Feature Beer Friday! - Goose Island 2013 Bourbon County Coffee Stout

Last week featured the regular Bourbon County Stout in anticipation of today's release of the Goose Island 2014 Bourbon County Stout, so today I'm going to take it up a notch. This is the same basic beer, but with coffee added. With the popularity of the original stout Goose Island took the opportunity to expand the "Bourbon County" portfolio with the Coffee, Barleywine, and Proprietor's versions. They have also done different variations in the past including vanilla, rye, cherry rye, and the rare versions.  

The coffee variant should make it to Baton Rouge, but it will likely be tough to find. Goose Island uses a different local coffee each year to create this brew, and it's usually in the same abv and IBU range as the original version. Which leaves the most important question... does the coffee improve or detract from the regular version? 

Reviewers: Eric Ducote (BR Beer Scene), Brenton Day (The Ale Runner), Chuck Pierce (Me And My Big Mouth), and Buddy Ethridge (Baton Rouge Adventures in Beer).

Serving: Poured from a 12 oz. bottle.

Appearance: Dark, rich, and beautiful.

Aroma: Rich coffee, which dominates the vanilla, oak, and malt flavors expected from a bourbon barrel beer. Brenton said it was like sticking your face in a coffee bag.

Taste: The rich coffee flavor is up front, but then gives way to the malt sweetness and barrel aspects of the beer. It really has a nice complexity that blends all of the flavors together well.  

Mouthfeel: Still rich, and the end of the sip finally gets to some chocolate notes from the roasted malt.

Overall: Phenomenal. The coffee takes this beer up a notch from the original version featured last week. All of us scored this one 2-3 points higher, making it the highest scoring beer featured to date.

If you see some, buy all you can, then call me to share!

Overall Rating: 97.5
My Rating: 96

Feature Beer Friday! - Goose Island 2013 Bourbon County Stout

I've been saving this review until just now, because as a lot of you know may know, next Friday will be the release of the Goose Island 2014 Bourbon County Stout. I still have a few mixed feeling regarding Goose Island being taken over by AB-InBev, but for the most part it seems to have been a positive thing for both the brewery and consumers like me. Before the takeover Goose Island wasn't available in Louisiana and it would have taken some luck or trading to get some Bourbon County Stout. It's still not easy to find (it will likely sell out on black Friday) but at least it's possible. We also see their barrel aged sours and other great beers regularly and the quality doesn't seem to have dropped off at all. 

For the uninitiated, Bourbon County Stout is the grandfather of barrel-aged imperial stouts. It was one of my first tastes of craft beer back with friends at the Wrigleyville Goose Island location years ago, and it stuck with me. All batches tend to vary a bit in the abv, but the 2013 version was a ridiculous 14.9%... and yes you read that right. They age it for 8-10 months in first-use bourbon barrels, so there is nothing between the bourbon and the bourbon county stout. 

Reviewers: Eric Ducote (BR Beer Scene), Brenton Day (The Ale Runner), Chuck Pierce (Me And My Big Mouth), and Buddy Ethridge (Baton Rouge Adventures in Beer).

Serving: Poured from a 12 oz. bottle.

Appearance: Dark black with a tan head. Brenton said that it looked "perfect" and I can't really disagree.

Aroma: Dark, rich, and sexy. There are fantastic notes of bourbon, oak, and vanilla to compliment the roasted malt flavors of the stout.

Taste: Rich vanilla with a slight medicinal note at the front that quickly gives way to the roasted stout and bourbon flavors. That slight off flavor is probably coming from the strong alcohol content of the beer, but it was gone as fast as it was there.  

Mouthfeel: Smooth, and the little tinge of off flavor didn't linger at all. Thick and rich, I could drink more of this than would be safe.

Overall: There's a reason this one is so sought after, it's a great beer. It has everything you would want in a barrel aged stout, and sets the bar high for all other attempts out there.

Try to find some next Friday, it'll be way more fun than fighting the crowds at Wal-Mart or Best Buy! And if you miss out on the bottles, we will almost certainly see a few kegs throughout town.

Overall Rating: 94.75
My Rating: 93

Beer Bloggers Conference 2013 - The Awards Show! (Part 2)

Okay... time for the second installment of the Beer Bloggers Conference 2013 Awards Show!  We left off in the first installment as we arrived in Boston for the official start of the conference.  Traffic sucked, we were late, and the trade show had already begun when we arrived.  That brings us to the first award of part 2...

Best Check-In Decision Of BBC13: Myself! When a busload of people arrive simultaneously, the lines can get rather long to get checked in... so I headed straight for the desk and left Jay and Dustin to grab my bad.  Mission accomplished, we were checked in, up to the room to drop off bags and back down to the trade show in no time. 

