230. Springfield Brewing – Mueller Pale Ale Draft
As I mentioned in my last post, we’re in Springfield, Missouri for work, and stopped at Springfield Brewing Company for dinner. I first had the Blacksmith Stout, and a dinner salad. I found out that the brewery was built to show off the stainless steel tanks made by the local Mueller steel factory. It looked gorgeous when we walked in, but being with a couple co-workers, I couldn’t explore the brewery too much. I was...
229. Springfield Brewing – Blacksmith Stout
I’m in Springfield, Missouri for work today (actually we spent the day working in Branson, but we’re staying in Springfield), and as always, I was easily able to convince my travel buddy Steve to stop at the local brew pub for dinner and a couple beers after a long day. I always try to sample something unique and different, and was told by the server about their Blacksmith Stout – a dry-hopped stout with a roasty...
228. ABInBev – Michelob Amber Bock Draft
I’m back on the road for work, this time heading to Springfield/Branson, MO. We were flying through Chicago O’Hare and missed our connecting flight. We were rebooked on a flight 2 hours later, so we stopped at the O’Hare Bar & Grill for dinner. As I looked at the menu, I wasn’t sure if there were any beers listed that I hadn’t had yet. I didn’t think I’d had this yet, so it was a good...
227. Murphy Brewery Ireland Ltd – Murphy’s Irish Stout Draft
We had promised the kids earlier in the week that we would go out for pizza on Friday night and then drive around looking at Christmas lights. We were not anticipating 4+ inches of snow to be on the ground by dinnertime. We were able to talk them out of the usual Godfather’s pizza (they lover the ball pit), and went to Lucca Grill. They have thin crust pizza and a decent beer selection. However, the Murphy’s Irish...
226. Flying Dog – Snake Dog IPA India Pale Ale Draft
I stopped at Medici in Normal to grab a beer and get my final punch on my Wednesday Warriors card. On Wednesday, they have $3 pints, and after 10 Wednesday visits you become a warrior. That means you get a t-shirt – although I didn’t get one because they had run out of XLs – your beer is served in a mug, and you get invited to their end of the year party. Besides getting the final punch on my ticket, it’s...
225. Mikkeller – Centennial Single Hop IPA Draft
As I mentioned in my last post, I’m at Fat Jack’s in downtown Bloomington for our ABNormal homebrew club steering meeting. It’s the first meeting of our new board, and I’m still VP. The nice thing about meeting at Fat Jack’s is the opportunity to try a few new beers. They usually have a decent selection, even if it is getting tougher to find beers I haven’t tried yet. The nice thing about the...
224. Southern Tier Brewing – Creme Brulee Imperial Milk Stout Draft
After a very stressful couple of weeks, it was nice to get out for a night and have some decent beers while having our ABNormal Brewers steering meeting. When I got to Fat Jack’s I looked up at the list of new beers on tap, and realized it’s starting to get a little bit harder to find a beer that I have not yet had. I had read a review of this on the Daily Beer Review and thought I’d give it a try, since I...
223. Sierra Nevada – Torpedo Extra IPA
Things have been tremendously crazy lately. As I mentioned in my review of Schlafly Winter ESB, my mom had emergency heart surgery and has been in the hospital. Due to some blood clots, she went back in. Upon being released, my grandmother stopped by to visit her and was killed in a car accident while leaving my parents house. It’s been a difficult time, so tonight, I wanted to just sit back, relax a bit in front of the...
222. Full Sail – IPA – India Pale Ale
It’s Thanksgiving evening and we’re about to start on our second helping of turkey and stuffing. We’ve already talked about the things we’re thankful for this year – family, kids, and more. Since we’ve moved onto the second helping, here’s my second helping of what I’m thankful for this year – my Travel Oregon Brewmaster Cuisinternship at Full Sail Brewing in Hood River, Oregon. ...
221. Boddingtons – Boddingtons Pub Ale
My brother-in-law and his family are visiting for Thanksgiving week. He asked me if I knew why Boddington’s had such a different type of head than other beers. I explained that it was “carbonated” with nitrogen, while normal beers are carbonated with carbon dioxide. My wife, influenced by her brother, decided to by some and bring it over. So, I thought this would be a good opportunity to knock this beer off of...
