Category: Craft Beer

Anatomy Of A Hangover

25 West IPA

The drinking started on an empty stomach. That was my first mistake.

I ate a packed lunch of salami, cheese, Cheese-Its, cookies and water (in that order) at 11:30 in the morning. Drank a diet soda around 3:00. Don’t be jealous of me.

Once off work, at 5:30, we went to a new beer bar by my house, Out Of The Barrel. Here was my playlist:

Beer One: 25 West from Moonraker Brewing.

  • Clear IPA
  • 6.6% ABV
  • I rated it a 4.
  • Full pour

Beer Two: Some Grass from Moonraker Brewing.

  • Hazy IPA
  • 7% ABV
  • I rated it a 4
  • Full pour

Beer Three: Unknown: It was either Yeastbound & Down from Moonraker, or Tiger Uppercut from Fieldwork (I guess I wasn’t paying close attention).

  • Hazy IPA
  • 8% or 8.5% ABV
  • Rated…4.2?
  • 12oz pour

The Out Of The Barrel drinking stops. There is some relaxing. I buy a four-pack of Humble Sea’s Coast Malone.

Continue reading “Anatomy Of A Hangover” →

‘Smooth’ Is As Good As Any Dopey Beer Descriptor

What does “smooth” mean when describing beer? Don’t say it doesn’t mean anything because you ALL know what it means!

So, people out there on Beer Twitter making fun of smooth because it was the top description on Untappd last year.

Don’t get flipped, bro! Neophytes? Go back to your spirts cave. That’s not what most people are saying.

It’s not bitter. Easy to drink. Drinkable. Hence: SMOOTH.

Yeah maybe it’s lazy but we ALL KNOW WHAT THE FUCK IT MEANS!

So back the hell off of SMOOTH! Back the hell off because smooth isn’t the only common term that means something and nothing all at once.

How about?:

  • Crisp
  • Bright
  • Flavorful
  • Light
  • Hoppy
  • Thin
  • Accessible
  • Complex
  • Balanced
  • Clean

See?! It’s all crap AND useful, at once. Unless you tear down all beer descriptors, leave smooth alone.

Deeper Take

As humans, all we really want is for things to go smoothly. We want our day to go smooth. Wedding. Trip. Latest hazy release.

Smooth is good. Smooth makes us happy.

So, as a brewer, don’t you want your beer to make people happy? If someone says your beer is “smooth”, they like your beer. Pretty nice if you think about it.

Smooth might be the most positive beer descriptor out there.

The Mess That Is Being An Indie Beer Geek: Grocery Store Isle

It is not easy being a craft beer geek. Especially when we are experiencing a down cycle of sorts. It’s extra hard when you only drink Indie Beer.

A trip the store gets more gut-wrenching every time.

At one time we thought craft beer was going to keep getting more and more shelf space as people become aware of what good tasting local and independent beer is all about.

Sadly, Big Beer fought back against this buy buying out a large portion of the formally craft breweries that were big enough to get into the grocery stores (the holy grail for a small brewery).

Nothing exposes the suck of being a beer geek more than going to the grocery store or being in a restaurant that doesn’t have great beer.

Do you buy a ‘situational beer’ (a beer you would not drink or buy normally but are in a tight spot and it needs to happen) or do you not buy anything at all.

I’d like to breakdown why it can be so difficult at the grocery store for us poor souls that stick to their independent beer guns.

Continue reading “The Mess That Is Being An Indie Beer Geek: Grocery Store Isle” →

Sierra Nevada’s “The Sampler” Makes For A Nice Peaceful Saturday Night

I have not had a variety pack, with good beer, last so long. I mean that as a compliment. It has legs, in a good way. I’m talking about Sierra Nevada Brewing’s variety pack called “The Sampler”.

The Sampler for Fall 2019 features:

  • Sierra Pale (duh)
  • Coffee Stout
  • 3 Weight (session)
  • Flipside
  • Hop Bullet
  • Torpedo

The website features cans for all but the Coffee Stout and Flipside. That would be cool to find this in cans or mixed, but I only found the ALL bottles version.

The session beer, 3 Weight, as the most interesting to me. But I love sessions, so…

Sierra Nevada's The Sampler variety pack

I got it on sale for $15.99 in my local grocery store, which is a great deal for a craft beer 12-pack. It lasted the better part of a week. I wasn’t exclusively drinking this, mind you, but used it for palet cleansing for bigger Untappd checks.

A lot of people complain that they can’t get the Flipside or the Coffee Stout on its own. I’m not a big fan but appreciate the beer, so for me, having in the Sampler is just fine.

Overall, I would totally pick up this 12 pack again, probably will for Thanksgiving or something. For the variety of it, I would choose it over a 12 pack of Torpedo or a 12 pack of Sierra Pale, 9 of 10 times.

Or just enjoy a nice quiet Saturday night with an old friend, Sierra Nevada.