Best Beer From The Trade Show: Sierra Nevada Hoptimum! This isn't anything new, but we STILL don't have it on the shelves here in Baton Rouge, so it was good to try some of the 2013 version finally.  Other good options included the Ovila Saison from Sierra Nevada, the 80-Acre Wheat from Boulevard, the Robust Porter from Smuttynose, and a Woodchuck Farmhouse Cider.  There were several other beers, but I had left my phone in the room to charge and didn't get a good record... it happens.  Keeping a phone charged is a real challenge at this conference.

Most Interesting News From The Trade Show: Woodchuck! I was talking to the guys from Woodchuck (yeah, it's a cider, and yeah this is a beer bloggers conference... but whatever, I like cider.) and they have plans to do some dry-hopped ciders in the near future.  I know Woodchuck isn't "craft" since they are owned by C&C Group out of Ireland, and I don't really care for their typical ciders, but the thought of a dry-hopped cider certainly has me intrigued.

Most Ghetto Location For A World Famous Brewery: Boston Beer Company! Okay, so maybe the neighborhood wasn't really as bad as it seemed, and their full production brewery is elsewhere, but the original Samuel Adams facility is in one sketchy location.  Founder Jim Koch even alluded to this in his keynote speech, apparently they would give the local riff raff beer to act as a sort of security.  Plus I bet the rent was cheap... really fairly ingenious when you think about it.

Best Intro Speech: Julie Herz! Julia (with Craftbeer.com) was back to officially open up the conference. She's a great speaker, and she knows the industry better than just about anyone. And she really respects the bloggers' role in the industry... gotta love that.


Best Reason To Give People Free Beer: Jim Koch! It turns out he doesn't like speaking to a sober audience, so there was a can of Boston Lager on everyone's chair.  Joke's on him though, we had already been drinking for hours!  Which in no way stopped everyone from enjoying a Boston Lager.

Coolest Moment Of The Conference: Utopias with Jim Koch! After the keynote speech there was food and a lot more beer... and in smaller groups we were able to go into the barrel aging room and try some of the 2012 Utopias with Boston Beer Company founder Jim Koch.  The beer was amazing, far better than I expected and a lot more smooth than I would have ever guessed.  It was rich, boozy but not overpowering, and extremely complex.  Really the only thing bad about it was the two douchebags in the corner who felt like their personal conversation was more important than the rest of us listening to Jim.  I won't name names, but if you ever find yourself in a similar situation, don't be that douchebag, and show some respect to everyone around you.  That said, it was still a pretty awesome moment.

Best Cheese - Day 2 Edition: Boston Beer Company! Seriously, we had cheese with every meal I think.  It should have been called the Beer & Cheese Conference.  

Best Sam Adams Beer Not Named Utopias: Sam Adams American Kriek!  I love a good sour and this one was really well done.  I wish I could find it locally, but so far I've struck out.

Most Beer Bloggers Crammed Into Too Small Of A Space: Stoddard's Fine Food & Ale! This place seemed really cool, had great decor, had a great vibe, and they had an array of Heavy Seas Beer on tap, but it just wasn't close to a big enough space for everyone at the conference.  If I'm ever back in Boston I'll do my best to make a return trip here for some pints and grub, but this time, we made a pretty quick exit after a few beers to make our way back to the hotel and call it a night.  It had been a long day!

Best Reason To Drink Before Noon: Because you can! Seriously, once the sessions started there was beer everywhere... people were passing bottles around the room, leaving them at the front table for whomever wanted a pour, etc.  The beer was flowing, it was 9:30 AM, and life was good.  

Most Entertaining Speaker At The Conference: Franck Evers! He's the "Global Draught Master" from Heineken, and he came to a beer bloggers conference.  Yeah, we thought that was a little weird, he thought it was a little weird, but he still is a really entertaining guy.  Just don't call him German, he doesn't appreciate that. And be sure to skim the head off of your beer, that's where hangovers come from.

Most Likely To Speak Fluent Russian, In French: Troika Brodsky! 

Best Beer At The Beer Pairing Lunch: Allagash Black! This one was paired extremely well with a Boston creme pie dessert.  The entire beer pairing lunch was excellent, thanks to the National Beer Wholesalers Association for putting it on!  

Best Beer At The Live Blogging Session: Night Shift Ever Weisse!  Wow, this is what a sour should taste like.  I had never heard of Night Shift Brewing before the conference, they are a small nanobrewery out of Everett, MA putting out some really awesome beers.  They have traditional styles, but also a sour series and even a barrel aging program.  It's really amazing what a little brewery can do in an area that's thirsty for great craft beer.

Honorable Mentions At The Live Blogging Session: Idle Hands Pandora, Thomas Hooker Old Marley Barleywine, and Rising Tide Daymark.  All of the breweries had some impressive beers with them, but these stood out the most.  