220. Dogfish Head – Midas Touch Golden Elixir Draft
We had our ABNormal Brewers meeting tonight at Fat Jack’s, and as I was coming in, I noticed they had Dogfish Head’s Midas Touch on draft… so I gave it a try. It was a nice lead in to an interesting club meeting. We had guests there from Prairie Fruits Farms who helped us try different beer and cheese pairings. I got to try several cheeses – goat and sheep – that I probably never would have. We also...
219. St. Louis Brewery / Schlafly – Winter ESB Draft
My mom had emergency heart surgery on Thursday, so we rushed to St. Louis to be with her and my dad. It was extremely scary, but the doctors say she’s doing pretty good after the surgery. It was very unexpected and caught my entire family by surprise. We’re praying for her and hope she recovers quickly. After spending the weekend at the hospital with my stomach a bit tied up in a knot, we decided to stop at...
218. Two Brothers – Heavy Handed IPA Draft
As I mentioned in my previous post, we’re out with a coworker who is in town for the week. We went out to Medici in Normal to grab a couple of beers and catch up. I was looking for something to add to this list and my coworker said she was looking for something “hardy.” So, I recommended New Holland’s Charkoota Rye Smoked Dopplebock, which I had there just last week. All agreed that it was like a BBQ rack...
217. Flying Dog – Raging Bitch Belgian IPA Draft
A coworker who works remotely – Bettywriter – was in town for the week, so several of us decided to go out to happy hour and catch up. We stopped at Medici in Uptown Normal, a place I’ve mentioned before that has some pretty good beers on tap. I arrived before anyone else, I didn’t have to be shy when I announced proudly to the bartender that I’d like a Raging Bitch. It was a hazy orange-golden color...
Oktoberfest Challenge – Completed
Well, the Oktoberfest Challenge is complete, and it’s been a great month. There were only 2 days during the month when I didn’t have an Oktoberfest or Pumpkin beer (or even a beer that day). I know this sounds a bit cheesy, but I actually learned a lot during this month-long challenge. First, I gained much more respect for folks like Dave Selden of the 999 beers blog and Beer Drinker Rob of the Daily Beer Review. It...
216. Shmaltz Brewing – Coney Island Freaktoberfest
I had two days left for my Oktoberfest Challenge and only one beer left, so I decided to hold onto this one and enjoy it on Halloween. It’s been a fun Halloween evening – my son is dressed as Indiana Jones and my daughter dressed as a princess. I took them out trick-or-treating while my wife stayed home handing out candy. I enjoyed one of my Russian Imperial Pumpkin beers in a coffee mug while taking the kids around,...
215. Blue Moon / Miller Coors – Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale
It’s a nice fall friday evening and I took off work just a bit early to enjoy the afternoon. So, of course, when I got home, I grabbed a beer for my Oktoberfest Challenge out of the fridge. Although Halloween is just a couple of days away and I realized that I’ve only got 2 beers for my challenge to make it through the next 3 days… I need to find another beer to qualify for my challenge quickly. The label says,...
214. Brauerei Beck & Co – Beck’s Oktoberfest
I’m down to the last couple of beers in the beer fridge for my Oktoberfest Challenge, and I think I still need one or two more. I remember covering Oktoberfest beers during one of our ABNormal Brewers club meetings last year, and remember being somewhat surprised at how much I liked Beck’s Oktoberfest in comparison to the others we tried. So now in the spirit of reviewing it, I thought I’d give it another go around....
213. New Holland Brewing – Charkoota Rye Smoked Doppelbock Lager Draft
After our ABNormal Brewers steering meeting, I stopped at Medici for a quick drink to get a beer which would meet my goal toward my Oktoberfest Challenge, and get another punch on my Wednesday Warriors card. While I’m now only 2 Wednesdays away from becoming a Wednesday Warrior, I was not able to find a beer to meet my challenge for today. While I’m again bummed about falling short in my quest, I did enjoy stumbling...
212. Anderson Valley Brewing – Brother David’s Belgian-style Double Ale Draft
It’s time for our monthly ABNormal Homebrewers steering meeting, so we met at Fat Jack’s to discuss the business of our next monthly meeting. Fat Jack’s normally has one of the better beer selections in town, so I was hoping to get a new Oktoberfest, seasonal, or pumpkin beer for my Oktoberfest Challenge. Unfortunately, with October being almost over, they didn’t have either, so I went for this one since I...
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