not bothering to set my IPA down. I arrived home just in time to pour a beer and grab a plate stacked with steak, green beans and some mac and cheese thing. The beer came first when I sat down...

Amazing. Once again Big Sky left me smiling and wanting to move to Montana. I need to try it again to make a better, in depth assessment, seeing as all I could think of last night was my day was made better. By a cow in antlers and a mystical brewery in a land far, far away.

Also, let's not forget some of the upcoming releases for the winter months.

From Bell's:
Winter White Ale - Nov. 1st
Special Double Cream Stout - Nov. 1st
Third Coast Ale - Nov. 1st
Expedition Stout - Nov. 1st
Cherry Stout - Nov. 7th

From Flying Dog:
K-9 Cruiser Winter Ale

From Millstream:
Schokolade Bock - November

From Point:
St. Benedict's Winter Ale

It's not you, it's me...

Last night we were at the local grocer to get pasta sauce and chicken. My girlfriend wanted something a little different so we went with vodka sauce, decent enough stuff. I, of course, wanted to wander through the beer aisle to see if there was anything that struck my fancy. As I stood pondering the same choices, lo and behold my girlfriend pointed one out for me!

It was a new one, and she knew I had never had it before. It is Leinenkugel's Fireside Brown Ale. Being rather fond of most brown ales, I picked up a sixer of it and away we went. After a quick game of guess which cashier is fastest (which I usually win, but luck was not with me) we scurried home to make dinner.

We got the pasta going and indeed nothing is more boring than watching pasta cook, so I grabbed a beer. The color was a very deep brown (surprise right?) but had an almost red tint when held up to the light. There really wasn't any head to speak of and what was there didn't leave any lace behind. None of this was much of a surprise as I am never sure what to expect from Leinie's. The aroma was nearly non-existent. If anything, there was a faint hint of caramel.

The basic stats:

Malts: English two-row malts

Hops: Cluster

ABV: 4.9%

The drink: WAY TOO SWEET FOR ME!!! My girlfriend loved it though. I did try two just to see if it would grow on me. Not so much. The caramel and hazelnut tastes were completely overwhelming. While I understand that some people want their beer to have a hint of caramel, this was just too far out there for me to truly enjoy. If that's your thing though, by all means try this beer. If your looking for a nice English-style brown ale though, I don't see this beer as a qualifier. The fact that this beer isn't what I was looking for does not discourage me on it. It seems like it would be a good beer for a holiday party (and the pricetag helps with that, Thanks Leinie's!) I will leave the other four in the beer fridge for my girlie to drink at her leisure and next time I am at the store I will pick up a sixer of Leinenkugel's Red, just to remind myself and them that I do enjoy their beer.

Prost!

Good Stuff

I found a great local store for home-brew supplies. It's a small store but the guy was very helpful. He hooked me up with a magazine that outlines sort of the basics on what I need to do to get started brewing my own beer.

The research into good beers will continue, but I must study for my GRE. I hope to get my MA in History so I can teach at a local college. At some point the Ph.D. would be awesome, especially if I were brewing. It could be called Professor Brew or something stupid like that. I just think it would be awesome to be the professor with a brewery in his basement.

First things first, as always. I am going to try to brew just a simple home kit. Sort of like getting Sara Lee before you jump into from scratch baking. The store I found has a lot of different kits, but I think I am going to go with an Irish Red or a Pale Ale. Nothing too fancy yet. I don't want to start with an IPA because I want my first IPA to be good.

I don't think my apartment company would be down with me brewing beer in my bathroom... Or maybe they would, I don't know. But for sure, the excitement is building for me. I just have to get the GRE out of the way...

Starting Up

I am starting this blog to share my experiences with craft beer. This seems to be a good time for me to do so considering we are heading into the winter months. Bell's produces some of my favorite beers during the winter. I also hope to use this blog as a way to catalog other's blogs and helpful websites. In this way perhaps it can be used as an almost educational device for begginers. As I stumble my way through the world of breweries I will note what I have done and later someone else can use my guide as a shortcut. Or, I can use it to look back and jog my memory...