Best Red Carpet Rollout: Harpoon Brewery!  They really treated us right... a special Imperial White IPA created just for us, a tour held by one of the founders, and then a beer dinner in a private section of the massive tasting room.  They had all their taps opened up, and just kept bringing us more food.  And more food.  And then some more food.  Seriously, it was an insane amount of grub, plus all the beer we could drink.  I even snagged a nice Harpoon glass, but it broke on the trip home.  :-(

Best Cheese - Day 3 Edition: Harpoon Brewery! Seriously, it should have been called the beer & cheese conference.  

Best Beer Of The Beer Social: Goose Island Rare Bourbon County Stout! It was really a treat to learn that they were going to break this one out for us, and it did not disappoint.  Fantastic beer, excellent whiskey notes, and still among the best bourbon barrel stouts in existence.

Louisiana Breweries Represented At The Beer Social After-Party: Parish Brewing and Tin Roof Brewing! Thanks again for the guys at Parish and Tin Roof for donating some beer to bring and share.  All were a huge hit, especially the Parish Grand Reserve Barleywine.  It was highly anticipated and received rave reviews from the bloggers lucky enough to try some.  

Best Beer At The Beer Social After-Party: See, what had happened was, I had been drinking! I can't say for sure, I had been drinking all day and there was a lot of beer flowing. Untappd is telling me that I drank beers such as the Allagash Coolship Balaton, Wigglesworth Lord Falconer, Allagash FV13, Riverwalk Gnomad, Epic Ales Barrel Aged Huckleberry Sour, Rising Tide Polaris, Backlash Declaration, and Anchorage Arctic Saison, plus many more than didn't make it to Untappd.  It was an epic night for sure, plus I checked in to some Parish Grand Reserve... you think I would bring it all the way to Boston and not drink a little?  Ha!

Most Amazing Feat At The Entire Conference: I made it to every session!  This did not happen last year in Indianapolis, but I pulled it off this year.  Go me!  even after being up WAY past my bedtime at the after-party the night before I was up and ready to go for the 9:30 Sunday session.

Most Generous Beer Bloggers: 2BeerGuys! Sean and Ryan, two Boston area bloggers who run 2BeerGuys.com were hooking us up all conference with some awesome local brews.  They really treated us southern folk right, even giving us some Heady Topper to bring home!   If they had a good beer out at their table, all it took was a tweet to find some showing up at ours.  If the Beer Blogger Conference is ever down here, we'll have to repay the hospitality.  

Best Beer Of The Final Day Of The Beer Bloggers Conference: Cigar City Hunahpu's Imperial Stout! Gerard of Beer In Florida brought this one to share, and after his report on the state of craft beer in Florida he broke it out and poured some.  So good, if this weren't so hard to find I'd have Cigar City a lot higher on my breweries wishlist.

Crazy Stat Of The Day:  Florida has almost 100 breweries! I could only name about 5, but apparently I'm a little low.  Puts Louisiana to shame, even on a per capita basis.

Best Reason To Not Have Died From Alcohol Poisoning: More beer!  Seriously, it never stopped... there was so much beer flowing, and it was still before noon.  Somehow we all survived the conference, but Dustin, Jay, and I didn't fly out until the next morning, so we still had some time to kill in Boston.

Best Place To Watch USA Soccer In Boston: The Banshee! The beer selection wasn't impressive, but they had some awesome burgers and they had USA soccer on every screen.  We watched the Gold Cup final there and then headed back to the hotel to crash.  It had been a long fun trip and we had an early flight to catch.

Best Fiance' Ever: Mandi!  For watching the house and the dogs while I was gone, love you baby!

Thanks again to everyone who helped put the Beer Blogger Conference together!  It was a fantastic time, expertly run as always, and a great learning experience as well.  Until next time... cheers! 

Beer Bloggers Conference 2013 - The Awards Show! (Part 1)

Alright, after some deliberation on whether to write this post or not, I was convinced to post something about the 2013 Beer Bloggers Conference.  Apparently enough readers & friends care, and that's flattering, so thanks you guys and here you go.  Beer Bloggers Conference 2013, Portland, Maine to Boston, Massachusetts... the best of the best!  (And some of the worst.)

Best Beer In The New Orleans Airport:  Abita Andygator! This was my first beer of the trip, while waiting to depart for Cleveland, and I think it's probably the best offering you're going to find in MSY.  Honorable mention would be Abita Turbodog, but it was only in bottles, and I generally go for draft when available.

Best Place To Drink In The Cleveland Airport: Great Lake Brewing Company!  That's what foursquare told us when we landed, and it was right next to our gate, so beers at Great Lake it was. Then the psychic ticket counter lady said, "Oh, you must be Eric, Jay, and Dustin" when we walked up... she even got the order right.  Yes, we were the last three people on the plane to Portland... and yes the stop for a beer was necessary.

