The Breakfast of Champions, or should I say Breakfast of Geeks!

Mikkeller  - mikkeller.dk

Beer Geek Breakfast - 7.5% ABV

This wonderful beer is brewed by yet another genius brewer named Mikkel Borg Bjergso.  He is the owner of Mikkeller which is yet another gypsy brewery.  Just like his identical twin Jeppe Jarnit-Bjerso from Evil Twin Brewery. Wait, does this ring a bell?  It should if you are reading my blog!!!  I reviewed a fabulous beer from Evil Twin last week call I Love You With All My Stout.  You can read a full write up about the brothers in the New York Times titled  A Fight is Brewing .  It's a very interesting article and when you get to the part where he use to drink Coors Light you will think you are 5 beers in and read it wrong! Sadly, it is true.  He was in the states and drank The Silver Bullet that not only is responsible for destroying your intestines but killing werewolves.  Thank god he went back to Denmark to create amazing beers and saved us from ever having to drink a Super Cold beer again! 

Beer Geek Breakfast I will have to say is one of my favorite Oatmeal Stouts.  I love my beers to be bold and rich.  This beer just so happens to have both of these qualities and then some!  

I immediately smelled the aroma of a strong brewed coffee with a hint of smokiness lingering from the perfectly poured beer.  The head had a creamy dark caramel color that quickly left the top of the glass to reveal an amazing dark stout.  My first sip took over my taste buds with a nice bitterness of coffee and finished with mild smokey malts. As the beer warmed up a bit more flavors appeared like some chocolate but the coffee flavor still remained the forward note.  It was not not a heavy beer by any means and with a 7.5% ABV it is a perfect beer to start off a Sunday afternoon.  

My overall score for this 11.2 oz bottle of goodness is...I wish it was a full 12oz because IT IS THAT GOOD!!!  If you can get your hands on one of these give me a shout and let me know what your inner Beer Geek thinks!  

Cheers!

Kath

New Year and New Beers!

New Year and New Beers!

Ahhh, where to begin after over a year of not blogging my adventures in the beer aisles.  

Over the past year I have not stopped drinking, that's for sure, and I have not stopped searching for the next amazing beer.  In fact, I started brewing more complex beers, improved my specialty martini making, and cooked some kick ass meals for my family.  

Even with all the brewing, cooking, and drinking I still felt like I was missing something.  Then it hit me like a 12% beer, well maybe two 12% beers.  I am a seasoned drinker ya know.  I needed to blog!! I needed to blog NOW damn it!  But what beer should I start with?  I have had countless beers in the past year!  I decided to give you not one review but two reviews.  Oh, and not just an 

'Hey check this beer out this week" review.  I decided to review my most memorable beers of 2014 which happened to be in one crazy night! 

 Avery Brewing - Pump(KY)n - 16.54% ABV

Evil Twin Brewing - I Love You With All My Stout - 12% ABV

When I first opened Pump(KY)n the aroma

drifting out of the bottle was that of bourbon and spices.  Both of which I expected and welcomed.  It poured a dreamy mahogany color with a minimal head that quickly dissipated back into the glass.

Pump(KY)n was very boozy, but not like OMG I just burned a hole in my throat boozy, but a dang that was boozy and I am going to be a hot mess soon.  Once I got past the initial burn, I was able to taste a few of the usual suspects in a bourbon barrel aged pumpkin porter.  The cinnamon, allspice, and bourbon were up front and well balanced.  Pump(KY)n finished with a smooth vanilla sweetness. 

Before I get into my review of I Love You With All My Stout I want to give you a little background info on the beer.  First of all this is brewed by an incredible gypsy brewer from Denmark named Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergso.  He brews his beers under the name of Evil Twin Brewing in 10 of the best breweries in the world.  Yes, you read that right folks!  Jeepe is a gypsy brewer that travels the globe to make the best and funkiest beers around.    

These are just a few of the beers I have had over the years.  

You can see all his beers online at eviltwin.dk.  

If you were lucky enough to have ANY of these gems you would appreciate the effort I took in photographing them so I could look back and sigh.  Sigh...

