464. Fremont Brewing – Interurban IPA
I’m getting ready for a business trip out to Seattle, and I’ve been trying to have a few of the beers my cousin sent me a few weeks ago from Seattle. I’m hoping that it’ll help me determine a few breweries I must stop at while I’m there. In doing a little prep work for my trip, it looks like this brewery has a great “urban beer garden,” so I’m hoping this beer will be the motivation I...
463. Pennsylvania Brewing Co. – Overlook IPA
A few weeks ago, my dad and sister made a trip out to Pittsburgh, PA. My sister plays professional women’s tackle football for the St. Louis Slam, and she was out there for the league’s all-star game. She and my dad stopped at Penn Brewing for dinner and decided to buy me a mixed 6-pack of beers to review here on my blog. They struck up a conversation with the waiter and told him about this, and he sent them home with...
Best Oktoberfest Beers
I don’t usually do this, but last October I tried an Oktoberfest challenge. I tried a different Oktoberfest or Pumpkin beer every day in October. I learned a lot, and I’ve decided this year, to help you, by posting my favorite Oktoberfest beers. Oktoberfest is a 2-3 week festival held annually in Germany, running from late September to the first weekend in October. It’s an important part...
Hacker-Pschorr Bräu – Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest Marzen Draft
This beer is #196 (Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest) on my list, but I took the opportunity to try this beer on tap today. My birthday was yesterday, and I thoroughly enjoyed the Goose Island Bourbon County Stout. My dad came to town today and we went out again to celebrate. We went to Bayern Stube, a German restaurant in Gibson City, IL. It’s a really interesting place, and since Oktoberfest is about to kick off, I wanted to...
462. Goose Island – 2011 Bourbon County Stout
Today’s my birthday, and I had a nice dinner out at Lucca Grill here in Bloomington, IL with my family, and enjoyed a couple of Boulder Beer Mojo IPAs (but I didn’t get a picture so I won’t count it here, yet). When we got home, I put the kids to bed, and finished off my birthday evening in perfect fashion with this beer. Thanks to my sister Kelly who gave me a four pack of this beer as a thank you for always...
461. Central Waters Brewing – Satin Solstice Imperial Stout
Tonight I’m at Medici in Normal, IL. A few members of our homebrew club are working on a beer for the Chicago Beer Hoptacular club competition. Before the meeting I thought I’d grab a beer. I didn’t recognize this beer or brewery, so I looked it up on my phone. The brewery is located in Amherst, WI, and the beer had some pretty good reviews, so I thought I’d give it a shot and add it to my list....
460. Elysian Brewing – The Immortal IPA
I found out that I’m going to be heading to Seattle for work in a few weeks, and one of the first things I did was see what breweries were in the area that I could visit. I had heard of this brewery, because my cousin had sent me a bunch of beers from Seattle and this was one of them. Bottle says, “Aggressive, yet well-balanced, The Immortal IPA is a Northwest take on a classic English style, golden-copper in color and...
459. Oskar Blues – Gubna Imperial IPA
A few weeks ago, I was on vacation in Florida, and on the way down, we stopped at my friend Joe’s house in Atlanta. He picked up a bunch of beers for me that I couldn’t get at home in Illinois, and made sure they were in cans so I could enjoy them on the beach. I had heard a lot about this beer, and was really looking forward to trying it. I had an extremely long day at work today and so I was looking for a big beer to...
458. 5 Rabbit Cerveceria – 5 Vulture Mexican-style Dark Ale
A couple months ago, my friend Joe stopped through town on his way back to St. Louis from Chicago. He and I stopped at Destihl and had a few beers (I had Destihl St. Dekkera Reserve Bela Imperial Pilsner Sour Ale, Destihl Downstate Pale Ale, and Destihl Destihl Strawberry Blonde Ale), and after we were finished he reached into his car and pulled out several beers he had gotten in Chicago for me. I had heard of 5 Rabbit, but...
457. Cigar City Brewing – Minaret ESB
About three weeks ago, I returned from my family vacation to Florida. While there, I visited Cigar City Brewing in Tampa, and brought back several of their beers. I had their Maduro Brown Ale and the Jai Alai IPA while I was there, and brought this growler back from the brewery (along with a few others I haven’t reviewed yet). Of the beers I sampled in their tasting room, I knew I wanted to bring this one back. Of course...