Best Name For A Brewpub... Probably Ever: Gritty McDuff's! The beer was pretty good but nothing amazing... but that's an awesome name.  This was our first stop after checking into the hotel and walking to the old port section of town, which basically serves as a downtown in Portland.  This would also be our last attempt to walk from the hotel to the old port... it turns out cabs are pretty reliable in Portland.  Baton Rouge, take notice.

Best Place In Portland To Watch Tim Hudson's Career End: Commercial Street Pub! Really this place was a baseball fan's wet dream... they have about a dozen TVs and even though a lot were showing the Red Sox there were probably 5 other games going on around the room.  We had a few local craft beers, watching Tim Hudson's ankle explode, and then we attempted to move on to Novare Res Bier Cafe'... which brings us to the next award:

Hardest Place To Find In All Of Maine: Novare Res Bier Cafe! Okay, it didn't help that we had been drinking, and that it was at night.  It also didn't help that my phone was pointing us a mile or so away, and when we got there it turns out that was the Portland homeless shelter.  It also didn't help that once Dustin found it on his phone (not an iPhone) and we started going the right direction, his phone lost connection to the maps and we were once again in the dark.  It also really didn't help that the place is off of an alley and the address couldn't even be found on my phone.  So yeah, we didn't make it... at least not until the next day.

Best Place To Get Breakfast With A Beer In Portland: Hot Suppa! This fresh and local focused spot came highly recommended, so we decided to check it out for a late breakfast after getting a solid night's sleep in.  It lived up to the hype, plus they had 6 beers on tap, mostly local.  Local beers, good quality breakfast food... I liked this place a lot. I tried an Farmhouse Pale Ale from Oxbow Brewing, the Pemaquid Oyster Stout from Marshall Wharf Brewing, and a Bar Harbor Real Ale from Atlantic Brewing. Plus some scrambled eggs with ham, bacon, and feta complete with grits and delicious toast. 

Best New Brewpub In Portland: In'finiti Fermentation & Distillation! After leaving Hot Suppa! Dustin, Jay, and I walked down to the waterfront and headed toward to the old port.  We were about to stop at an English/Irish-styled watering hole when I noticed a brewpub sign across the street by the harbor.  Brewpub?  Yes please! We caught them just as they were opening, found a seat overlooking part of the harbor, and went to work on all of In'finiti's offerings.  My favorite was either the Sour Trouble (de Struisse collaboration) or the Transwesteit 12 Belgian Quad.  The oddest offering was definitely the Mar-GOSE-Rita... a German "Gose" beer, which is a wheat ale with salt and sometimes soured.  This one from In'finiti also had lime in it to give it a margarita quality.  It wasn't bad, but it just wasn't my style.  Unfortunately it didn't look like they had any of their own liquors ready yet... understandable, it takes a lot of time to produce good spirits.

Best Drink/Food Deal At An Irish Pub In Portland: Ri Ra Irish Pub! They had a deal where you could get a pint of Long Trail IPA and also a pound of either wings, mussels, or... I think fries? for $10.  We went with the mussels. 

Best Restaurant We Visited In Portland: Duckfat! If you're ever in Portland, go here.  At roughly 3:00 on a Thursday they were already packed with a waiting list.  Worth it.  I'm not a foodie or a food blogger like Jay is over at BiteAndBooze, but I still know good food when I eat it.  

Best Bar To Charge An iPhone: The Thirsty Pig! One challenge about a conference like this is keeping the phone juiced.  While Jay was making a pit stop at a local area hotel Dustin and I stopped in at Thirsty Pig (we would be back later the same night... but so what?) to grab some pints and charge the phones.  We went with the Peeper Ale and the Mo from Maine Beer Company... both American Pale Ales and both excellent.  They also do house-made sausages and hot dogs... too bad we had just eaten and were about to eat again.

Best Second Appearance On The Awards Show: Novare Res Bier Cafe! With a little more time to kill before the pre-conference excursion officially kicked off we finally found this place (right across from The Thirsty Pig it turns out) and we ordered a round.  And some t-shirts... my only non-beer or conference swag souvenir from the trip. 

Best Cheese - Day 1 Edition: Cabot Creamery! Our first official conference event kicked off at the Cabot Creamery, with all the cheese being paired with beers from Geary's, a local brewery.  Cheese would go on to become a theme of the weekend, this is absolutely not a bad thing.  Anyone who doesn't like cheese can't really be a friend of mine.