I Love You With All My Stout was brewed with the same recipe as Even More Jesus (totally lives up to it's name) so I just had to give this a try.  Besides we could always use a little more Love and Jesus in our life right?

The smell wafting from the glass did resemble EMJ but I think this had a little more of a sweeter cherry like aroma to it, which showed up in the flavor.  It was not an overwhelming cherry taste, in fact it was just in the back end of the sip.  Along with the cherry flavor I picked up some vanilla, coffee, and sweet malts.  I Love You rang up at a 12% ABV but did not show up on my palate.  It was smooth with absolutely no burn or overwhelming boozy taste. 

I highly recommend you contacting your local beer enabler to see if this beer is available in your area.  I am not lucky enough to live in an area that sells Evil Twin but I am lucky to have a brother that shares his prized bounties with me.  

Happy Beer Hunting my friends!

Cheers!

Kathleen

Eat, Pour, Love

I am sure you all have many questions as to where the hell have I been.  Maybe you are concerned that I am in a 12 step program or maybe you lost yet another friend to the cult called Pinterest!  Damn you crockpot meals and cakepops! 

Instead I was on my own quest to find the perfect beer.  It took me months to find the beer truly worthy of my blog post.  The one that blew my mind and made me want to pray to the beer gods at Wine Works to order me more.  It was almost my version of the movie where Julia Roberts travels all over the gods green earth to find the meaning of her life.  Pfffttt, the furthest I had to travel was the shit shoot called the Schuylkill to find my true meaning of beer. 

Here are just a few of the beer quests I conquered...

Harpoon Brewery

Harpoon Winter Warmer- 5.5% ABV

  One of my go to winter beers. Extremely smooth and it is a beer you can drink all day long.  We loved it so much that we went through 3 sixtels at home!  True story.

Dogfish Head Brewery

Burton Baton- 10% ABV

 This beer had an IBU of 75...I almost tore out my tongue in a feverish attempt to stop the hops from destroying all of my precious taste buds. God I hate hops. I have nothing else to say about this abomination.

Flying Dog Brewery

The Fear - Imperial Pumpkin Ale- 9% ABV

 Not a bad fall/winter brew.  The copper colored ale had a faint aroma of brown sugar and spices.  I served this in a tulip glass rimmed with cinnamon and sugar.  I believe it just made the beer complete.

Clown Shoes 

Blaecorn Unidragon - 12.5% ABV

Holy!!!!  If you can find this sex in a bottle...BUY IT!!! Jet black and sweet smell of chocolate, licorice, and malts rising to up past the dreamy caramel head. Sweet Jesus this was amazing!

Left Hand Brewery

Milk Stout Nitro - 6% ABV

Growing up one of the first rules you learn about carbonated drinks is you do not shake them before opening, unless you want to be a dick and give someone else to open.  Now forget that rule when you buy this brew. You are suppose to give it a good shake, or a heavy pour to get the perfect cascading.  Sweet smells of brown sugar, vanilla, and a hint of coffee rolls over your tongue. Nice stuff.

Mikkeller Brewery

Beer Geek Breakfast - 7.5% ABV

Ryan had this brew chilled and waiting for me on one of our visits.  What a well balanced beer.  It had the bitterness of coffee and the sweetness of vanilla.  

Goose Island Brewery

Bourbon County Stout - 15% ABV (yeah you read that right!)

Oh...My...God.  You definitely have to share this someone unless you want to flop on the floor.  Maybe that is what you want to achieve, but reaching for another beer from the floor does pose a bit of a challenge. Just sayin'.

Now...for my final review, which was another pick by Ryan. 

This is the beer that completed my soul searching. 

Hold onto your pints my friends because this beer will knock you into next Thursday!  

Westbrook Brewing Company & Evil Twin Brewery

Mini Growler - 12% ABV

I had never heard of Westbrook Brewing Company but if Evil Twin is part of the collaboration it has to be good.  Evil Twin by far is probably one of the few breweries that consistently releases a great beer. 

