The Strangest Beers In America

I just stumbled upon this Bon Appetit article and thought I'd share with everyone... The Strangest Beers In America.  To save some time, here's the list, but the article really goes into why each one of them is strange and weird, and has tasting notes, so it's worth a quick read.

Uncommon Brewers Bacon Brown Ale
Freetail Brewing Spirulina Wit
Short's Brewing Key Lime Pie
Wynkoop Brewing Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout
Flying Dog Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout
Dogfish Head Noble Rot
Yard's Brewing Poor Richard's Tavern Spruce
Twisted Pine Ghost Face Killah
Willoughby Brewing Peanut Butter Cup Coffee Porter

Of all these, I've actually tried two of them, the Dogfish Head Noble Rot (Yes!) and the Twisted Pine Ghost Face Killah (No!)  The Flying Dog beer seems innocent enough, a simple Oyster Stout which I've tried before... and despite the sexual Pearl Necklace name I'm led to believe it's really JUST oysters added to the stout.  I've heard of the Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout also, and I've never had the chance to try it, but I certainly would.  As for the Bacon Brown Ale... I'm not sure.  I'm still put off by the debacle that was Rogue's Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Beer.  

Which of these have you tried?  Which of these would you try? 

The BR Beer Scene Year In Review - 2011 Version!

Hey everyone!  

I must say it has been a fantastic year for my blogging and beer drinking habits, as I look back on all of the "resolutions" I set for myself at the beginning of 2011.  Did I accomplish all of them?  Honestly, no, I didn't.  Let's take a quick look though before I get into some goals for 2012.

1. Visit at least 6 breweries.  I accomplished this one, visiting the Tin Roof Brewery in Baton Rouge, Parish Brewery in Broussard/Lafayette, Freetail Brewery in San Antonio, Saint Arnold Brewery in Houston, No Label Brewery in Katy, and the Bozeman Brewery in Bozeman.  Each of them presented a unique experience and I would (and almost certainly will) visit them all again!
   
2. Get published somewhere other than my blog.  Hmmm, in a way I did accomplish this as the Raise A Glass radio show featuring myself and Jay Ducote of BiteandBooze.com is on the air and published on iTunes.  It wasn't really the point of the goal, but I suppose it does meet the letter of the law. 
   
3. Keep Homebrewing.  Mission accomplished here, I brewed several beers throughout 2011 and also a mead.  I plan on doing even more homebrewing in the future now that I'm done with resolution #7 which you'll see later! 
   
4. Enter a Homebrew contest.  I never really did this, but I did serve some homebrews at the Tin Roof Homebrew Appreciation Night.  Still though, I can't say that counts because it wasn't a contest, just an open house/tasting.  Strike 1. 
   
5. Drink a beer stronger than I ever have before.  This was accomplished twice over... once with the Brewdog Tokio* Imperial Stout and also with the Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA.  Check!
   
6. Continue to get in better shape and lose weight as I simultaneously continue to enjoy beer and write about it.  Well, I can't honestly say that I accomplished this one.  I didn't gain much, but I am up about 5 pounds from the start of the year.  So crap... strike 2. 
   
7. There are 365 days in 2011... I think I should try 365 new beers.  This was the big one, and I accomplished it with flying colors, drinking around 460 (and counting for another day) new beers this year.  I finished it off with a Westvleteren 12 as number 365 back in October.  I did fall behind in blogging about all the beers, but can you really blame me? That's a lot of brew! 

So there you have it... 7 resolutions, 5 success stories and 2 strikes.  I guess it takes 3 strikes to be out, so I'll keep on blogging about beer! 

My goals for 2012 will be a lot simpler and mostly focus on that Resolution #6 that I failed to accomplish but also some aspects of the rest.  Check back tomorrow for that post! 

Authentic Beverages vs. the Texas ABC - ruling announced!

Earlier this year Authentic Beverages (not sure exactly who they consist of but I think Freetail Brewing, Jester King, and a few others were part of the lawsuit) put forth a lawsuit against the Texas ABC declaring portions of their Alcoholic Beverages Code to be unconstitutional.  Earlier today the judge in the case sided with Authentic Beverages regarding half of the lawsuit, and with the Texas ABC on the other half.

So, what does this mean to consumers like me who might be in Texas looking to buy/drink some beer?  Honestly, not much yet.  It does allow the breweries to properly name their beers with regards to style, as well as display the alcohol content.  They are also allowed to direct customers to locations that carry their beer which was previously illegal.  

The lawsuit was hoping to also do away with restrictions preventing the breweries from selling directly to the consumers but this part was unfortunately the part that was not ruled unconstitutional.  It's a step in the right direction though, and look for more legislation in the future regarding this part of the issue.  All in all, although it might not affect us over here too much, it's still a good step and proof that the small breweries CAN indeed get things done legally to help the world of craft beer.