Best Beer Dinner Host: Kai of Sebago Brewing! Kai was the man, making us all feel extremely welcome for the Sebago beer dinner.  The dinner itself was pretty tasty as well, especially the lobster rolls.  Excuse me... the lobstah rolls.  In addition, Sebago had some really nice beers for us, inlcuding the Frye's Leap IPA, Patersbier, and Citra Saaz Down, a beer created especially for the conference in collaboration between Sebago and some of the local area bloggers.  We were also treated to a sneak preview of their newest seasonal, a Bonfire Rye smoked ale. 

 

Best Shameless Distributor Hookup: Patriot Craft Alliance! After the beer dinner at Sebago we all headed over to The Thirsty Pig for the after party... and Patriot Craft Alliance was nice enough to pick up the tab for all the Goose Island we could drink.  Yeah, Goose Island is now an AB-InBev brand, but with Bourbon County Stout and Paradisi on tap, I sure as hell wasn't going to say no.  Good beer is good beer, and those are some great beers.  

Best Third Appearance On The Awards Show: Novare Res Bier Cafe! This was our last stop in Portland, after a few Goose Island beers at The Thirsty Pig.  Most of the group eventually made our way across the street to the Novare Res Bier Cafe, but it was getting late and we had been drinking all day, so I called it a night after two beers here.  Novare Res really impressed me in general, really fun beer bar and I highly recommend both it and The Thirsty Pig for anyone heading to Portland, Maine. 

Best Place To Stop Between Portland And Boston: The Portsmouth Brewery! This turned out to really be a nice pit stop for lunch and beer.  The food was great, the people were awesome, and the beer was flowing freely.   The Portsmouth Brewery is a brewpub in downtown Portsmouth but they are sister-breweries with the larger Smuttynose on the outskirts of town.  This means that we had all the Smuttynose lineup at our disposal in addition to the Portsmouth beers.  Some of the highlights included the Bluebeery and Barleywine from Portsmouth as well as the Cluster's Last Stand and Durty from Smuttynose.

 

Best Beer Of The Trip, So Far: Portsmouth Royal Impy Stout!  The brewmaster broke this one out for us before we left, and it was a real treat for the collection of beer bloggers present.  Apparently the former brewmaster had left and in his absence Portsmouth has stopped making their renowned Kate The Great Imperial Russian Stout, so rather than make the same beer, the new brewmaster decided to make his own version of the ideal Russian Imperial Stout.  And he nailed it.  Rich, boozy, complex, just a real treat of a stout.  Best beer of the trip... so far.  There is still plenty left! 

  

And with that, I think the first half of this Beer Bloggers Conference 2013 Awards Show is done... tune back in for the rest, starting with the conference itself in Boston!

Beer Blogger Conference 2012 - Summary Part 4.

Time for Part 4 of my hazy story of the 2012 Beer Bloggers' Conference... pieced together by memory, Foursquare, and UnTappd. 

Sunday, July 15th:

09:30 AM: The first session of the day... yeah I kind of missed it again.  You see, the after-partying after Saturday night's NOMB got to me, and sure enough I was struggling. After a little extra sleep it was time to pack everything... and we somehow managed to get all the glassware, bottles of beer, and other souvenirs into the bags and check out of the hotel.  The conference wasn't over yet though, so we left our bags with the bellhop and rejoined the conference!

11:00 AM: We made it in time to catch the second half of the "Creating A Beer Event" session and I'm glad I did.  There was some really good info regarding logistics and we had two panelists who had operated on totally different levels.  One was working on small-scale tastings and such similar to the one I'm putting on at Roux Wine & Spirits this Thursday, and the other guy was organizing entire festivals.  Maybe one day I'll be at the level to organize an entire festival, but not yet! 

11:30 AM: Time for the ending keynote speech with Randy Mosher, a beer author and co-owner of a new Chicago brewery, 5 Rabbit Cerveceria, which does some latin-inspired beers.  In fact, this reminded me that I tried a few of his beers last night at the NOMB!  I believe it was the 5 Vulture and the 5 Lizard, but my memory is a little fuzzy and Untappd isn't helping either.  That's what happens when your phone dies at a conference like this and you have to rely on memory.  Randy was very entertaining though, and a lot off-beat.  The best part was when he showed some pictures of cauldrons, and just said something to the effect of, "cauldrons, aren't they cool?"  That doesn't sound too funny to you?  Well damn, I guess you had to be there, because it was.

12:30 PM: After plenty of fun, it was time to head home... so Jay and I grabbed the bags from the bellhop, and this time it was a 5' (barely) petite girl that had to go grab them from the back room.  I felt pretty bad for her since we had two duffelbags and Jay's Tony Chachere's soft ice chest stuffed full with beer.  We learned later that they averaged about 40 pounds each, so... well done petite blonde girl!  Apparently there was some sort of hotel shuttle available, but we had to walk a few blocks and then who knows when it was coming, so we took a look at those heavy bags and decided to grab a cab instead.