Just the picture should be enough...dark and dreamy!  Once poured it produced an inviting mocha colored head with excellent lacing. I could not pick up one aroma but I did get a mix of coffee, chocolate , and some toffee. What a flavor and texture.  It was not overly carbonated and  even with the high alcohol it was not harsh or boozy.  A perfect collaboration...a perfectly balanced beer...and a perfect ending to my journey.

Cheers!

~K~

A UFO on my patio on a Sunday Afternoon

Harpoon Brewery - Harpoon's Unfiltered Offerings

UFO Pumpkin - 5.9% ABV

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon the Mr. and I wanted to kick back, fend off the mosquitoes, and enjoy a nice fall brew.  We decided on an unfiltered gem produced by Harpoon Brewery.  Typically I am not a unfiltered kinda gal but Rob swore to me that this was not like the others.  I do not say this often, and I am sure he is not going to read this blog entry, so I will say...he is right.  There I said it,  and I shall never speak of it again.

As soon as I flipped off the cap, the bottle released a subtle, yet inviting aroma.  It was of pumpkin and sweet malts. Ahhh, my lovely Munich malts, how I love thee.  I poured the beer with total reckless abandonment primarily because I was thirsty and did not want to waste any more time!  Beer does get warm in August pretty fast.  Just sayin.  

Since the beer was poured into the glass with no caution it produced a rather high foamy head.  It did not grace the top of the beer for long so it was not a disaster.  What the head did leave behind was a gorgeous amber colored beer with a slight haze.  The smell of spices and pumpkin were now more prevalent but still not overwhelming.  

The taste and feel of the beer was just as it looked and smelled.  It was smooth and had a mildly sweet start with a perfect finish of pumpkin pie spices.  Again, it was not overwhelming in the spices or as bold as the Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin, but it worked for what I was expecting and wanted to drink.

This is going to definitely remain in my fall line up and I am sure there are a few more pumpkin beers left for me to discover.  So, until then...I will leave you with a little song to get you all in the pumpkin mood. 

Cheers!!!!

~K~

My Pumpkin Porn

Southern Tier Brewery

Imperial Pumking - 8.6% ABV

It is still hot as balls outside but the pumpkin beers are chilled just right!  I know, it is still summer and all the little cherubs are still out of school and Mr. Softee is still taring down the neighborhood streets...but I can't help myself when it comes to pumpkin beer!  Some may say I have an unhealthy obsession with pumpkin beer, but I think that my palate is more sophisticated and I know what GREATNESS tastes like.  True story.

In the past year I have tasted, chugged, overindulged, and just sat back and enjoyed many different pumpkin beers. A few of those beers have made the cut to earn valuable shelf space in my beloved beer fridge, but some will remain in the store to trick some poor unfortunate soul in taking them home.  Sniff...sniff.  

My personal fall lineup

To start my pumpkin reviews I must pay homage to my first love, the PUMKING.  Yes he looks a bit devious and maybe offensive to the faint of heart but he is my lover.  He had me in a trance with the first sip and to be quite honest all the other pumpkin brews are unknowingly compared to him.  A few have held a spot next to the Pumking, but many have failed.  

The Pumking  is produced by Southern Tier Brewing Company located in Lakewood, New York and has grown to produce around 50,000 barrels of beer annually. They are on schedule this year to make over the equivalent of  2 million pints of  Imperial Pumking alone! Apparently I am not the only freako that is smitten over this beer.

Once opened you can smell sweet malts and nutmeg with a hint of pumpkin.  The pumpkin scents pick up as it is poured into my waiting tulip shaped glass.  I probably should pour it gently but my heavy hand created a pretty frothy head that thankfully disappeared rather fast.  What remained in the glass (but not for long) was a copper colored ale with a light carbonation. The first sip is just perfect.  It is smooth, sweet, and is well balanced between the pumpkin and nutmeg.  

I certainly can not recommend this beer anymore than I have so I have left a little pumpkin porn for your viewing pleasure in case you are on the fence.  Cheers!

~K~

Jesus Hath Cometh

I know, you are all saying "where has my amazing beer blogger gone?" or you may be thinking WTF sister get to drinking!  Now, to put all the rumors to rest and the uncertainty you may have in my blogging abilities I am back to blogging and I brought my brother for the ride!  (If you have not heard the rumors they may have said I never came back from Vegas after winning $.20 and lost my mind).