456. The Pike Brewing Co. – Scotch Style Pike Kilt Lifter Ruby Ale
I’m sitting here watching my Missouri Tigers in their home opener football game tonight and decided to go ahead and crack open a beer. As I mentioned in my review of Hilliards Amber ale, my cousin Steve sent me a bunch of beers from Seattle. This was one of them, and it looked like a great beer to have on this rainy evening while watching some football. Location: Poured into a Stella Artois pint glass from the bottle at my home...
455. Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma / Heineken – Indio
A little over a month ago, I was contacted by a PR firm representing this beer. They were having an event in Chicago to introduce the beer to the U.S., but I was on vacation and couldn’t attend. So, they sent me a few of these beers to try and review here on this blog. I also brought a couple to my homebrew club meeting for folks there to try and get feedback from them as well. Location: Poured into a curved pint glass from...
454. Asia Pacific Breweries – Tiger Beer
It’s the start of the Labor Day weekend, and we decided to get Chinese food for dinner. I stopped at Mandarin Garden in Normal, IL to order and take it home. While I waited, I decided to go to the bar for a beer. I think this was the only beer on the menu I hadn’t had yet, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Location: Poured into a small glass from the bottle at Mandarin Garden in Normal, IL. Numbers: 5% ABV, ~ 160...
453. Hilliard’s Beer – Hilliard’s Amber Ale
A couple of months ago, I sent my cousin – who lives in Seattle – a box of my homebrew. I asked him if he could find some local beers and ship the box back to me. He obliged, even checking this blog to see what I haven’t had yet, and sent me 10 or so beers from the area. I’m finally getting around to trying a few of them. This can just happened to be in the door of the beer fridge, so it goes first. Location:...
452. 4 Hands Brewing – Pi PA
Several weeks ago I was in St. Louis visiting my dad and my wife and I attended the St. Louis Brewers heritage Festival. I had to pick my wife up on Friday night at the train station since I took the day off and took the kids to the zoo on Friday. Her train was running a little bit late and so I stopped at Four Hands Brewing Company in downtown St. Louis. I had their Prunus Saison at the time, and picked up a growler of this to go....
451. Florida Beer Co – Florida Lager
It’s just a lazy Saturday, and I’m digging into some of the beers that I picked up during my vacation to Florida last week. I already had my last Cigar City Jai Alai. When I found this one at the grocery store in Flordia, I wasn’t exactly sure how great it was going to be, but I thought I’d give it a shot. Besides, what’s better in hot weather than a nice clean lager, right? Location: Poured into a...
450. Cigar City Brewing – Jai Alai India Pale Ale
I’m back from my family vacation, and it’s taken me a week to adjust. I was able to smuggle several beers out of Florida and bring them back home to add to the list. I bought a 6-pack of this beer my first night in Florida and was planning to review it down there. However, I drank these mostly at night, so it wasn’t ideal to take a picture. I thought about getting more when I visited Cigar City Brewing my last...
449. Peg’s Pizza Cantina Brew Pub – Blind Date Amber Ale
It’s the last evening of my vacation in Florida, and I took my family to Peg’s for dinner. As I mentioned in my review of their G.O.O.D. Dancing Cody IPA, this place came highly recommended from several sources. I was impressed with that beer, as well as the food, and wanted a chance to try one more of their beers. Behind the Dancing Cody IPA, this appeared to be another of their signature beers on tap. Location: On tap...
448. Peg’s Pizza Cantina Brew Pub – G.O.O.D. Dancing Cody IPA
When I went to Florida, my friend Joe recommended Peg’s Pizza Cantina Brew Pub. Then when I got down there and talked with a couple of folks, they recommended it as well. When I read an article naming this the best brew pub in America (yes, it’s debatable), I knew we had to go. So, on the last night of our vacation in Madeira Beach, we headed over to Gulfport and had dinner at Peg’s. The brewmaster at Peg’s...
447. Cigar City Brewing – Maduro Brown Ale
As I’ve mentioned in my last few posts, I’m at Madeira Beach in Florida on my family vacation. Today we went to John’s Pass, a touristy area with lots of souvenir stores, ice cream spots, restaurants, and tours. We walked along the boardwalk and stopped into The Hut Bar and Grille to rest and grab a bite to eat and drink. Location: On tap and served in a plastic cup at The Hut Bar & Grille at John’s Pass...
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