02:50 PM: We tried to arrange a quicker or easier route home, but it seemed like the planned Indy -> Orlando -> New Orleans trip was still the best bet... so we were on our way home.  No real crazy stories on the flights back... no teenage boys reading softcore porn or aborted landing attempts.  We made it onto our scheduled flights despite being standby passengers and our bags made it with us!

08:05 PM: Central Time again!  Yay!  It turns out we had at least one casualty on the flight, because Jay's bag came off the belt a little wet.  We found out later it was the Bull Jagger Portland Lager that I picked up as an extra during the NOMB.  Well that sucks, but it could have been worse.  

10:00 PM: Casualty number 2!  Of course everything but the one bottle made it through two flights and several baggage handlers fine, but as I was unpacking I dropped one of the Big Eddy snifter glasses, and it shattered into a million pieces.  I might be exaggerating slightly, but it really did shatter and there were pieces everywhere.  Oh well... such is life.

All in all it was a really good trip... the one thing I learned that I absolutely want to implement on my blog is to tell more of a story with each post.  And I want to focus on more local beers/breweries/events/festivals/etc.  So, in the upcoming weeks start looking for some more focus on the local breweries, that's my plan.  Cheers everyone, and here are a few good pictures that didn't make the last few posts!

Barrel aging at the Goose Island Brewpub

Haymarket Pub & Brewery

Another picture of Jay during his session

We found some more Louisiana beer!

The insane sorting / packaging system at Monarch

Beer Blogger Conference 2012 - Summary Part 1.

Alright, I've had a couple of days to think about how I wanted to do this... and mainly came to the conclusion that I really doubt most readers want to know the exact details of a beer bloggers' conference that they weren't even at.  I mean, other than a few beer blogger friends, does anyone else really give a shit?  I didn't think so.  However, I'd still like to use this space as a bit of a journal, and attempt a little different type of entry... a play by play of the weekend.  My hazy story of the 2012 Beer Bloggers' Conference... pieced together by my hazy memory, Foursquare, and UnTappd. 

Thursday, July 12th: 

03:30 AM: Holy crap, it's early.  Jay Ducote of BiteAndBooze.com and I were flying Southwest Airlines on standby buddy passes thanks to the lovely and talented Amanda Ball, and the flight with the most seats was the 6:30 out of New Orleans.  Knowing we needed to be there at least an hour early and were looking at an hour drive plus some time to get ready and wanting to give ourselves a little cushion... yikes.  You know what's worst than flying at 6:30 AM though?  Not flying at all because there's no standby room... or paying for your flights.   

05:15 AM: Well the drive was fine, we made it to New Orleans, the flight had plenty of room, and everything was looking smooth so far!   The best thing about Southwest Airlines, other than the buddy passes, is the free checked bags.  Especially when you have a case of Tin Roof Beer to bring for the hyped "Night Of Many Bottles" Saturday night.  Oops, we have cans.  They'll get over it. 

06:30 AM: Take off, nap.  Wake up during the flight to notice that the barely out of high school (if even that) kid next to me was reading "50 Shades Darker" and laugh.  It was a dude, not even a chick.  What the fuck, kid?  Resume napping...

08:30 AM: Attempt to land at Chicago Midway... decide 50' off the ground that there is someone in the way and pull up.  Well, I guess that's better than landing on top of another plane and dying in a massive steel and plastic fireball and cutting this blog post a bit short, right?

08:45 AM: Arrive at Chicago Midway, take the El downtown, find our hotel, take a load off for a bit... still tired!

A room with a view.

11:30 AM:  Jay and I took off on foot to Frontera Restaurant in Chicago. This wasn't actually part of the conference, but we were there early and met up with good friend Kevin Hebert at this acclaimed Mexican restaurant and were thoroughly impressed.  They also had a pretty nice selection of regional beers, which had me smiling.  I love it when a restaurant pays attention to their beer selections and at least makes an effort.  The ceviche and mole was all awesome, highly recommend anyone go there if they are in Chicago and want an alternative to deep dish pizza.  Beers: Goose Island Marisol, Tyranena Rocky's Revenge Bourbon Brown, Wild Onion Hop Slayer DIPA.

Wild Onion Hop Slayer Double IPA, can't you read the can?

02:00 PM: After plenty of food, conversation, beer, and dessert it was back to the hotel for us.  While walking I decided to make a short detour and check out the Cloud Gate sculpture, or "the bean," which was pretty close to our hotel, and I'm glad I did.  It was there the last time I visited Chicago on Guys' Trip 2.0 but we never made it downtown that time.  What was even more cool though, was the adjacent stage at the Jay Pritzker Pavillion.  I'd read about it but seeing the architectural marvel up close was pretty fantastic.  And that's going to be it from the architect side of me... but when in Chicago... 