Rumors.

Now, for the review...

Evil Twin Brewery
Even More Jesus - 12% ABV



My first encounter with this gem was a picture on Facebook and  I just had to find this to try it for myself.  I sent a picture to Ryan and we were on a quest to find the golden labeled treasure.  Unfortunately this beer was not available across the bridge but Ryan tracked it down for us to try and review.

Kath - This beer was amazing from start to finish. It had a strong aroma of vanilla, chocolate, and coffee.  All of which I expected and love.  Once poured the color was almost black and the head was a thin caramel color that seemed to float.

The taste, oh my LORD the taste.  It was rich, chocolaty, and bitter sweet.   The body on this beer was super rich and malty that the 12% ABV was not overwhelming. Even More Jesus may be Even  More than I can handle...Blah ha ha!

Ryan - What we have here is a wonderful bottle of "Even More Jesus" by Evil Twin brewing.  Evil Twin brewery is located in Denmark and to date I've not had a beer from them that I did not like.  It's a damn shame since their beers come with a high price tag as well as I don't think a whole lot of it gets imported to the U.S. and I believe I read somewhere that they have only been importing here since 2010.  On to the actual tasting.

This imperial stout pours pitch black and hardly has any head at all.  I can smell a little coffee maybe some fudge and roasted malts.  The body is real thick and not much carbonation.  You can taste the roasted malts and some bitter chocolate and finishes strong and sticky.  The 12% ABV is well hidden.  Overall this is a great Imperial Stout and if you can find it you need to get a couple.  While I hold this brew in high regards I prefer Evil Twin's Soft Dookie over this but hey, I'll take both if I can find it.

Since the name of this delectable brew is Even More Jesus I figured why not picture an AR15 M4 Carbine which our U.S. military has been using to send folks to meet the man himself for years.  The Ar15 M4 is a weapon patterned after the original Armalite AR-15 which was designed by Eugene Stoner in the late 1950's.  He is one of the most highly regarded U.S. military arms designers of the 20th century.  The Ar-15 platform is lightweight, air cooled, gas operated, magazine fed semi-automatic weapon.  This weapon sends a .223 caliber projectile down range at a stunning 2900 feet per second (that's really fast, FYI).  Also, not only does the U.S. Military use this weapon platform but many police departments do now as well especially since the infamous North Hollywood bank robbery shootout where the police were completely under armed.  

I hope you enjoyed my review as well as the bit of weapon history.  

Cheers!
K & R

A Tan, the Beach, and a Blonde.

River Horse Brewing Company

Summer Blonde Ale - 4.5% ABV

Ahhhh, Memorial Day Weekend at the Jersey Shore.  It has been a family tradition for the past eight years to pack up the cars (we have since moved on to glorified minivans) with beach gear, beloved stuffed animals, and beer...lots of it!  Among the two cases of  mixed 6 packs,  River Horse Summer Blonde Ale made the trip to kick off the summer.  

This ale looked like a  lemon meringue pie poured in a glass!  Under the one inch white frothy head a  hazy yellow beer waited to be enjoyed.  When the head dissipated and the haze vanished it left a gorgeous golden yellow ale. The aroma had a very faint citrus scent with a mild hop undertone.

The body was light , super smooth, refreshing, with a fair amount of carbonation.  It had a sweet malty flavor of bread rather than a caramel malt. The finish was dry and crisp.  The level of hops were low to maybe moderate which balanced out the beer perfectly.  This my beer enthusiasts is a spot on example of a blonde ale.  It had the right color, aroma, ABV, drinkabilty, and just the right amount of hops.

I would have to say this beer is going to be my GO TO beer this summer.  It is the PERFECT baseball watching, backyard tanning, and can't believe the kids are home for 10 long weeks kind of beer!

If this is your style of beer then drive on up to your local beer enabler's store to get yourself a six pack, case, or a sixtel.  I have purchased all of the above, and to have this beer on tap...well it is a wonderful thing.

Cheers!
~K~