For more reading on the subject:  

Scott Metzger's blog, the founder and owner of Freetail Brewing.

Beernews.org's post about the case.

Jester King's blog post/press release.

Resolution Check-in At The Halfway Mark!

Okay, so I guess it's a day early... and July 1 isn't REALLY halfway through the year thanks to February being a bastard month, but it's still close enough for me.  Let's see how I'm doing on all those resolutions!

1. Visit more breweries: I set a goal to visit 6 breweries and am at 4 so far, so I'm on pace for sure.  So far I've visited Tin Roof in Baton Rouge, Parish Brewing in Broussard, Freetail in San Antonio, and Saint Arnold in Houston.  I was hoping to check out the new No Label Brewing this weekend in Katy, TX, but they are apparently closed on the first Saturday of every month.  Dammit.
   
   
2. Get published somewhere other than my own blog:  Hmmmm, technically I guess I could count this as accomplished, as Restauranteers has picked up my blog feed for their site, as well as Louisiana Brews.  Still, that's not me writing for someone else, it's just them using my content and linking back to me.  So... I'm iffy on this one.
   
   
3. Keep home-brewing: So far this is still going on... I bottled a noble pilsner last week, and have a peach witbier in secondary as we speak.  I haven't been brewing as MUCH as I anticipated, but I also still have a nice stockpile since I've been focusing so much on resolution #7. 
   
   
4. Enter a home-brew contest: I haven't done this one yet... but there are a few on the horizon that have potential to satisfy this resolution.
   
   
5. Drink a beer stronger than I ever have before: Check and check.  I tried the 18.2% abv Tokio Imperial Stout back in February, and on a trip to San Antonio I tried an 18% abv Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA. 
   
   
6. Continue to get in better shape and lose weight as I simultaneously continue to enjoy beer and write about it: Well, I haven't been the best at this one, but I am only 8 pounds up on the year.  The last few weeks I've decided to really get back to dieting and exercise and to save the beer drinking for the weekends when I'll allow myself to cheat a little.  I'm sure I'm still going to drink during the week from time to time when tastings arise, but I'll try to avoid it as much as possible.  And hopefully I'll finish the year lighter than when I started it.
   
   
7. There are 365 days in 2011... I think I should try 365 new beers: As of writing this, I'm at 229 new beers in 2011, and at the end of June I should be at 181.  I'd say 48 beers ahead of schedule is looking pretty solid.  And I have another 12 or so at home just waiting to be drank and reviewed.  Boo-ya!
   

And there you have it... 7 resolutions and making solid progress towards accomplishing them all!  Cheers everyone, and thanks for all the help, especially on those last two.

Beer Travels: San Antonio Part 1 - Freetail Brewing Co.

Again I'm going to skip a little out of order in my beer writing, but I'd rather get all my thoughts on drinking in San Antonio down before I forget it all!  (Due to more drinking, most likely...)

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to present for work at a conference in San Antonio.  Fantastic, I thought, this should be a good work opportunity AND I'll get an evening or two in San Antonio to do some drinking!  Some quick research on BeerAdvocate (a good place to look for the beer hotspots in larger areas) and I decided the one place I couldn't miss was the Freetail Brewery.   Other attractive places included the Flying Saucer (a chain I know but they usually have a great selection), the Pedicab Bar and Grille, the Blue Star Brewery, and the Ranger Creek Brewery & Distillery. 

 

After checking into the hotel Monday afternoon I was picked up by a fellow Beer lover, Chad, and we headed up to the Freetail Brewery for some brews and grub.  The place is in a relatively new building way out on the outskirts of San Antonio... thankful again for the ride because a cab would have broke the bank! It's a nice new place... large L-shaped bar with fermenting tanks beyond... barrels hanging around for decoration and a good many flat-screen TVs with the Spurs on.

I was impressed with the quality of beers... while here I tried the La Rubia Blonde Ale, Exxxtra Pale Ale, Buffalo Hump IPA, and the Hopothesis Dark IPA all from Freetail. I especially enjoyed the Exxxtra Pale Ale and Hopothesis, very nice brews and reasonable microbrewery prices. They also had a guest selection, the Live Oak (@liveoakbrewing) Treehugger Barley Wine, which stole the show. I was impressed that they would have some other Texas micros on tap, kudos to them!

La Rubia Blonde Ale, Exxxxtra Pale Ale, Buffalo Hump IPA, Live Oak Treehugger Barley Wine, & Hopothesis Dark IPA

 

We tried a little food as well... the green chili & goat cheese artichoke dip was awesome, and the chips and queso were filling. Didn't get into the bigger items, but the appetizers were good.

A fun place... kind of a tough location unless you live on that side of town but worth the visit.  After drinking our fill there Chad wanted to check out a beer bar closer in to town that he hadn't been to yet... and I was certainly game!  So off we headed to a place called the Pedicab Bar & Grille... check back for Part 2.