If you look really hard you can find me in the reflection.

Apparently this was permitted as a sculpture, not a building.

04:50 PM: Another nap back at the hotel after checking out some of Millenium Park was nice, plus my phone was dying... but we had a pub crawl to catch.  About a mile walk later we were at the lovely HoJo Downtown motel.  This was the designated hotel for the Chicago excursion but by the time we decided to get a hotel rather than crash with friends it was booked and we went with the Hyatt instead.  Oops! 

06:00 PM: We met a bunch of the bloggers, took a quick walk to the El, played a game of clown car on the train with beer bloggers, and then had a quick walk but around 6 the group made it to the Goose Island Clybourn pub.  I've been to the Goose Island Wrigleyville pub before and loved it. In fact my experience with Bourbon County Stout there years ago was one of the catalysts toward my love for craft beer.  Unfortunately there was no Bourbon County Stout on the menu tonight.  I was actually expecting more of a free-for-all at the pub, with bloggers ordering what they wanted and trying various brews but what we had in store was a full beer dinner!  The Goose Island beers came out in order: Sofie, Lolita, Matilda, Juliet, Madame Rose.  The food certainly satsified, and the gift bags were far better than expected.  I now have a Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat coffee mug sitting at my desk!  Plus some bottles of beer and a sweet bottle opener. 

Goose Island Sofie... isn't she pretty?

08:00PM: Time to move on... the next stop, Piece Brewery & Pizzeria.  The beers: Worryin' Ale Rye, Dysfuntionale IPA, and Roland the Headless Assistant Brewmaster Oatmeal Stout.  I've gotta say that the beers were all really good and I loved the vibe of the old building this place was in.  The pizza also looked and smelled fantastic, almost enough to get a piece even though we had just been fed four courses!  Would go back in a heartbeat. 

Our three beers at Piece Brewery & Pizzeria.

09:00 PM: I'm kind of making up the times now... I don't remember how long we were staying at each place or how long it took to bus between them, but I do know where all we went.  And after Piece Brewery & Pizzeria we went to Revolution Brewing Company, another brewpub somewhere in the Chicago area.  We were on a party bus with a funnel and three-way shot pourer... I wasn't really paying attention to directions!  The place was nice and we were ushered into a room upstairs where I was able to try the Revolution Coup D'Etat Biere De Garde, the Revolution Iron Fist Pale Ale, and a Hop Juice DIPA from Two Brothers Brewing Company.  I love the themes that Revolution plays on, and all three beers were pretty fantastic.  

10:00 PM:  Or somewhere around 10... shit if I know anymore... we pulled up to Haymarket Pub & Brewery.  The head brewer was there to chat with us and talk a little about his beers, which was fantastic.  He also had a special Simcoe IPA tapped just for us.  We started with the Indignant Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout and a Blacksox Porter.  The porter was quite good but it was really overshadowed by the insanity that was that bourbon barrel stout.  In fact, I wanted to say that this was the Templeton Rye version, but I can't say for sure and either way it was whiskey heavy and reservation free.  One of the biggest and best beers I've tried in a while.  Between sips of those two I also had a chance to try the New Holland Dragon's Milk thanks to some new beer blogger friends.  After those were over Jay and I decided to have another round before we caught a cab back to our hotel... so it was time for the Girl And The Goatee II Saison which is a collaboration between Brewmaster Pete Crowley and Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard, and the Lizzie's Simcoe IPA we had been told about.  As much as I enjoyed the saison it was the simcoe IPA that really stood out... mental note, brew more with Simcoe if I can get my hands on some!  Alright... all that beer later it was time to head out.

Nothing pairs with dark beer better than more dark beer.

12:30 AM: Or so... back to the hotel to crash, tomorrow is a busy day.

Stay tuned for part 2 (of 4... unless I get lazy...) coming soon!

100th Post Special! - An Update Of My 10 Favorite Beers.

When I first started this blog... oh, around 100 posts ago... I put together a top 10 list of my favorite beers that you can see over on the right side of the page.  Since I put together that list, which I haven't updated... yet... I've been lucky enough to try many many more delicious beers, so I figured my 100th post was a good time to update my top 10 list!

In count-down order, of course:

Number 10: La Trappe Tripel (Koningshoeven)

This fantastic Dutch-brewed Belgian style ale is among my favorite tripels, which is generally one of my favorite styles.  It was #7 on the original list, so obviously it's slipped a few spots but still held on to the last spot in my top 10.  For more about this brew, check out my World Cup of Beer post on The Netherlands... featuring this very beer.

Number 9: Hitachino Nest White Ale

Hailing from the far east country of Japan, this is the lightest beer in my top 10, and the lowest in alcohol content.  Don't let that fool you into thinking this one doesn't have much flavor though, because it's a bold Japanese take on a Belgian witbier.  The Belgian ales are known in large part to their spices, as is the orient, so combining the two in the right way is a flavorful masterpiece like the Hitachino Nest White Ale.  Much like the La Trappe Tripel above, this one is a holdover from the original top 10, dropping from #6 to #9.  And also, like that one it was featured in the World Cup of Beer tour... representing Japan.

Number 8: St. Bernardus Abt 12

Another holdover, dropping from #5 to #8, the St. Bernardus Abt 12 is one of the top "quads" in the world and a beer that can be found in a few select places in BR such as Calandro's.  They are called "quads" in reference to the style known as a quadrupel.  They are generally stronger, darker, and bolder than the dubbels and tripels that precede them.  And the St. Bernandus version is a great example.  Pick one up if you want to give something new a trip, but if you're jumping straight from Bud Light or even Abita Amber... might not want to make this the first stop, instead try one of the two beers above.

Number 7: Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock

Another repeat, and another beer featured in the World Cup of Beer representing Germany!  This one is both the most reviewed and the highest ranked doppelbock on BeerAdvocate, so I think it's safe to say it might be the most popular example of the style in the world.  And with good reason, as it's a perfect example of the caramel malt feel one should expect from the style.  Easily available in Baton Rouge, give this one a try when you get the chance!

Number 6: Westmalle Tripel

This is the second 'Trappist' beer on my top 10, and it's widely considered to be one of the best tripels in the world.  It's also the first style to make a repeat appearance on the top 10, but that's really no surprise to me.  This is also another one that can be found in the BR area, I've seen it at Calandro's before for sure.

Number 5: Unibroue La Terrible

Canada, welcome to the top 10.  This is the first of three new entries into the top 10, and the only one from North of the border.  Unibroue is better known for their tripel, La Fin Du Monde, but this Belgian Strong Dark Ale (BSDA) is my favorite offering of theirs, so far.  This one is a delicious blend of caramel malts, raisin, and boozy alcoholic goodness.  One of my notes in the review was that it reminded me of a rich bread pudding.

Number 4: Great Divide Yeti Imperial Stout

Another newcomer to the list, this monster out of Great Divide Brewing in Colorado is unfortunately not available in Louisiana... but you can get some in Texas!  A few snippets from my notes when I reviewed this one:  "Looks fucking amazing. Easily one of the best looking beers I've seen in a while."  "It smells of bitter chocolate, a little dark roast coffee as well... very nice."  "One of the best Imperial Stouts I've ever tried. I'm really enjoying this one so far."  So apparently I really liked it!  Next time you're in Houston or even Beaumont, stop in at Spec's and bring a few of these back to me.  Thanks.  

Number 3: Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale

I actually picked this one up at the Spec's in Beaumont on the same trip as the Yeti Imperial Stout above, and I'd say I hit the jackpot with these two.  Stone is available in Louisiana these days, but I have yet to see this particular offering on the shelves.  If I ever do, I'm going to be buying a few for sure.  It's considered an American Strong Ale by the good people at BeerAdvocate, and it reminded me a lot of a really really ridiculously good Double IPA.  Super hoppy, dominated by pine scents and flavors.  It tasted a lot like drinking a freshly cut Christmas tree.  So... if that sounds appealing to you, find one of these.

Number 2: Chimay Grand Reserve

Recognized as the Blue Chimay, this one is an old standard and still holds a high place on my top 10.  Another one of the 'Trappist' breweries in Belgium, Chimay produces world-class beers and if I wasn't limiting this top 10 to only one per brewery, their dubbel (red label) would also make the cut based on my review scores.  Easy to find all over BR, even at places like Albertson's, grab one without hesitation next time you want to try something new.

And that brings us to the number 1 beer on my updated top 10 list... and the view at the top has not changed...

Number 1: Goose Island Bourbon County Stout

Unfortunately this is one that isn't available anywhere close to BR, but it brings back fond memories of a trip to Chicago and a true introduction to how awesome barrel-aged beers can be.  This offering from Goose Island is one I first had on tap at the Wrigleyville brewpub.  The bourbon flavors are immense, but blend well with notes of vanilla and chocolate.  Maybe one day these guys will be available in BR, but until then, whenever you're up in the Midwest, find one and give it a try.

A few notes about this list... I only considered beers that I had been able to properly review for this list... I've had the pleasure of many tastings recently, but it's not fair to compare a tasting of a beer that I had mixed in with 10 others in a night to beers that I've been able to really review properly.  This unfortunately eliminated some great offerings from Brooklyn, and Russian River, among others... but hey, it's all an inexact science anyway!

Cheers!